It’s a silent killer: Carbon Monoxide kills over 500 people each year across North America, and this number could be widely underestimated. Current research indicates that the number of deaths could be well over 2000.

It’s always a tragedy when a family is struck down by something that is preventable. There are many accounts in the news of individuals or entire families admitted to the hospital for Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning. Luckily, in almost 40,000 of these cases each year, they escaped with their lives.

Why does Carbon Monoxide strike some homes and not others?

One common cause is improper venting. As cited in a case that occurred in an Idaho apartment complex, a poorly vented water heater resulted in the leaking of CO throughout the building. Unlike gas, CO doesn’t smell and your body can absorb it more quickly than even that of oxygen. Headaches or nausea can indicate CO poisoning, but by the time you start showing symptoms you have already become exposed to and absorbed a massive amount of CO.

Preventing CO leaks is easy if you practice common sense. Hire a professional and get them to check your furnace and water heater for leaks. It’s best to perform these checks on an annual basis to ensure that you have a sound system.

Carbon Monoxide leaks are not commonplace, yet you should keep in mind that parts of your furnace can develop fine cracks over time. As well, the flue pipes that are responsible for emitting CO exhaust outside of your home can become corroded over time. Have a service professional check for these issues, and ask them to examine the flue pipes in case they have become disconnected.

Purchasing a CO detector can save your life.

A family in California recently had their air ducts cleaned out, and the company they hired did a poor job of reconnecting the flue to the furnace. The result was a deadly seepage of Carbon Monoxide. If they wouldn’t have had the alarm in place, the family surely would not have woke up in the morning. The elevation of CO in the home was 118 parts per million, which is 3 times greater than the 35 parts per million level that indicates to fire fighters that they need to wear a mask. Purchasing more than one Carbon Monoxide detector is vital, especially in a large home. Another preventive step is to only hire companies to service your furnace that is licensed to work on such an appliance. As this family discovered, a duct cleaning company is not knowledgeable enough to work on a furnace.

There are many companies who will try to get your business by advertising that they are able to perform jobs they are not skilled or licensed to do. Always be sure that a permit, especially something such as the installation of your heating system, is provided for major work. Contractors such as this can walk away with a slap on the wrist, but you could lose your life.

Backdrafting is the result of air that is exhausted from our homes through kitchen, dryer, or bathroom vents. Backdrafting occurs when the exhaust may depressurize within your home. When mixed with wind, the pressure differential can overwhelm your ventilation, reversing the flow of exhaust back into your home. The result of this situation? CO poisoning can make its way into your home. As homes have grown tighter and tighter in construction, the problem of backdrafting has become worse. The only prevention for this problem is a properly installed high efficiency furnace and water heater, that both feature powerful ventilation systems.

Unfortunately there are certain circumstances where CO poisoning is the consumer’s fault.

Leaving your car running in your garage is foolish and extremely dangerous, resulting in CO to leak into your home and sending many a person to the hospital. Burning a gas light stove or wood burning fire place inside your home can also generate CO. Generators should not be run within a home either. Your best protection is becoming educated about the dangers of Carbon Monoxide, getting some detectors for your home, and always replacing the batteries on a bi-yearly basis.

Chances are you don’t spend much time thinking about your hot water heater, until you no longer have hot water. When the winter chill sets into your home, you may think about turning the water heater up a notch to keep the hot water flowing through your wipes. When turning your water heater higher, bear in mind that upping the temp wears on your hot water tank. This can result in a shortening of the life span of your water tank, as well as the fact that higher hot water temperatures are more dangerous for your family.

The best temperature for a hot water heater is 125 degrees or lower. Imagine if you turned your hot water heater up and then didn’t realize how hot your water could get? Less than a minute of exposure to water over 125 degrees can result in serious burns. With higher temperatures, your risk of burning happens even faster. Children under 5 can suffer skin burns in under 5 seconds.

To protect your family, be sure to keep your water heater temperature low. If you find your hot water runs out quickly, consider the use of water saving shower heads or a larger sized hot water tank.

We are plumbing professionals, and we are interested in your well being. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

It has been a year since we launched our “Charity-of-the-Month” campaign, and we are thrilled with the results.

We launched this campaign to give back to the greater Calgary community. Each month we donated $1,000 to a local non-profit organization. The organizations were nominated by people in the community through mail and our website. Winners were selected by random draw – you can read their profiles on our Charity-of-the-Month page.

Some of the beneficiaries of this program include the Calgary Learning Centre, Camp Carmangay, Bow Cliff Seniors, the Meow Foundation of Calgary, and Child and Youth Friendly Calgary. The campaign also supported efforts to eradicate childhood sexual abuse through Little Warriors. Other recipients include the Sistership Dragon Boating association which raises awareness about breast cancer, and associations supporting research into cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy. Christmas hampers and “Shoeboxes of Love” were also donated through the program.

I was overwhelmed by the impact the campaign had on me personally. It was such a rewarding experience. I met the people behind these organizations and I can tell you that their dedication is really inspiring. At this time of year, and with the economy as it is, I encourage other businesses to also give back and do what they can to make a difference.

To learn more about the ClearView Plumbing Charity-of-the-Month program, visit http://www.clearviewplumbing.ca/charity-of-the-month/.

I’ve Warned Calgary Homeowners for Years About Hiring Contractors With Low Standards… And An Accused Sexual Predator Out On Bail Just Made My Point For Me.

The Paper Just Ran An Article About An Accused Rapist Working As A Technician In Calgary

On November 21st The Calgary Sun ran a story about a man named James Alexander Parent who is suspected of committing rape. He’s now out on bail, working as a home service technician.

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2009/11/21/11851726-sun.html

I am sure that this story is not the only case in which people that SHOULDN’T be trusted are getting hired out there by companies that don’t take your personal safety seriously.

There Have Been Many People That We Were Serious About Hiring That Ended Up Having A “Rap Sheet” Including Theft And Felonies

We knew we made the right decision to take these extra steps after we started with the process. When we started looking for new employees, we would eliminate many of them because we knew they didn’t have the ability to meet our standards. Then, with the remaining prospects, we would conduct further interviews. We would be looking for characteristics that were important to us – like:

• Are they professional and courteous?
• Are they certified plumbing/HVAC technicians?
• Will they be polite and professional?
• Do they have the desire to go the extra mile for our customers?
• Do they care about doing the job “by the book” so they can keep ClearView’s high standards?

Then, if the applicant seemed to meet all these criteria, we’d get serious about hiring them. We’d say, “We just need to perform a background check and a drug test before we move ahead” … and guess what? On many occasions, we’ve found that these applicants had legal records including theft, drug use, and even far more serious crimes.

Years ago we decided that we were gong to go ahead and perform thorough drug and background checks on all the people we were thinking of hiring. Yes, it would be more expensive for us to screen potential employees, and yes, it would require that we do a much more thorough hiring and training process than others in the plumbing and heating and industry, but we realized that we could not in good conscience send someone into your home that hadn’t passed these basic tests.

You Can’t Judge A Technician Solely On Whether Or Not They Seem Nice Or Trustworthy

We have been very surprised by some of the people we’ve turned away – we’d never have guessed that these characters wouldn’t pass our background checks. Many of them have seemed to us that they would have made great employees. They were polite and seemed professional… and only when we ran our checks did we realize the truth about them.

We Take Extra Steps To Screen Potential Employees For Your Safety

Let me say up front that there are a lot of reputable professionals in Calgary. There are several of my competitors that are honest and, as far as I know, they run their businesses with integrity and your best interest in mind.

But we know that others have hired the people that we’ve turned away. They could not pass these basic tests, and now they’re working somewhere no doubt with an employee badge and a name and logo on their shirt.

We’ve Put The Word Out… Don’t Even Try To Work At ClearView if You Can’t Pass A Background Check!

Just another reason to trust ClearView. We not only do the job right…. We send the right people for the job!