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When it might be carbon monoxide

For anyone whose carbon monoxide alarm is sounding, anyone at home with a headache and a sick stomach who wonders why, and anyone who wants to be ready before the heat comes on or the power goes out. What to do when the alarm sounds. The signs, and why they’re easy to miss. Someone who has passed out. Before you go back in. Alarms: where, which, and how to test them. Furnaces, stoves, fireplaces and heaters. Power outages and generators. Cars, garages, snow, boats and tents. Who gets sick sooner. What to do if you can’t afford an alarm or a repair, or you rent. Where the sources differ. And the words to say when you call. No quiz and no score. One thing at a time.

This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from pages read on October 2, 2026: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Basics, and its fact sheet index); the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (Carbon Monoxide, and Carbon Monoxide Questions and Answers); the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Carbon Monoxide’s Impact on Indoor Air Quality, and its pages on placing a detector and on detectors); the National Fire Protection Association (Carbon Monoxide Safety); the American Academy of Pediatrics on HealthyChildren.org (Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: How to Protect Your Family); Poison Control, from the National Capital Poison Center (Carbon monoxide: What you need to know); MedlinePlus, from the U.S. National Library of Medicine (the summary of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, not its encyclopedia); Ready.gov (Power Outages); and the U.S. Department of Energy (Weatherization Assistance Program). The descriptions of the 988 Lifeline and Crisis Text Line are from their own front pages, read the same day. Some pages could not be read: the U.S. Fire Administration, National Weather Service and Occupational Safety and Health Administration addresses we tried were not found, and the federal Poison Help site and the highway safety agency refused our request, so none of them is used. We did not read the fact sheets that are PDF files, any state’s law on alarms in rented homes, any page on carbon monoxide at work, on treatment in a hospital, or on sleeping in a vehicle; where the page touches one of these, it says so. We did not call any number. Where two sources say different things, the page reports each: where to wait and who to call when the alarm sounds, where to put alarms and how high, how often to test them and change batteries, how far away a generator goes, and running a car in a detached garage. The page has no questionnaire and gives no score, on purpose. It quotes no named person, and it gives no figures for how many people are poisoned and no gas levels; the sources have them, with their context. The distances and times on the page are the sources’ own. Lines marked “Ours” are our own suggestions. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a clinic, a fire department or a heating company, and takes no money from anyone named here. English only for now. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].