Carbon Monoxide Poisoning From Portable Generators Proves Predictable, And Deadly

To Michelle Seifer, the timing was just a coincidence: after losing power in a summer storm, she came down with flu-like symptoms. It wasn't until two days later, when a carbon monoxide detector activated and a utility company worker tested levels in her home, that she learned she was being poisoned by the portable generator she had been running in her open garage.

"That's when I went to the hospital and learned that my levels were high enough where they needed to admit me," said Seifer, a finance manager and mother of five in Hartland, Mich. "Because if I didn't receive the proper treatment for the carbon monoxide poisoning, if I were to fall asleep I wouldn't wake up."

It took two days of oxygen therapy for Seifer's levels to normalize, and several months for other aspects of her life to follow suit. She experienced confusion, dizziness, and vertigo, and missed days of work when her symptoms were bad. She said it is not uncommon for people to live with long-term effects from a single instance of carbon monoxide poisoning, which is like "silently suffocating to death."

At certain levels, just five minutes of carbon monoxide exposure is . The is produced wherever fuel is burned, and can build to deadly levels especially quickly in enclosed spaces. Portable generators, whose engines, are especially common culprits.