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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This
weekly newsletter covers:
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Consumer Product Safety Commission Recommends Carbon Monoxide Alarm for Every Home
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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION RECOMMENDS CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM FOR EVERY HOME
After a recent rash of carbon monoxide poisonings including incidents in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey -- the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is repeating its recommendation that every home should have a carbon monoxide (CO) alarm. The CPSC also urges consumers to have a professional inspection of all fuel-burning appliances -- including furnaces, stoves, fireplaces, clothes dryers, water heaters, and space heaters -- to detect deadly carbon monoxide leaks. Consumers should also have the vent pipes on their heating systems inspected. In 1998, virtually the entire furnace and boiler industry together with the manufacturers of high-temperature plastic vent (HTPV) pipes joined with CPSC to announce a vent pipe recall program. The program's purpose is to replace, free of charge, an estimated 250,000 HTPV pipe systems attached to gas or propane furnaces or boilers in consumers' homes. The HTPV pipes could crack or separate at the joints and leak CO. Consumers can check the vent pipes attached to their natural gas or propane furnaces or boilers to determine if they are part of this recall. They can be identified as follows: the vent pipes are plastic; the vent pipes are colored gray or black; and the vent pipes have names "Plexvent®," "Plexvent® II," or "Ultravent®" stamped on the vent pipe or printed on stickers placed on pieces used to connect the vent pipes together. Consumers should also check the location of these vent pipes. For furnaces, only HTPV systems that have vent pipes that go through the sidewalls of the structures (horizontal systems) are subject to this program. For boilers, all HTPV systems are subject to this program. To link from your web site to this press release on CPSC's web site, go to: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml01/01069.html
DISCLAIMER: This column is not intended to create an attorney-client
relationship. The information contained in this update is general in nature.
Individual situations of readers may not fit the general educational
information described in the column. Readers are strongly encouraged to consult
with an attorney to evaluate individual situations and provide legal advice.
Any reliance on the information contained herein is taken at the reader's own
risk and should not be considered legal advice.
Mr. Lynch can be reached at Cozen and O'Connor, 501 West Broadway, Suite 1610,
San Diego, California 92101, 800-782-3366 (voice), 619-234-7831 (fax),
palynch@cozen.com (e-mail), http://www.cozen.com. Follow us on Twitter at @firesandrain.
Please direct comments, suggestions, stories, and other items to the author by
e-mail at palynch@cozen.com
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