A brief description from the EPA of Carbon Monoxide poisoning:
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless and toxic gas. Because it is impossible to see, taste or smell the toxic fumes, CO can kill you before you are aware it is in your home. At lower levels of exposure, CO causes mild effects that are often mistaken for the flu. These symptoms include headaches, dizziness, disorientation, nausea and fatigue. The effects of CO exposure can vary greatly from person to person depending on age, overall health and the concentration and length of exposure.

What does this mean to you?
Winter is upon us and that means we are all firing up the furnace. It takes the edge off those cool evenings. Still, warm comfortable air may not be the only thing your furnace is putting into your home. In fact, it might be releasing something else that’s very dangerous. Even worse, you can’t detect it.

Carbon Monoxide is a harmful gas –  its also known as CO – that can be emitted by your furnace. More than 10,000 cases of CO illness are reported each year; many of which are related to faulty furnaces. What happened to your furnace to cause it to release CO? Good question…

One of the vital components in your furnace is your heat exchanger. It plays a critical role in actually heating the air that’s forced into your home to keep you comfortable. Like many things that are heated and cooled, heated and cooled, heated and cooled, this constant back and forth can cause the heat exchanger to break down. Over years and years of use, it simply cracks. When it cracks, carbon monoxide is released.

Hopefully, your home is situated with at least one carbon monoxide detector in each level of your home. (If not you need them now!!!) They will protect you should large amounts of CO be released. On occasion these leaks can be very small. And they only discharge a slight amount of this harmful gas, and unless you have a high grade CO detector, it can go by unsuspected.

The best way to keep your family safe and to ensure your furnace’s heat exchanger has not cracked is to have it inspected every heating season. A qualified HVAC technician – using several tools – can determine if your furnace is in safe and working order, or if a problem exists.

Cooper Climate Control specializes in detecting CO leaks. Our technicians are highly trained and use only state of the art tools in evaluating your furnace. This evaluation is part of our overall furnace tune-up. In addition to ensuring your safety, as part of the tune-up, your furnace will be cleaned, oiled, and prepared to run at its optimal state. That makes it run more efficient, and in turn, saves you money!

You can receive this tune-up FREE every heating season with our Preventative Maintenance Plan! Give us a call at (480) 460-7417 to hear more about it! Or you can simply call us to conduct a tune-up on your system for only $69.95 That’s a discounted price that won’t last long. So, call us now! You’ll feel better knowing your home is safe for your family.