Can central air conditioning cause carbon monoxide poisoning

When you think about your family’s safety, carbon monoxide poisoning may not be the first thing to come to mind. But it should. Can your central heat cause carbon monoxide poisoning? The short answer is, yes. When your heater has an undetected HVAC repair your home may be vulnerable to dangerous levels of CO, which is why it is very important to keep up with your air conditioning maintenance.

Table of Contents Show

What is Carbon Monoxide Poisoning?
What are the Symptoms?
What Causes a CO Leak?
How to Prevent CO Poisoning
Your Friendly CO Shield
Air Conditioner Carbon Monoxide
Carbon Monoxide and Furnaces
How do you know if your AC is leaking carbon monoxide?
Can air conditioners give off toxic fumes?
Can central heat and air cause carbon monoxide?

Champion AC & Plumbing Heating & Cooling wants to share all the knowledge Austin homeowners need to have to keep their AC units healthy and their home protected. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about carbon monoxide threats and how to prevent a carbon monoxide leak in your home!

What is Carbon Monoxide Poisoning?

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a gas known as the “silent killer” because it doesn’t produce an odor, a color or a taste. When any fossil fuel is burned — like in gas burning appliances — CO is produced. When you breathe carbon monoxide, it makes it difficult for your blood to transport oxygen and can lead to asphyxiation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 2,244 deaths from 2010-2015 caused by unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning. This is a dangerously high number that is often overlooked, but anyone with a gas appliance should be aware of the risks.

What are the Symptoms?

On top of being an exceedingly difficult gas to identify, once you are exposed to carbon monoxide, it is tricky recognize poisoning symptoms. The list of possible carbon monoxide poisoning symptoms is quite extensive, but some of the most common are:

Dizziness
Headache
Disorientation
Nausea

These symptoms mimic other common illness like the flu. For this reason, many people downplay their symptoms until it is too late to seek medical attention. It’s also easy to miss signs of poisoning when you are asleep, which is why detectors and alarms are so important. If you believe your symptoms are due to carbon monoxide, turn off the source, move to clean air and call 911.

What Causes a CO Leak?

Hot water heaters, AC units, and even gas fireplaces can be sources of carbon monoxide gas. In most cases, the gas is properly drawn outside through an exhaust vent or pushed out by a fan. Another culprit of carbon monoxide poisoning is if the heat exchanger on your furnace becomes cracked. This component works like your car exhaust. Without the exchanger pushing fumes out, they are blown back inside your home. All in all, accidental CO exposure can be caused by compromising the route that carbon monoxide leaves your home.

How to Prevent CO Poisoning

Inspect Your Chimney — Check for any blockage (bird nests, soot, etc.) Check the glass doors for cracks, and test the igniter
Check Your HVAC Vents — Blocked vents waste money and can overheat a furnace. Make sure you vents aren’t blocked and can properly do their job.
Install Carbon Monoxide Detectors — Trust your professional HVAC contractor to strategically install and secure CO detectors around your home. If you want to feel confident in your home’s safety, depend on the premier carbon monoxide detector installation at Champion AC & Plumbing.
Schedule Regular Maintenance — The best way to ensure your home has low risk of carbon monoxide poisoning is having a professional evaluate the HVAC system every year. Our team’s experienced eyes are trained to identify possible problems like leaks and cracks and fix them before they pose a danger to your home.

Your Friendly CO Shield

Calling a professional can make you aware of any potential threats your unit is experiencing and can resolve the threat before it puts you in danger. That’s why our team is trained and prepared to go above and beyond every time they visit your home. Be ready to shield your home from carbon monoxide by working with our team! With Champion AC & Plumbing, you can be sure that you and your loved ones are safe.

In the summer, sometimes the only way to find relief from oppressively hot outdoor temperatures is by going into an air-conditioned building. For this reason, more and more homeowners are investing in air conditioning of some sort, be it a central air system or a window unit. Before you take the air conditioning plunge, though, you might be wondering what impact your new air conditioner might have on your home’s indoor air quality. Specifically, do you need to worry about air conditioner carbon monoxide?

Air Conditioner Carbon Monoxide

In the simplest of terms, the concept of air conditioner carbon monoxide doesn’t exist. No air conditioning system in the world can or will produce carbon monoxide. This specific indoor air quality threat, in other words, is not something you will need to worry about just because you start using an air conditioner in your home.

Why isn’t air conditioner carbon monoxide a problem? You can find the basic reason in the science of air conditioning. Air conditioners use three main components—compressors, condensers, and evaporators—which work to convert chemicals from gas to liquid and back again. We won’t delve too much into the technical processes that drive air conditioning, but suffice to say, that the process gradually cools the air and uses that air to cool your home.

Carbon monoxide, on the other hand, is a gas produced by a fuel-burning process. Since air conditioners are never burning any gas or fuel, they are incapable of producing carbon monoxide. Refrigerant and the other chemicals used in the air conditioning process are not carbon monoxide risks.

Carbon Monoxide and Furnaces

While air conditioning carbon monoxide is not a risk, though, the same cannot be said for furnace carbon monoxide. Your cooling system may not burn fuel, but your heating system does. As such, furnaces tend to be some of the biggest culprits behind instances of carbon monoxide poisoning in the United States.

Do note that the vast majority of heating systems do not have a carbon monoxide problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 2,244 deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning in the United States between 2010 and 2015. While that figure is big enough to show that carbon monoxide is a big danger, it’s not so high that you should feel mortally afraid of your home’s heating system.

With that said, heating is undoubtedly the problem. Year over year, significantly more carbon monoxide deaths occur in November, December, January, and February than in other months. In most cases, these deaths are the result of heating appliances that were poorly installed or are faulty or damaged in some way.

The risk of carbon monoxide poisoning should prompt a few different behaviors or strategies from homeowners, including:

Inspections and maintenance of fuel-burning appliances: Scheduling annual inspections of any fuel-burning appliances in your home can do a lot to keep you and your family safe from carbon monoxide risks. Remember: any appliance that burns fuel can produce carbon monoxide. This list includes not just your furnace, but also water heaters, gas stoves, non-electric space heaters, and wood-burning stoves. As a general rule, Inspections and maintenance are the best ways to keep these appliances running as they should.
Don’t use gas tools in the house: Gas grills, generators, power tools, and other similar devices can all also produce carbon monoxide. However, you shouldn’t have a problem with gas-powered tools as long as you remember never to use them inside. You should only use these tools outdoors, in well-ventilated areas. Your car can also produce carbon monoxide, so don’t ever leave it running when parked in the garage. Even if the garage door is open, there is still a risk.

Install carbon monoxide detectors: Carbon monoxide detectors can help give you an early warning if there is carbon monoxide leaking out into your home. Detectors are not expensive and are well worth the peace of mind they can provide. There are even gadgets and applications out there now that can turn your smartphone into a mobile carbon monoxide detector.

Know how to recognize the symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure: Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headaches, nausea, dizziness, fainting, chest pain, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, confusion, and memory loss—among others. If you find yourself developing these symptoms, you should call a technician to check your appliances and see if there is a leak anywhere. While these symptoms could be caused by something else—the flu, for instance—it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Conclusion

Just because air conditioning carbon monoxide is not a thing doesn’t mean carbon monoxide isn’t something you should be worried about. On the contrary, carbon monoxide poisoning is something that can impact any family and any household. Taking the precautions described in this article will help you protect your family from any risks posed by fuel-burning appliances, tools, or devices.

Valley Comfort conducts air conditioning repair services in the following communities: Santa Rosa, Napa, Rohnert Park, Healdsburg, St Helena, Calistoga and Windsor

How do you know if your AC is leaking carbon monoxide?

Signs of Carbon Monoxide Leaks The soot stain can have a black, brown or even yellow color. Smell: While carbon monoxide doesn't emit odor, it may get accompanied by other exhaust gases that produce an odor. A yellow burner flame: The pilot flame may produce an unusual yellow flame instead of the normal blue one.

Can air conditioners give off toxic fumes?

Refrigerant poisoning can occur if a person inhales or consumes the chemicals — also known by the brand name of Freon — from cooling appliances, such as refrigerators and air conditioners. Accidental refrigerant poisoning is rare but can occur when a person works directly with cooling chemicals.

Can central heat and air cause carbon monoxide?

But it should. Can your central heat cause carbon monoxide poisoning? The short answer is, yes. When your heater has an undetected HVAC repair your home may be vulnerable to dangerous levels of CO, which is why it is very important to keep up with your air conditioning maintenance.