What's a safe level of carbon monoxide for a house?

Senior Moments

According to http://www.socalgas.com/residential/faq/faq-co.shtml There is no established in-home safety standard for carbon monoxide. However, the California Occupations Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a workplace limit of 50 parts per million (PPM), averaged over an eight-hour period. Jan 22 03, 8:02 AM

Senior Moments

In a ddition to my first reply - Carbon Monoxide poisoning occurs frequently in the United States. It can occur when carbon monoxide, usually through the combustion of fossil fuels, takes that place of oxygen in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, carbon monoxide is not able to be detected in the atmosphere by the human senses. Therefore, many times persons exposed to threshold levels and above will loose consciousness because of lack of oxygen to the brain and death can commonly occur. Blood test done at the emergency room or shortly thereafter can sometimes detect abnormal levels of carbon monoxide in the blood stream. Survivors of carbon monoxide poisoning show decrease in mental abilities, difficulty learning, and other neurological damage due to hypoxic injury (how the brain can be damaged because of lack of oxygen). Changes including depression, headaches, irritability, dementia and incontinence. The safe level threshold in 10 ppm. Abnormalities in the globus pallidus or white matter can be seem on MRI in some cases. http://www.braininjury.com/toxicexposures.html Jan 22 03, 8:05 AM

Guru???

In Brooklyn, NY a boiler exploded which led to a release of carbon-monoxide gas that killed a woman and her elderly mother. A building inspector said that because of faulty wiring, the boiler malfunctioned and exploded, spewing out insulation. As a result of the blast, the flue broke off and since the gases had nowhere to go, the building began to fill with carbon monoxide. He said the explosion occurred because the boiler's electrical control box was improperly grounded. Firefighters found carbon-monoxide levels of 650 parts per {million;} anything above 9 is an emergency and above 100 the building is evacuated. http://www.saunalahti.fi/ility/PI0211.htm Jan 22 03, 8:14 AM