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Show State Health Dept. Warns Against Death by Heater The young man was found dead in a trailer about 11 o'clock one morning. He had returned from a trip the previous evening and was last seen alive about 11:30 p.m. The night was chilly and he apparently had retired with all windows closed. The manually operated, liquified petroleum gas heater was operating oper-ating at its full 8.000 BTU capacity. capa-city. The medical officer found a high saturation of carbon monoxide mon-oxide in the victim's blood. He had died of carbon monoxide poisoning. This case happened in Maryland Mary-land and the man was killed by a "koolwall" gas heater designed and approved for use in homes but not suitable for trailers. But more than 60 units were installed in-stalled in "MIDWAY" trailers: and until efforts by health authorities result in locating and warning the owners, at least 59 lives are in great danger. Last vear. at least seventeen trailer deaths resulted from the use of "THURM" bottled gas heaters in various parts of the country. Two thousand of these heaters were installed in 82 makes of travel trailers. About 40 of the "THURM" units were shipped to Utah and the State Denartment of Health and local authorities tracked down most of the owners and urged modification modifi-cation of the units to render them safe. A few over-the-counter cash sales could not be traced, and the owners of these remained in dancer. It is understood that the manufacturers of the heaters coorerated in the recall and remodeling re-modeling of the offending ones, and later models were no doubt improved. "All fuel burning space heaters, heat-ers, whether in trailers, motels or homes are potentially dangerous.', danger-ous.', warned Dr. James D. Wharton, Whar-ton, M.D.. Interim Director of the State Department of Health, "but are specially so when used in restricted space such as trail- ers which are weather-stripped and have closed windows." "Carbon monoxide is one of the most insidious of poisons," according to Dr. Wharton. "It is odorless and tasteless, and is conducive con-ducive of sleep, making the victim vic-tim drowsy and insensible to danger." Every person using combustion-type space heaters, regardless regard-less of make or certification of safety, should satisfy himself that all these conditions are present pres-ent in the trailer or house and the heater: 1. Plenty of fresh air, from outside. 2. A vent (stove pipe) at least three inches in diameter, from the heater out through the roof rather than through the side of the trailer. 3. Adequate air supply to the heater to insure complete fuel combustion. A hole in the floor close to the heater, the same size as the ceiling vent, is sufficient. 4. Opening or holes in the heater combustion chamber, preferably front and back to permit per-mit the ready access of air. 5. If the heater is gas-operated, be sure there is an automatic shut-off valve to prevent the gas ..from escaping if the burner goes out. 6. Don't take a chance: all flames are potentially dangerous. If in doubt, call in a qualified heating expert. |
