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O&R - Call Us Immediately If You Suspect Carbon Monoxide Danger

  • Orange & Rockland Media Relations

  • Pearl River – mayo 12, 2021

O&R urges its customers to always put safety first. Anyone who believes they have a carbon monoxide problem or smells natural gas should leave the area immediately and call O&R’s emergency gas hotline at 1-800-533-LEAK (5325) or 911.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a poisonous gas that is invisible, odorless, and tasteless. It is formed by the incomplete burning of fuels such as heating oil, wood, gasoline, natural gas, propane and charcoal. The signs of a CO problem are stale, stuffy air and high indoors humidity, fallen soot from a fireplace chimney or furnace flue and no draft in the chimney or flue.

Breathing even small amounts of carbon monoxide can result in headaches, dizziness and nausea. If you experience any of these symptoms, immediately open the windows in your home and seek medical attention. Prolonged exposure can result in more severe illness, or even death. When you report a carbon monoxide problem to O&R, know that an O&R Gas Operations team of experts is ready to respond around the clock. Once notified of a carbon monoxide problem, an O&R natural gas crew will be dispatched to your location immediately.

Under O&R’s COVID-19 response procedures, when the crew members arrive at your location they will ask if anyone in the household is ill and discuss with you how O&R will carry out its tasks with everyone’s safety and comfort in mind.

It’s important for customers to know that O&R staff will carry proper identification and wear appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). O&R workers are following U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and New York State guidelines to maintain social distance (6 feet away) at all times, and we are asking our customers to do the same.

Natural gas-powered appliances in the typical home can range from heating units and clothes driers to water heaters and stoves – and even emergency generators. When heating units or motors are not working properly, or if exhaust fumes and chimneys are not properly vented outdoors, carbon monoxide can accumulate in the home, building or garage.

To prevent a carbon monoxide problem, make sure that a plumber or qualified heating contractor performs maintenance services on your furnace and other natural-gas powered appliances each year. The dangers of CO can be further reduced by the installation of approved CO detectors, which can provide early warning of accumulated CO before it reaches a dangerous level.

To do your part to reduce carbon monoxide poisoning never:

  • Use a gas oven or range to heat a room.
  • Leave a vehicle or gasoline-powered equipment running in a garage, even with the garage door open.
  • Operate a portable electric generator outdoors near air intakes to the building.

Remember. Always put safety first. Anyone who believes they have a carbon monoxide problem or smells natural gas should leave the area immediately and call O&R’s emergency gas hotline at 1-800-533-LEAK (5325) or 911.

About Orange & Rockland

Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R), a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, is a regulated utility. O&R provides electric service to approximately 300,000 customers in southeastern New York State (where its franchise name is Orange & Rockland) and northern New Jersey (where it’s Rockland Electric Company) and natural gas service to approximately 130,000 customers in New York. 

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