Air: Carbon Monoxide
Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas you can’t see or smell. It’s created when fuels—like gas, kerosene, propane, or wood—are burned. The toxic fumes can kill you before you are aware of them.
Carbon monoxide can build up in homes or workplaces from burning any fuel type in appliances and tools, including:
- Idling cars in a closed garage.
- Water heaters or clothes dryers.
- Furnaces, boilers, wood stoves, fireplaces, or space heaters.
- Ranges, stoves, cooktops, or wall ovens.
- Portable generators.
- Small gasoline-powered engines.
Poorly vented, unvented, or malfunctioning appliances, and leaking chimneys and furnaces increase the risk of carbon monoxide. Electric or solar-powered appliances do not produce carbon monoxide.
Each year, more than 400 people die in the United States from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, and around 50,000 people visit the emergency room. In Wisconsin, around 500 people go to the emergency room each year because of carbon monoxide. Wisconsin law requires carbon monoxide detectors (PDF) to protect people in buildings where fuel is burned.
For more information about carbon monoxide in Wisconsin, email us at dhsdphepht@dhs.wisconsin.gov.
What to do if your carbon monoxide detector alarm goes off
- Take immediate action if you experience:
- A headache.
- Dizziness.
- Confusion.
- Nausea.
- Shortness of breath.
- Chest pain.
- Get fresh air right away. Move everyone outside of the home, then call your local fire department.
- Do not go back in the home until the fire department has inspected it and declared it safe.
To protect yourself and your family from carbon monoxide poisoning, follow these safety tips:
- Make sure your carbon monoxide detectors are working correctly. Every home and multi-family building in Wisconsin must have a carbon monoxide detector on each floor, including the basement, according to state law. Detectors are not required in the attic or storage areas.
You can buy a carbon monoxide detector from most hardware stores for $20 to $50. When daylight saving time ends—or begins—each spring and fall is a good time to replace the batteries in your detectors and test them to make sure they’re working correctly.
You can also purchase detectors that either plug into an electric outlet or can be hardwired into your home’s electric system. Make sure to use a battery backup in case of a power outage.
You should replace your detectors every five years, or according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Have your furnace or wood-burning stove inspected each year. Hire a professional each year to make sure your furnace or wood-burning stove is working correctly and venting properly outside of the home.
- Never run a heater (gas or propane) or grill (gas or charcoal) inside your home or garage. Any heating system that burns fuel produces carbon monoxide. Use a battery-powered detector where you have fuel-burning devices but no electric outlets, such as in tents, cabins, and RVs.
- Never run a generator within 20 feet of your house. You should run generators at a safe distance from your home. That means you should never run it inside the home or garage, or right next to windows or doors.
- Never run a car in an enclosed space (such as a garage). Even with a car door or window open, carbon monoxide can build up to an unsafe level.
Learn more in our Protecting Your Family from Carbon Monoxide, P-01569, fact sheet.
Fact sheets
- Carbon Monoxide Detectors in Residences: Information for Landlords, P-02936—This fact sheet includes information for property owners in Wisconsin about state carbon monoxide laws and steps they can take to protect their tenants from carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Carbon Monoxide Detectors in Residences: Information for Tenants, P-02935—This fact sheet includes information for tenants in Wisconsin about state carbon monoxide laws and steps they can take to protect themselves from carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Know the Signs and Symptoms of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, P-01029 (PDF) —You can post this fact sheet with signs and symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning around your workplace or school.
- Using Generators Safely, P-01561—Generators produce high levels of carbon dioxide in their exhaust. If they’re used incorrectly, they can cause carbon monoxide poisoning—in addition to electric shocks, fires, and burns. This fact sheet provides simple steps to prevent injury when using a generator.
- What Employers Need to Know about Carbon Monoxide, P-02486 (PDF)—This fact sheet includes information about carbon monoxide and strategies to help protect employees and customers from the dangerous gas.
- Fact Sheet: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning (OSHA)(PDF) — Information for workers and employers on carbon monoxide poisoning prevention in workplaces, including a description of OSHA's exposure standards.
Ice arena resources
- Ice Arena Air Quality—Learn how indoor air quality problems can occur when equipment and air handling systems aren’t working correctly at indoor ice arenas.
- Recommendations for Enclosed Ice Arena Management, P-00067 (PDF)—This outlines recommendations for keeping indoor ice arenas safe from harmful gases.
- CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Tracking Program: Real-Time Monitoring of Carbon Monoxide Poisonings in Wisconsin (video)—This video shows how the Wisconsin Tracking Program’s real-time monitoring of carbon monoxide poisonings helps keep residents safe.
Boating resources
- Safe Boating—This page includes information on boating safety, including how to protect yourself and your family from carbon monoxide while on a fuel-powered boat.
- Staying Safe from Carbon Monoxide While Boating, P-02211—This fact sheet provides information on how to keep yourself and your family safe from carbon monoxide when operating a fuel-powered boat.
Data and webinars
- Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in Wisconsin: Data Byte (video)—This Data Byte shares Wisconsin carbon monoxide poisoning data and prevention tips.
- Surveillance Brief: Wisconsin Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, P-01071A (PDF)—This brief provides more information and data about carbon monoxide poisoning in Wisconsin.
- Wisconsin's Environmental Health Data Dashboards—Look for data related to carbon monoxide poisonings in Wisconsin.
For health professionals
Use the following resources if you’re a Wisconsin health professional. Carbon monoxide poisoning is considered a Wisconsin surveillance category II disease. For questions regarding carbon monoxide poisoning case investigation, email DHStracking@dhs.wisconsin.gov.
Resources
- Carbon Monoxide Exposure and Poisoning Cases in Wisconsin, 2006–2016—This article from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s “WMJ” journal explores carbon monoxide cases in Wisconsin.
- Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Ideas for Taking Action, P-01795 (PDF)—This fact sheet contains strategies for addressing carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Exposure to Elevated Carbon Monoxide Levels at an Indoor Ice Arena – Wisconsin, 2014—This article from the CDC’s “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)” journal explores a case of carbon monoxide poisoning at an indoor ice area in Wisconsin in 2014.
- What Employers Need to Know about Carbon Monoxide, P-02486 (PDF)—This fact sheet includes information about carbon monoxide and strategies to help protect employees and customers from the dangerous gas.
Reportable condition information
- Carbon Monoxide Case Definition, P-02192A (PDF)—This form defines what constitutes lab-based and clinical- and environmental-based cases of carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Environmental Disease Case Reporting and Investigation Protocol: Carbon Monoxide (CO) Poisoning, P-02192 (PDF)—This form outlines the protocol for carbon monoxide poisoning cases in Wisconsin.
- Reporting Carbon Monoxide Poisoning (PDF)—This 2018 report from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) covers carbon monoxide basics, data, and tracking.