Submitted by Duncan Insurance
Beginning January 1, 2013 all residences in Washington State will be required to have in addition to the smoke alarm, a carbon monoxide alarm.
They are required to be installed outside of each sleeping area and the amount of alarms will depend on the location of the rooms and number of levels in the home or apartment.
They may be battery operated or hard wired in but they must be certified and have a UL 2075 compliance rating. At present these alarms last on average between 5 and 7 years and are the responsibility of the homeowner or tenant to maintain. Follow the instructions on the recommended installation on the packaging to ensure proper coverage.
Statistically carbon monoxide kills more than 500 people annually and resulted in an estimated 20,000 emergency departments each year.
Here in Washington with the winter storms and frequent power outages over 1000 people are treated for carbon monoxide poisonings in a calendar year and reportedly five of these resulted in death.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless gas that can build up indoors with improper ventilation and causes dizziness and sleepiness. Persons may also have headaches, vertigo, confusion and flu-like symptoms. Chronic low- level exposure can lead to depression, confusion, and memory loss.
To help avoid this exposure, install alarms, never use gas barbeques indoors, propane tanks, and make sure all gas fireplaces, ovens, hot water tanks, are all properly vented outside of the home and inspected routinely for leaks. When warming up vehicles in the winter, always make sure to open up garage doors to make sure that the fumes from the exhaust don’t build up inside the garage and seep into the vehicle. When using lanterns for light during power outages, make sure to use battery operated ones as even the fumes from the lantern can build up in small areas quickly.
