What are the effects of long term exposure to natural gas?
Health effects
While exposure to low levels of natural gas is not harmful, long-term exposure can affect your health. Burning natural gas produces nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, and methane. These chemicals can trigger respiratory problems, depression, and decrease the quality of your health.
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1) Decreased level of oxygen
- Headache.
- Dizziness.
- Nausea.
- Eye and throat irritation.
- Fatigue.
- Breathing problems.
- Pale skin or blisters from skin contact.
As exposure above 9 ppm for longer than eight hours leads to COHb levels of above 2.5%, health effects might occur at such levels. In the case of a malfunctioning gas heater, exposure would potentially occur for as long as the problem remained undetected, lasting weeks or even months.
Physical Implications of a Natural Gas Leak
Long term exposure to natural gas may cause permanent medical symptoms including miscarriage, cardiovascular damage, brain problems, or death.
Survivors of severe, acute CO poisoning can develop long-term neurologic sequelae (e.g., impairments in memory, concentration, and speech, as well as depression and parkinsonism). These sequelae may arise immediately after CO poisoning or may be delayed (occurring 2–21 days after CO poisoning).
Get into fresh air immediately and call 911 or emergency medical help if you or someone you're with develops signs or symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. These include headache, dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath, weakness and confusion.
Natural gas is non-toxic (non-poisonous), but can cause death by suffocation if the gas displaces the air in a confined space.
Rotten Egg Smell
Natural gas and propane have a distinctive smell for a reason. For safety purposes, utility companies use an additive called mercaptan that gives the colorless and odorless gases a smell that is hard to miss. Most people describe this smell like something like rotten eggs, sewage, or sulfur.
If fossil fuels are your home's only option, natural gas is probably the best one to use for heating. When compared against electric resistance equipment, natural gas furnaces are a clear winner. The financial cost of heating a home with a natural gas furnace is much lower than an electric resistance furnace.
Carbon monoxide gas leaves the body the same way it got in, through the lungs. In fresh air, it takes four to six hours for a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning to exhale about half of the inhaled carbon monoxide in their blood.
What do you do if you smell natural gas?
If the odor is strong, leave the premises immediately and tell others to leave. Then, call your local gas company from a neighbor's home. Outside gas odors should be reported right away - do not try to locate the source yourself.
Inhaling carbon monoxide can be extremely dangerous because it enters the bloodstream, eventually attaches to red blood cells (RBCs) carrying oxygen and can cause damage to vital organs, including the brain. In many incidences, those exposed to the harmful gas do not receive medical treatment right away.
High levels of methane can reduce the amount of oxygen breathed from the air. This can result in mood changes, slurred speech, vision problems, memory loss, nausea, vomiting, facial flushing and headache. In severe cases, there may be changes in breathing and heart rate, balance problems, numbness, and unconsciousness.
- Rapid breathing.
- Increased heart rate.
- Clumsiness and dizziness.
- Decreased vision, especially in low lights.
- Euphoria.
- Decreased alertness.
- Loss of memory.
- Weakness.
For those who survive, recovery is slow. How well a person does depends on the amount and length of exposure to the carbon monoxide. Permanent brain damage may occur. If the person still has impaired mental ability after 2 weeks, the chance of a complete recovery is worse.
Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause permanent damage to parts of your body that require a lot of oxygen, such as the heart and brain, and may result in neurological damage, illness, coma, or death.
Severe hypercapnia can cause organ or brain damage, and even death. Some symptoms include: Confusion Coma Depression, paranoia, panic attacks.
If the carbon monoxide concentration in the air is much higher, signs of poisoning may occur within 1-2 hours. A very high carbon monoxide concentration can even kill an exposed individual within 5 minutes.
Physical Symptoms Associated With Gas Leaks
The most common physical symptoms to occur during a gas leak include the following: Trouble breathing. Dizziness or feeling lightheaded. Drowsiness or increased fatigue.
Typically, you'll need to allow your home to air out for fifteen minutes to a few hours, but the exact timeframe depends on the severity of the leak and wind conditions in your area.
Can a gas leak cause health problems?
But gas leaks can occur. These leaks can lead to physical symptoms and, in some cases, the gas can cause carbon monoxide poisoning in people and animals. According to the American Gas Association, over 73 million residential, commercial, and industrial premises in the United States use natural gas.
Natural gas is non-toxic (non-poisonous), but can cause death by suffocation if the gas displaces the air in a confined space.
Inhalation: A natural gas leak in an outdoor environment is usually not concentrated enough to cause symptoms. A leak into a small-enclosed space can result in a lack of oxygen in the air and symptoms of hypoxia. These include headache, decreased vision, fatigue, shortness of breath and loss of consciousness.