30/11/2021
一氧化碳中毒
With the recent cold weather, 香港人 will be more reliant on their heating more than ever. Like all machines, heaters such as boilers are not fault free and can breakdown. Whilst most break downs will have a physical attribute, such as loss of heat, some cannot be detected. It is the undetectable faults that you need to be careful off - and the most serious of them is a fault that results in Carbon Monoxide posioning.
A recent case puts this into perspective. A local HK family went to bed and were woken up in the middle of the night by an alarm. They were fortunate that their landlord supplied them with a carbon monoxide alarm and that I had explained to them what it was and told them to place it next to the boiler. Because of this awareness, the family did not just take the batteries out and go back to sleep, but were able to call someone out immediately to make the boiler safe. Had they not, it may be a very different story.
Whilst it is not a legal requirement for landlords to provide Carbon Monoxide alarms, responsible ones do. If you don't have one, buy one from Amazon and place it near your boiler. If you have one, test it to make sure it is fit for the winter.
Take precautions - carbon monoxide poisoning is a silent killer and I'd rather you go a few days without heat than not being here to tell the tale.
Kidde 5DCO 10 Year Life Digital Display Carbon Monoxide Alarm (1)
