Owners of older properties in the Vancouver Lower Mainland are reducing winter home health and safety risks by performing annual tune-up maintenance to detect carbon monoxide leaks for their gas furnaces, fireplaces, boilers and water heater systems. They’re discovering how a little help from a licensed gas fitter professional can go a long way towards keeping Canadian families comfortable and happy this season.
For example, making important decisions about the care and maintenance of gas appliances is said to be easier when carbon monoxide (CO) isn’t leaking into your home.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas produced during incomplete burning of fossil fuels. Penn Medicine says breathing carbon monoxide starves the body of oxygen, replacing it in the bloodstream with poison.
Johns Hopkins Medicine notes that most carbon monoxide exposures happen during winter. Impacts are said greater for patients with existing health problems including heart and lung disease along with infants, children, pregnant women and seniors.
Vancouver Coast Health calls it “the silent killer”.
According to the survivor of a Sunshine Coast vacation home gas leak incident inhaled carbon monoxide fumes impair good judgement. “By the time you’re really sick, there’s no critical thinking,” says a report published in the Vancouver Sun.
Related research from UBC and UVic found that inhaling diesel traffic fumes short-term impaired cognitive skills such as “thinking, reasoning and remembering.”
Poisonous carbon monoxide leaks are “more likely to occur in older properties from faulty furnaces, hot water heaters, stoves, propane fridges or chimneys” says a Vancouver General Hospital doctor named in the Sun’s report.
Of course, the story related above is not an isolated incident. Ongoing risk of poisonous gas leaks in the Vancouver Lower Mainland are highlighted by a 2018 CBC report claiming thirteen employees were taken to hospital after carbon monoxide exposure in a Westside office building.
Troubleshooting look-ahead diagnostics performed during annual maintenance by a licensed professional can detect these and many other basic gas appliance operational safety issues. If the maintenance program for your furnace, fireplace, boiler or water heater is running on empty may we suggest booking an appointment with one of our technicians soon.
Greater Vancouver knows Canadian Care offers top-rated residential and commercial HVAC services. Contact us today and discover our professional approach to efficient and ethically priced solutions.