Carbon monoxide is colourless and odourless. A cracked heat exchanger or blocked flue can spill it into your living room without a single obvious clue.
How gas heaters produce carbon monoxide
Gas burning completely produces carbon dioxide and water vapour. When combustion is incomplete — from a dirty burner, poor airflow or the wrong gas pressure — it produces carbon monoxide instead. In a healthy appliance those products leave through the flue. A cracked heat exchanger or blocked flue can push them into the room.
Warning signs in the home
Look for the physical evidence before you rely on how you feel.
- A yellow rather than blue flame
- Soot, staining or scorching around the heater
- Excess condensation on windows when the heater runs
- A pilot light that keeps going out
- A stale or acrid smell during operation
Warning signs in your body
Headaches, dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath and unusual tiredness — particularly when several people in the house feel it at once and improve when they go outside — should be treated as a possible carbon monoxide exposure. Leave the property, ventilate it and seek medical advice.
Testing is the only certainty
A carbon monoxide test with a calibrated analyser is part of every gas appliance service we perform. It is the only reliable way to detect a heat exchanger crack early. We also recommend an audible CO alarm in sleeping areas as a second layer of protection — it complements servicing rather than replacing it.
Older ducted heaters, open-flued space heaters and wall furnaces carry the highest risk. If your unit has not been tested in the last two years, book a gas heater service with RapidFix Solutions.