Welcome to Ready & Able, formerly known as David LeRoy Plumbing! Although our name and brand have changed, we are still here to serve you and all of your plumbing, heating, cooling, and air quality needs!
For most homeowners, there are certain non-negotiables for what is present in their home. These can range from anything like things that add comfort, such as a fireplace, to items that are important for safety, like fire extinguishers. Too often, an item that is overlooked as a necessity in the home is a carbon monoxide detector or monitor. At Ready & Able Plumbing, Heating & Air, we want to make sure that all homeowners in Harrisburg, PA, and the surrounding area have these devices installed in their households.
Let’s go over what it is and why it’s necessary.
What Is a Carbon Monoxide Monitor or Detector?
A carbon monoxide detector is a device that alerts you when there is a dangerous level of carbon monoxide present in the air. These devices can look much like smoke detectors and are often sold in a combination smoke and carbon monoxide detector format. Carbon monoxide monitors alert you to lower levels of carbon monoxide, so they are better at detecting problems before carbon monoxide reaches a very dangerous level.
What Is Carbon Monoxide?
Carbon monoxide is a gas that is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. It’s derived from fuel that is not completely burned, so anything in your home that burns could wind up producing it. This includes natural gas, oil, propane, wood, and gasoline. We rely on the burning of fuel for so many of our household needs that carbon monoxide is an ever-present danger. If there is not enough ventilation in your home, an excessive level of carbon monoxide could make you sick or worse.
Symptoms of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs when there is a buildup of it in the blood. This occurs because there is an excessive amount of it in the air, and the body uses carbon monoxide to replace oxygen within its red blood cells. Carbon monoxide poisoning tends to affect the heart and brain the most. Long-term exposure is often mistaken for the flu, except that there is no fever present. Even after recovery from carbon monoxide poisoning, there could be long-term effects such as personality changes, memory loss, and issues with movement. Occurrences of these long-term effects are most prevalent in the elderly and people who lost consciousness during their exposure.
Typical exposure to carbon monoxide symptoms include:
If you believe you or someone in your household is showing signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, get into fresh air immediately and call emergency services.
The Benefits of Carbon Monoxide Detectors or Monitors
Protection
The most vital benefit of having carbon monoxide detectors in your home is the protection from carbon monoxide poisoning that they offer. Simply put, having carbon monoxide detectors in your home can save your life.
Early Warning
We recommend carbon monoxide monitors, which are designed to alert you at much lower carbon monoxide levels than a detector. The monitors we offer will alert as low as 5ppm. A typical store-bought detector will only alert at higher, more dangerous levels of between 35-70ppm. A monitor provides you and your loved ones with the opportunity to get out into the fresh air and call for help before you experience symptoms. Time is crucial when it comes to dealing with dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, and a quality monitor allows you to act swiftly so that your loved ones can be kept safe.
Value
Carbon monoxide monitors are fairly inexpensive to purchase. Compared to the amount of peace of mind that they offer, these devices are invaluable.
Accuracy
A good carbon monoxide detector or monitor is stable against temperature and humidity changes. This stability allows them to avoid giving false readings, ensuring that when you hear one go off, you can trust that it is working correctly.
Choosing the Right Carbon Monoxide Detectors or Monitors
With so many available models on the market, how do you choose the right kind? Also, how many should you have installed?
Ideally, you should have a carbon monoxide monitor in every room of the house where exposure is possible. At a minimum, you should have at least one installed on every floor of your home. As far as which type is best for you, that’s going to come down to your particular needs and budget.
The most important part of choosing the correct monitor or detector is placement. Carbon monoxide rises with room temperature, so they should be placed at 6’ or higher on the wall or on the ceiling.
Your best bet is to speak to a member of our team at Ready & Able. We can take you through all the categories of carbon monoxide detectors and help you decide what is going to work best for you and your family.
Your Harrisburg Carbon Monoxide Experts
We hope we have done a solid job of helping you understand why you need to have carbon monoxide detectors or monitors in your home. Our company’s roots in the Harrisburg community stretch back to 1998, and we see it as our duty to help make sure that every homeowner in the area stays safe from carbon monoxide.
If you do not currently have detectors or monitors in your home or want to upgrade your existing units, we are here to help. You can also look to us for any other of your indoor air quality, heating, cooling, and plumbing needs. For peace of mind about carbon monoxide in your home, give our team at Ready & Able Plumbing, Heating & Air a call today.
Welcome to Ready & Able, formerly known as David LeRoy Plumbing! Although our name and brand have changed, we are still here to serve you and all of your plumbing, heating, cooling, and air quality needs!