Avoiding Carbon Monoxide Poisoning - Check Your Air Intake Vents

With all the snowfall Edmonton and the province of Alberta have received, this is an important warning.  Drifts of snow may cover air intake hindering or preventing the intake of fresh air into your home.  If the fresh air intake is blocked with snow there's a good chance of CARBON MONOXIDE in your house.

Take a walk around the exterior of your home, checking all the vents.  The vent outside the house should look like an exhaust & dryer vent but without the flap.  It should just have a fine screen on it to keep out bugs and rodents.  If blocked, remove the snow, being sure it is free and clear of any debris or ice.

This is doubly important with all the snow on the roofs, the rooftop vents are likely plugged or covered. Yesterday, the 10th of January, an emergency crew was called to an office in a strip mall where a doctor had reported symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.  The symptoms include a change of taste and a burning sensation in the throat.  The ventilation vents in the roof had become plugged with snow.  Once they were cleared, the carbon monoxide danger passed and no one had to be evacuated.  CTV Edmonton has the story.

Since 2002, 35 people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Alberta.  Manitoba recently introduced legislation that will make detectors for carbon monoxide mandatory in all new homes in the near future.