Signs of Stove Gas Poisoning and Carbon Monoxide Detectors: a 10-Point Safety Checklist

We summarised the basic rules in our article on preventing stove poisoning. This article is its detailed, sourced follow-up: the symptoms of stove gas, what to do in the first minutes, where to fit a carbon monoxide detector and how to maintain it, and 10 points you can check one by one at home, all based on official sources.

In an emergency: if you suspect poisoning, stop reading, get into fresh air right away and call 112.

Why Stove Gas Goes Unnoticed

What people call “stove gas” is mostly carbon monoxide (CO). The General Directorate of Public Health of the Turkish Ministry of Health notes that these poisonings usually happen indoors, when fuel burns poorly in stoves and water heaters whose chimneys do not draw. The gas has no colour or smell, and because it makes people drowsy, the symptoms can go unnoticed, especially at night.

Symptoms of Stove Gas Poisoning

• Early symptoms: headache, dizziness, nausea, weakness and tiredness (Ministry of Health); the TKİ guide adds shortness of breath.
• Later symptoms: the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also lists vomiting, chest pain and confusion.
• Watch out: the symptoms can resemble flu. Do not dismiss a headache and weakness that start in the room with the stove and affect more than one person in the home.

First Steps If Symptoms Appear

1. Open the windows and doors and get everyone affected into fresh air at once.
2. Call the 112 emergency line.
3. If someone is unconscious, follow the 112 operator's instructions until the medical team arrives.
4. As the TKİ guide stresses, go to hospital even if the exposure seems mild.

This article is general information and does not replace medical assessment.

The 10-Point Checklist

1. Fit a carbon monoxide detector. The Ministry of Health advises using a CO detector where possible. The CDC advises fitting battery-operated or battery back-up detectors near every sleeping area, checking the batteries in spring and autumn, and replacing the detector as the manufacturer instructs or every five years. A smoke alarm does not detect carbon monoxide; they are separate devices.
2. Have the chimney cleaned every year. The Ministry of Health asks for yearly chimney cleaning and maintenance; the note of the Manisa Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanisation recommends cleaning at least twice a year. Details: chimney cleaning and stove maintenance.
3. Service the stove and flue pipes. Stoves should be serviced every year and old pipes should not be used. The Manisa note and the TKİ guide say the pipes should reach the chimney with no more than two bends; TKİ adds that the pipe end must not be pushed so far into the chimney that it blocks it.
4. Never block the air vent. The Ministry stresses that any room with a fuel-burning heater needs an air vent that is never closed for any reason.
5. Do not overfill the stove. The Manisa note advises filling the stove no more than halfway with coal and lighting it from the top. For the method: how to light a coal stove.
6. Do not add coal to a burning stove. According to TKİ, adding coal to a top-lit stove afterwards worsens combustion and increases carbon monoxide. The Manisa note also says not to add fuel at bedtime.
7. Put the stove out before you sleep. The Ministry advises putting heaters out before going to sleep and not sleeping in the room where the stove is burning.
8. Take care in lodos weather. The Ministry advises not lighting stoves during the warm southwesterly lodos wind, even if the flue draws properly; in that weather, do not sleep in a room with a flued heater burning.
9. Do not close the air vent or the flue damper. The TKİ guide says that while the stove burns, the lower air vent and the damper at the flue outlet must stay open.
10. Keep hot ash and ash buckets outside. TKİ says ash buckets that are not fully out must not be kept indoors. The US Fire Administration (USFA) advises keeping ashes in a metal container with a lid, outside, at least 3 metres from the home.

Once at the Start of the Season, Every Day During It

Chimney, pipe and detector checks are done at the start of the season; the rest of the list is a set of daily habits. For all the pre-season jobs, see our winter preparation checklist. When choosing fuel, as the Manisa note reminds us, prefer certified fuel whose bag shows the producer and origin; our coal options are on the coal page.

Sources: Turkish Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Public Health, “Carbon Monoxide Poisoning” (Turkish-language source); Turkish Ministry of Health, “Statement on Carbon Monoxide Poisonings” (Turkish-language source); Turkish Coal Enterprises (TKİ), “Guide to Using Coal in Stoves” (Turkish-language source); Manisa Governorship, Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanisation, “Information Note on Air Pollution” (Turkish-language source); CDC, “Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Basics”; U.S. Fire Administration, “Heating Fire Safety”.