Kristi King, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – With three carbon monoxide poisoning incidents this week in D.C., experts are reminding you about safety.
Faulty gas or oil furnaces and water heaters often are the cause for poisoning. A defective water heater is believed to have caused a carbon monoxide scare in Georgetown Friday.
Because carbon monoxide is odorless, a leak can go unnoticed until people inside a home start to get sick. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include nausea, headaches and dizziness. You also might be confused or start throwing up.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission offers a number of tips to stay safe.
- Install carbon monoxide detectors. Experts say if a CO alarm sounds, never ignore it. Go outside where there’s fresh air and call 911 immediately.
- Change CO alarm batteries every six months, just like you do with a smoke detector. Carbon monoxide alarms should be installed in hallways outside bedrooms and in each sleeping area of your home.
- To prevent CO poisoning, the CPSC recommends you only use power generators outside. Never burn charcoal or use fuel burning camping equipment inside a home, garage, vehicle or tent. Never leave a car running in a garage. And never use a gas appliance to try to heat your home.
Follow Kristi and WTOP on Twitter.
(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)