CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTORS
Recently, public attention has focused on the risk of carbon monoxide (or CO) poisoning in the home. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) prepared this fact sheet to help people protect themselves and their families against CO poisoning.
What Is Carbon Monoxide?
Carbon monoxide is an invisible, odorless, colorless gas created when fossil fuels (such as gasoline, wood, coal, propane, oil and methane) burn incompletely. In the home, heating and cooking equipment are possible sources of carbon monoxide. Vehicles running in an attached garage could also produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.
However, consumers can protect themselves against CO poisoning by maintaining, using, and venting heating and cooking equipment and by being cautious when using vehicles in attached garages.
What is the effect of exposure to CO?
CO replaces oxygen in the bloodstream, eventually causing suffocation. Mild CO poisoning feels like the flu, but more serious poisoning leads to difficulty breathing and even death.
Just how sick people get from CO exposure varies greatly from person to person, depending on age, overall health, the concentration of the exposure (measured in parts per million), and the length of exposure. Higher concentrations are dangerous even for a short time.
Table 1 shows typical symptoms based on concentration and time of exposure.
When carbon monoxide replaces oxygen in the blood, a condition known as carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) saturation results. Carboxyhemoglobin levels do not consider the length of exposure. As more and more carbon monoxide accumulates in the blood, the percentage of COHb gets higher and higher and people get sicker and sicker. Table 2 links symptoms of CO poisoning with percent of carboxyhemoglobin saturation.
Table 1- Symptoms Based on Concentration and Time of Exposure
CONCENTRATION PARTS PER MILLION
These are the effects caused over time
35ppm- No adverse effects within 8 hours
200ppm- Mild headache after 2-3 hours of exposure
400ppm- Headache, Nausea after 1 hour
800ppm- Headache, Nausea & dizziness after 45 min; collapse after 2 hours
1000ppm- Loss of consciousness after 1 hour
1600ppm- Headache, Nausea & dizziness after 20 min; unconsciousness after 30 min
3200ppm- Headache, Nausea & dizziness after 5-10 min; unconsciousness after 30 min
12,800ppm- Immediate physiological effects; unconsciousness and danger of death after 1-3 min
Table 2 - Effects of Carboxyhemoglobin (COHB) Saturation
COHB Saturation (%) Symptoms
0 - 10% None
10 - 20% Tension in forehead, dilation of skin vessels
20 - 30% Headache and pulsating temples
30 - 40% Severe headache, weariness, dizziness, weakened sight, nausea, vomiting, prostration
40 - 50% Same as above, plus increased breathing and pulse rates, asphyxiation
50 - 60% Same as above, plus coma, convulsions, Cheyne-Stokes respiration
60 - 70% Coma, convulsions, weak respiration and pulse. Death is possible
70 - 80% Slowing and stopping of breathing, death within hours
80 - 90% Death in less than 1 hour
90 - 100% Death within a few minutes
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