Providence, RI, December 12, 2003 — With the home h eating season upon us, it pays to heed the advice of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding carbon monoxide poisoning: prevention is the key. You can't see or smell this deadly gas, but at high levels, carbon monoxide can - and does - kill hundreds of people each year. Dangerous levels of CO usually result from malfunctioning or improperly used fuel-burning appliances, according to EPA's Indoor Environments Division.

The number one key to safety is to have all your fuel-burning appliances - including oil and gas furnaces -- inspected annually by a trained licensed HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment) professional.
“In terms of carbon monoxide poisoning, the safety of the furnace depends solely on the integrity of the heat exchanger,” says Anthony Gemma of Rhode Island-based Gem Plumbing and Heating. The walls of the heat exchanger prevent the products of the furnace’s combustion - including deadly carbon monoxide - from entering the home, according to Gemma. "A crack in a heat exchanger may not leak carbon monoxide today, but because the heat exchanger is constantly heating and cooling, such cracks can quickly widen and become toxic leaks," he says.

“Until recently, heating technicians inspected furnaces visually. The technician would extend a small mirror on a stem into the area of the heat exchanger and shine a flashlight on it. Those visual inspections could reach only about 20 percent of the heat exchanger,” says Gemma. "  An important safety advance to the inspection of home furnaces is a new infrared video device called "The Inspector." The inspector is a tiny video camera on a flexible stem that can reach far into the interior recesses and around the entire exterior of the heat exchanger, according to Gemma. The inspector can bend around corners, and because it senses infrared lightwaves, it can literally 'see in the dark.' As a result, technicians using the device can detect cracks in furnace heat exchangers with far greater accuracy and completeness than traditional visual inspections. And in terms of customer safety, the infrared inspection provides a much higher level of peace of mind, says Gemma, whose fleet has been using the device for home CO inspections.

For more information or to schedule a furnace inspection, call Gem Plumbing & Heating Co., Inc. at 1-877-GEMPLUMBING. For information on CO poisoning, visitwww.osha.gov or www.lungusa.org.