You can't see it, smell it, or touch it, but there's some of it in your home right now—and at a certain level, it becomes deadly.

It's carbon monoxide, or CO, and nearly 500 people die each year as a result of CO poisoning. According to Dr. John Kashani, assistant medical director of the New Jersey Poison Center, it's the leading cause of poison mortality in the country. It's therefore important for association residents to have CO detectors, and for association boards and management to know where to place them and to keep unit owners and shareholders aware of the dangers carbon monoxide presents.

A Quiet Killer

"The source of carbon monoxide is anything that burns fuel," says John Drengenberg, consumer affairs manager for Underwriters Laboratories (UL) in Northbrook, Illinois, a non-profit company that conducts studies on safety and sets industry standards for CO detectors. "That could be your fireplace burning wood, your furnace burning gas or oil, your water heater, your gas stove or dryer or your car in an attached garage."

Only 20 years ago, few people had heard of carbon monoxide and even fewer people owned a carbon monoxide detector. But awareness has increased over the years, and CO detectors are becoming nearly as common as smoke alarms.

Carbon monoxide is sometimes called "the silent killer" and even its symptoms are stealthy—often mimicking those of the flu.

"[CO poisoning symptoms] are pretty general, especially when consider that the time of year people start using space heaters and generators are the colder seasons," Kashani says. "The signs and symptoms which are attributable to carbon monoxide can often be perceived as a seasonal flu."

"In many instances people assume they're coming down with the flu, and they don't realize that it's actually carbon monoxide," Drengenberg says. "In the summer, you might have the windows open all the time, so if there are carbon monoxide leaks, the alarm may never go off because you have plenty of ventilation," says Drengenberg. "But in the winter months when it's cold, you close your windows, you keep your doors closed, and you don't spend a lot of time outside—so that's the time when detection becomes even more important."

Kashani says there was a case of one New Jersey man getting CO poisoning during the widespread flooding this past fall after he set up electric generators in his basement to pump out flood water—without ventilating the basement.

"You shouldn't use those types of machines in the house regardless," Kashani says. "Electric generators placed inside a house will generate carbon monoxide, and people will be exposed to it."

An Alarming Situation

Since CO is undetectable by our senses, and since the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning are similar to the flu, it's essential that all units in either a high-rise apartment building or a sprawling association development be equipped with carbon monoxide detectors. Detectors are really the only way to get advanced warnings that you may be at risk for CO poisoning.

New Jersey state law requires CO detectors in condo and co-op units, but some cities and towns expand upon the state mandate and have more specific requirements. For example, Totowa requires detectors to be installed on each floor of a unit in order for a certificate of continued occupancy to be acquired, but regardless of your municipality's regulations the association should require apartments and townhomes to have CO detectors.

According to Susan Abbey of the New Jersey Department of Consumer Affairs, state law requires new CO alarms to be installed in condo and co-op units upon change of occupancy.

"If there is a change of occupancy in a co-op or condo," says Abbey, "an application must be made for a Certificate of Smoke Detector and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Compliance. In multi-family buildings, CO detector inspections are performed on a cyclical five-year basis. If an inspection reveals that there are problems with a CO alarm, or that a CO alarm has not been installed, the inspector will cite the unit or building owner."

In light of that, the first thing to do—if it hasn't already been done—is to buy CO detectors for your home and building. Drengenberg adds that it's important that the alarms you buy have the UL seal on it. "Almost every one of them does," he says, "but it's something that is very important because that shows the manufacturer has submitted a sample to UL and we've run them through the rigorous number of tests we do. . . . So that's your one insurance that the alarm does meet safety standards."

One alarm should be placed on each floor of a dwelling. Drengenberg suggests placing one near bedrooms for a very practical reason; so that it will be heard if it goes off at night while people are sleeping. He also recommends keeping them about 10 to 15 feet away from any gas appliances, such as the furnace, stove, oven and water heater.

"The reason for that is there are normal excursions [of CO] when these products are used," Drengenberg says. "When you turn on your stove, you might get a little puff of carbon monoxide that won't hurt you one bit. There's carbon monoxide in your house right now, but it's at such a low level that it won't hurt you."

After installing the alarms, they need to be tested regularly; Drengenberg recommends testing once a month. Testing it is pretty easy, just press the test button and when you hear the alarm, you know it's in working condition. The batteries should be changed yearly (the colder time of the year is a good time for this so that you know it's in working order at the time of year risk of exposure is high) and CO alarms should be changed every seven years. People moving into homes should replace the CO alarms so that homeowners know exactly how old their alarm is.

False Alarms?

Something else to keep in mind is that when an alarm does sound, that doesn't mean a situation is life-threatening. "With a carbon monoxide alarm, it is sensitive enough that it will tell you long before you start experiencing these flu-like symptoms that something is going on," Drengenberg says. This means you have time to react and repair the situation.

If the alarm does go off, or if you start to experience the symptoms, Kashani says you should contact the local fire department or the proper emergency responders

In contrast to a fire alarm—which almost surely means there is some degree of smoke or fire that you can react to, and results in you moving quickly to evacuate the area—a CO alarm going off doesn't mean that you'll feel sick. Because of CO's invisibility, you obviously won't have any visual clues as to the severity of the problem. But you still need to respond and clear the area—if the source isn't found, the levels will eventually rise to dangerous levels.

"You need to determine why the alarm went off," Drengenberg says. "Is the furnace acting up? Is the water heater acting up? Is your fireplace's chimney flue blocked, causing [CO] to get into your apartment? That's the kind of thing you have to check; you have to trace it down, get it fixed, and don't ignore the alarm."

Being Preventative

Even though CO is virtually untraceable, that doesn't mean all you can do to prevent poisoning is installing alarms and waiting for them to go off. Maintaining appliances and heating systems is a good way to reduce the chances of carbon monoxide entering an apartment at dangerous levels. One thing Drengenberg suggests is getting your furnace checked; considering the expectations for high energy costs this winter, there are several reasons why doing this is a good idea. The first thing the furnace inspector will look at is that the burners are clean and that flame is strong.

"Your filters should be fresh and clean," Drengenberg says, "and the professional will look at these things as well as the pipes that connect your furnace or water heater to the chimney flue. That's where the problems usually happen—as pipes either get older or rusty, or get bumped over the summer by somebody moving something around the furnace and don't connect they way they should."

Kashani also recommends making sure the duct that leads outside from your dryer is clear.

"If snow clogs that, it can cause a backup of carbon monoxide," Kashani says. "So you should either make it high enough [so that snow won't cover it] or be sure nothing is blocking it."

One unfortunate part of condo and co-op apartment living is that one homeowner can do everything right but if a neighbor doesn't, or if the complex itself doesn't, that owner can still be at risk of dangerous CO levels.

[The carbon monoxide] might not come from your apartment, it might be a neighbor's apartment," Drengenberg says. "Or you can have a garage underneath the apartment, usually these are ventilated quite well in new structures, it's all handled by building code. But the fact is that if anything went wrong with the ventilation system and somebody left a car or cars running or whatever reason, on a cold morning to warm them up, you want to be alerted that there is a problem."

While CO poisoning is a very real—and very scary—risk for both homeowners and apartment dwellers, it's a threat that can be mitigated and lessened. By adopting a scrupulous maintenance program for any and all fuel-burning equipment, never using fuel-burning devices in homes or unventilated areas, and installing industry rated CO detectors on every floor of your home or building, you and your residents can sleep soundly, knowing that if they come down with the flu this winter, it's just that—not something more dangerous.

Anthony Stoeckert is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to The New Jersey Cooperator.