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Always run the range hood when cooking.
I have had an electric range for years, with a "hood" over it that I never use. I was thinking of putting a gas cooktop out in the middle of the room, but hadn't thought of putting a hood over it, because I've never used it and have never had any sort of problem. What's the safety purpose of a hood? I imagine that most people use it to minimize cooking odors and such, but that's never been a problem .... ?Lannis
Our apartment is heated by a natural gas fireplace (flame behind glass), as far as I know it has no heat exchanger although it has a fan that cuts in after a few minutes so I guess it's blowing air around the fire-box.It get's inspected every year but I'm never home when the inspector calls.What is the danger of these producing CO?
Hot water heaters that are gas or oil fired are common and can be an issue too. Let's not forget that properly installed equipment can be adversely affected by window openings, wind and other devices operating in a house. Something like running a dryer vented to the outside can cause draft issues for other appliances in a tight house. Checking the draft while running different combinations of appliances would be good but may not cover every situation that may occur. The use smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors well placed can save you and your family. Mike
100% chance it produces carbon monoxide. Its a byproduct of combustion and cannot be avoided.
If it burns a beautiful blue, it is clean. Any yellow or black soot raises the possibility of CO. You need a carbon monoxide detector no matter what.
It has been in my experience that propane and natural gas appliances are the biggest culprits for generating CO. If your oil boiler or furnace misbehaves, you'll see soot flying around before the CO count gets too high. A gas water heater or boiler or furnace will run fine with a clogged flue, venting all the CO laden combustion gases through a building. We had a fatal in a town I worked in, three dead, two almost died from an old propane floor furnace that the flue had clogged.I have a oil fired boiler. I clean it and tune it myself every two years. Thirty years and counting... Larry
To answer Lannis's question, ovens and ranges can produce CO nearly as high as a furnace. I've seen 400ppm from an oven and over 100ppm from a single cooktop burner many times. If you have a propane or NG oven/range it should have a hood and the hood should be vented to the outside. You're lighting a fire in your house and cooking over it. You should always provide a route for combustion gases to be vented to the outside.
Gas fired heaters are either vent free or vented. Vent free means the combustion is happening with the air in the heaters space and all heat and byproducts produced stays in the space. This type usually has a a oxygen depletion sensor that will shut the unit down if the room air goes below a certain Oxygen level. It does not monitor air quality or factor in the excess moisture that is produced from the burning fuel. The direct vent style uses outside air and vents combustion gases back outside. This style uses no air from inside and can have efficiencies at 80% or slightly higher depending on length of vent pipes. Vented heaters can also use inside the space air for combustion and still vent outside. Some will have a dedicated vent from outside to supplement combustion air usually near the air inlets of the unit. If you are using a unit for actually heating your space the vented style is by far the best option and your air quality should not suffer from using it.
Now that's interesting. We're also looking at a gas heater ("gas logs") to be installed in a wood fireplace. I was sure that the heating company would recommend a vented unit, since the chimney is already there. But the gal who came out to make the estimate said the opposite - that a ventless unit would provide much higher heating efficiency, and that a vented unit would barely heat the room at all, and highly recommended the ventless unit, even though all the combustion products stay in the house ... ? Didn't sound right to me, but ... ?Lannis