3 Gasses You Should Constantly Check for in Your Home – On the House
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3 Gasses You Should Constantly Check for in Your Home

By on March 10, 2018
light gas range

Whether it’s from the soil in your yard, your furnace or your gas fireplace, you are constantly surrounded by different gasses. This means you’re constantly surrounded by possible danger!

Being on a Hazardous Material Response Team in the United States Coast Guard, I have access to high level equipment that can pick up on these potentially dangerous gasses, but you may not have access to this type of equipment.

Luckily, brightnest.com released an article that details 3 types of gasses commonly found in the home and how to properly detect them.

 

First on our list of gasses to check for within our homes is natural gas.

Natural gas leaks and explosions kill about 17 people a year in the United States, so check for leaks on a day-to-day basis.

Brightnest.com recommends getting familiar with your appliances that use gas such as your furnace, water heater, or gas range. Read through the maintenance manuals, and learn how to recognize when something isn’t right. Remember, the best way to fight a gas leak is by preventing a gas leak. If you hear hissing or whistling, get out of the house immediately and call 911.

 

Our second gas is an odorless, tasteless, and invisible gas that kills about 400 American’s a year.

Carbon Monoxide is found in the fumes of burning fuel from things like engines, furnaces, grills, and fireplaces.  Unlike smoke detectors, the building code states that there only needs to be one centrally located Carbon Monoxide detector per floor. 

Do yourself a favor, though, replace all your smoke detectors with smoke/carbon monoxide combination detectors. It may cost a little more up front, but it could possibly save a life in the long run.

 

Wrapping up Brightnest.com’s list of gasses to check for in your home is Radon.

According to the CDC, Radon gas is an abundant element found in rock and soil. The most common sources of Radon gas can be found in soil near the home or from burning coal or other fossil fuels. Radon gas is also odorless, tasteless, and invisible which explains why it’s responsible for about 20,000 deaths a year in the United States alone!

How to test for Radon you ask?

Buy yourself a home testing kit or hire a qualified professional. You won’t regret it.

 

Now, just because you don’t smell it anymore doesn’t necessarily mean the gas has gone away. Some gasses can cause olfactory fatigue. This means that the gas will attack your sense of smell, and, although, the gas may still be lingering, you won’t be able to smell it.

So, brush up on your gas range maintenance manual and ensure your detection systems are in-line because you don’t want to wait until its, well, too late.

 

Original Source: https://brightnest.com/todos/check-the-gases-in-your-house

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