Most homes have smoke detectors, but home owners may want toacquire monitors for other gases present in the house. Inparticular, carbon monoxide monitors are a very smart buy.Hand-held natural gas detectors are also available for checkingpiping and furnace equipment for leaks.Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that replacesoxygen in the blood stream. Breathing air rich in carbon monoxidewill cause death by asphyxiation.In the home, malfunctioning devices that burn any fuel, evennatural gas, can produce enough carbon monoxide to cause theinhabitants of a building to die. When it happens, the inhabitantsare frequently found in bed, having slept through the initialwarning signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. Those signs are mildheadache, mild nausea, and shortness of breath.Carbon mo