Carbon Monoxide from Air Conditioner: Is It Possible?

You may wonder whether it is possible that carbon monoxide from air conditioner comes and poisons you as the user. If you are curious about this, you have come to the right place. Make sure to learn what symptoms may be visible if you are catching carbon monoxide poisoning and how to fix it.

Can Air Conditioner Cause Carbon Monoxide?

The short answer is ‘NO’. Why? Briefly said, carbon monoxide can only be emitted if something is burned. Now that your air conditioning unit is not inflame, it cannot produce carbon monoxide.

Although your air conditioning unit may be safe and not emit carbon, there are chances you can still get carbon monoxide poisoning. This can happen if a fuel-burning tool, appliances, or items are burnt and releasing CO for quite a long time.

Such materials will include gas, wood, or charcoal. When combustion happens, it may result in carbon monoxide production. So, there is no carbon monoxide from the air conditioner but any types of burned items or materials.

What are the carbon monoxide symptoms of poisoning?

Well, many symptoms come as a result of this gas poisoning, which will include:

  • Headache, which typically comes with dizziness;
  • Nausea, especially when you have been poisoned for quite a long time;
  • Fainting, since your blood cell will ‘prefer’ to bind with carbon monoxide than oxygen;
  • Chest pains, especially since oxygen intake is pretty limited as blood cell is binding more with carbon monoxide;
  • Abdominal pain;
  • Fatigue and shortness of breath;
  • Confusion and hallucinations;
  • Short-term memory loss; and
  • Depression.

If you are experiencing several symptoms mentioned earlier, it will be the right thing to deal with the symptoms first. Therefore, it is advised to go to the ER to get your symptoms done.

carbon monoxide from air conditioner

Once you have dealt with the symptoms, you will need to make sure that it’s time to schedule maintenance as soon as possible. The maintenance that requires your attention is typically the heating aspect. Although there aren’t any visible damages, since it’s the gas that causes the poisoning, it’s better to take a moment for maintenance.

Preventing a Carbon Monoxide Leak

In order to make carbon monoxide not leak in your house, there are several methods of how to avoid that from happening. These will include:

  1. Planning regular maintenance

Although it may cost you a regular expense, you should consider this as one method of preventing CO poisoning from happening in your house. Why so?

The professional’s regular maintenance will help you catch any problems that arise in your house as soon as possible. Make sure to find a professional service provider to get the best help from the expert.

  1. Make sure the staff is professional

Just as said in #1, you need to ensure that the person you are hiring comes from a professional agency. That said, try to look for people’s reviews to know whether an agency is trusted or not.

That will also be great if you have someone to recommend a professional agency that works in this expertise. Since the promoter has already taken the service, their recommendation will be much more trustable.

  1. Install a CO detectors

It doesn’t hurt to install CO detectors in your house. According to sources, installing at least one CO detector on every floor is best. You can install more detectors, but make sure it won’t disturb you, especially when it goes off.

Why is it important? In many cases, CO poisoning occurs when the house residents are asleep. That means, it would be great to install one in your bedroom, especially if you have a fuel-burning item in there.

Lastly, consider putting a barbeque or any fuel-burning object outside when used to make sure CO poisoning doesn’t occur to you in the house. Plus, never let your car in the garage to be positioned ‘on’. You can avoid getting carbon monoxide from your household objects–not only carbon monoxide from air conditioner.

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AirconMag is an experienced author and Air Conditioner expert. With years of practical experience in the field authored several informative articles on various aspects of AC unit, including installation, maintenance, and repair