Increase Your Home Security with Carbon Monoxide and Radon Detectors

By now, most people are aware that smoke detectors are an absolutely essential part of any home. As the old commercials go, "smoke detectors save lives." However, there are other threats to one's home that can be much more insidious—namely carbon monoxide and radon. Both are invisible, odorless, and potentially poisonous gases. Detectors for both gases can be an integral part of any home security plan.



Carbon monoxide is a gas consisting of one oxygen atom bonded to one carbon atom (hence its name, as you may remember from your high school chemistry class). An excess of carbon monoxide in the environment interferes with the uptake of oxygen by human cell tissue, which can lead quickly to sickness and death, or even carbon monoxide poisoning over a long period of smaller exposures. Carbon monoxide is caused by what is known as the "incomplete combustion" of organic matter, which can include wood or gasoline. The average gas stove also gives off some amount of carbon monoxide. Running a wood-burning stove indoors, or using a generator or any gasoline-powered tool indoors, can give off significant amounts of carbon dioxide. Paint strippers may also give off gas that converts to carbon dioxide in the environment. There are also a variety of environmental sources of carbon dioxide, meaning that it is a good idea to install carbon dioxide detectors throughout your home even if you are not exactly planning to use a generator indoors. A qualified home security professional can help to install carbon monoxide detectors and give your family peace of mind about this potentially deadly threat.



According to many people, radon is a more serious threat than carbon dioxide. While concern about radon in the United States seems to have died down from its high point in the 1980s and 1990s, it still remains an important public health concern. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive element (number 86 on the periodic table—and if you remember that from your high school chemistry class, you deserve some serious accolades) which results from the decay of uranium deposits and other environmental sources. You don't exactly need to be near a uranium mine to suffer the effects of radon poisoning, as radon is generally considered the single biggest element of the "background radiation" to which all of us are exposed on a daily basis. The major risk of overexposure to radon is actually lung cancer, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at one point stating that radon was the second biggest cause of lung cancer in the U.S. (behind cigarettes). Radon can naturally accumulate in certain homes depending on the materials used in building construction and how well they assist in circulating radon in and out of the environment. While one can attempt to check radon levels in a house before purchasing and moving into it, the environmental factors that cause radon accumulation can vary during a period of homeownership. Thus, radon detectors should be installed in homes according to the guidance of qualified home security professionals. So your walls are not covered with beeping electronic devices, there are of course machines available that combine the functions of smoke, carbon monoxide, and radon detectors together.



Since dangerous radon and carbon monoxide accumulations have been found all over the country, including New England, it may make sense to check out available Home Alarm Systems offers Connecticut. More information can be found at http://www.home-alarm-systems.com/.