Carbon Monoxide Deaths From Furnaces and Other Heating Systems: CPSC and CDC Data, 1999 to 2022

This month in brief

• Heating systems were tied to an estimated 76 of 274 US consumer-product CO deaths in 2022 (27.7%), second to engine-driven tools at 107, per the CPSC 2022 Annual Estimates published May 2026.
• Carbon monoxide deaths from furnaces, including boilers, averaged 22.8 a year in 2019 to 2022, down 30.9% from 33.0 a year in 1999 to 2002.
• Portable heaters averaged 29.5 deaths a year in 2019 to 2022, up 49.0% from 19.8 in 1999 to 2002, and outnumbered furnaces in 2019, 2020 and 2022.
• Heating's share of all consumer-product CO deaths fell from 54.0% in 1999 to 2002 to 28.7% in 2019 to 2022 as generator deaths grew.
• From 2012 to 2022, LP gas portable heaters were tied to 191 estimated deaths and natural gas furnaces to 105.
• October to March held 71.6% of consumer-product CO deaths from 2012 to 2022; January alone held 15.4%.
• CDC counted 481 unintentional non-fire CO deaths from all sources in 2020; the CPSC consumer-product estimate equals 45.5% of the CDC count over 2012 to 2020.
• CPSC estimates for recent years are incomplete: 2022 death-certificate reporting was 90% complete, and the 2020 and 2021 estimates each rose by 12 deaths after first release.

Heating systems were tied to 76 of 274 product-related CO deaths in 2022

In the CPSC's newest edition, heating equipment is the second-largest source of non-fire carbon monoxide deaths from consumer products, behind engine-driven tools. Both have risen since the early 2010s.

Non-fire CO death (CPSC definition): An unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning death, coded ICD-10 X47 or Y17, tied to a consumer product under CPSC jurisdiction. It excludes fires, motor-vehicle exhaust alone, work-related exposures and intentional poisonings. 'Heating systems' covers furnaces and boilers, wall and floor furnaces, room and space heaters, portable heaters and unspecified heaters. Charcoal and gas ranges used for warmth are counted in their own categories.

The CPSC estimates 274 non-fire CO deaths tied to consumer products in 2022 and 76 of them tied to heating systems (27.7%). Engine-driven tools were tied to 107 and generators alone to 93 (CPSC 2022 Annual Estimates).

Of the 76 heating deaths in 2022, 67 involved gas heating. LP gas heating accounted for 43 deaths, about 70% of them unvented portable propane heaters, and natural gas heating for 15, of which 11 were installed natural gas furnaces. Another 18 deaths involved charcoal and 16 gas ranges, most of them known or suspected to have been used for warmth.

For an HVAC owner, the single-year counts are small enough that one bad winter or one multi-death incident moves them. The four-year periods in the next section are the safer basis for a trend claim.

Carbon monoxide deaths from furnaces fell by about a third while portable heater deaths rose by half

Grouping 24 years of CPSC estimates into six four-year periods shows the heating problem moving away from installed central equipment and toward portable heaters that sit outside any service contract.

Furnaces, including boilers, averaged 33.0 estimated CO deaths a year in 1999 to 2002 and 22.8 a year in 2019 to 2022, a 30.9% drop. Portable heaters went the other way, from 19.8 to 29.5 a year (up 49.0%).

Measured as a share of heating-system deaths, furnaces held 44.6% in 1999 to 2002 and 51.3% in 2015 to 2018, then fell to 32.7% in 2019 to 2022. Portable heaters rose from 26.7% to 42.4%. Installed furnaces plus wall and floor furnaces fell from 60.8% to 36.7% of heating deaths.

Population growth does not explain the furnace decline. Per 10 million residents, furnace CO deaths fell from 1.0 in 1999 to 2001 to 0.69 in 2020 to 2022 (down 31.0%), while the rate for all heating systems fell only 14.2%, from 2.4 to 2.06.

What this means for an HVAC company: the installed equipment contractors service is now a smaller part of the heating CO death count than it was two decades ago, and the growth is in products that homeowners buy and run themselves.

Propane portable heaters top the 11-year list, ahead of natural gas furnaces

Summing the CPSC's annual estimates for 2012 to 2022 by equipment and fuel gives a ranked list that the agency's tables show only year by year.

From 2012 to 2022, LP gas portable heaters were tied to 191 estimated CO deaths, 30.7% of the 622 heating-system deaths. Natural gas furnaces followed with 105, then furnaces burning unspecified gas with 60 and LP gas furnaces with 42.

All furnaces and boilers together were tied to 261 deaths over the 11 years, 42.0% of heating-system deaths. The fuel is often missing from death records, so the natural gas furnace count is a floor: 60 furnace deaths list unspecified gas and 28 list no fuel at all.

CPSC's case notes for furnace and boiler deaths describe detached or blocked vents, soot-clogged flues, compromised heat exchangers, filter doors left off, backdrafting and appliances that were old and poorly maintained (CPSC 2022 edition, p. 10).

January and December hold nearly 30% of consumer-product CO deaths

CO deaths follow the heating season. CPSC's month-of-death table covers all consumer products, so it mixes heating, generator use during winter outages and other sources.

Across 2012 to 2022, January had 332 estimated CO deaths (15.4%) and December 309. Together they hold 29.7% of the 2,159 deaths CPSC assigns to a month. August had the fewest at 85, and January's count is 3.6 times July's.

October through March held 71.6% of the deaths. CPSC reports that November to February alone held 59% of deaths on average in 2020 to 2022 and 64% in 2022, against an 11-year average of 55%.

For a service company, the death curve lines up with the months when furnace calls peak. That timing matters for any claim about heating CO risk: a December or January figure is not a monthly average.

What 16 CPSC editions reported, and how far the numbers move after release

This tracker lists every CPSC edition from the 2007 to the 2022 data year with its three-year average. It also shows how first-published annual figures were revised later.

Each edition reports a three-year average and 9 to 11 years of annual estimates. Heating systems' printed share of the three-year average stayed between 29.6% and 34.2% in the editions dated 2011 to 2019, dipped to 23.9% in the 2017 edition, and has been 28.6% to 29.3% in the last three editions.

Revisions are usually small but run upward for the newest years. Across data years 2009 to 2021 the mean change from first-published to current total was 0.9%. The 2020 and 2021 totals each rose by 12 deaths (5.7% and 5.9%).

CDC's count runs about twice CPSC's because it includes cars and work sites

CDC death-certificate data give a second, broader count. It is the right figure for all unintentional CO deaths, but not for heating equipment.

CDC unintentional non-fire CO death: A death certificate with ICD-10 X47 (accidental poisoning by gases and vapors) as underlying cause and T58 (toxic effect of carbon monoxide) as a contributing cause. It includes motor vehicles and workplace exposures and excludes Y17 (undetermined intent). It does not name the product.

Our CDC WONDER query returns 481 unintentional non-fire CO deaths in 2020, 526 in 2019 and 332 in 2012, and reproduces CDC's published total of 5,149 deaths for 1999 to 2010 exactly (MMWR QuickStats). CDC's current fact page says more than 400 Americans die from unintentional non-fire CO each year.

The CPSC consumer-product estimate equals 45.5% of the CDC count over 2012 to 2020, up from 33.3% in 1999 to 2003; in 2020 the CDC count was 2.16 times the CPSC estimate. The rising ratio fits CPSC's finding that product-related deaths, mainly generators, have grown faster than CO deaths from other sources. The two series use different codes and scopes, so the ratio is approximate.

A federal CO rule for gas furnaces and boilers was proposed in 2023 and is not final

CPSC's furnace and boiler rulemaking is the main federal action aimed at installed heating equipment. Its record carries the agency's own furnace death estimates.

On October 25, 2023, CPSC published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require residential gas furnaces, boilers, wall furnaces and floor furnaces to detect and prevent dangerous CO production and leakage (88 FR 73272). The notice estimates 21 CO deaths a year tied to these gas appliances in 2017 to 2019 and 539 from 2000 to 2019.

The 2019 advance notice cited 57 furnace and boiler deaths reported to CPSC in 2013 to 2015 and an estimated 7,590 CO injuries tied to these appliances in the same years. As of November 2, 2026, the Federal Register lists 5 documents in docket CPSC-2019-0020; the latest is dated February 8, 2024, and none is a final rule.

How an HVAC owner can read these numbers

The data support a few plain statements and rule out several common ones.

• Supported: heating systems were tied to an estimated 76 consumer-product CO deaths in 2022 and 622 from 2012 to 2022 (CPSC).
• Supported: installed furnaces and boilers were tied to an estimated 20 deaths in 2022, fewer than portable heaters at 34 (CPSC).
• Supported: deaths cluster in the heating season, with 71.6% from October to March over 2012 to 2022.
• Not supported: a figure for deaths prevented by annual furnace service. Neither CPSC nor CDC publishes one.
• Not supported: a 2023 or 2024 national heating CO death estimate. CPSC has not published one, because reporting for those years is incomplete.

For a contracting business, the steady part of the data is the seasonal pattern and the installed-equipment share. Single-year swings in furnace deaths, such as 34 in 2016 and 17 in 2017, are too small to read as a trend.

Momentum and share analysis

Download the calculations (CSV)

Findings to track

1. Heating systems were tied to an estimated 76 US non-fire CO deaths in 2022, 27.7% of 274 consumer-product CO deaths (CPSC, May 2026).^[1]
2. Furnaces, including boilers, were tied to an estimated 20 CO deaths in 2022 and portable heaters to 34 (CPSC 2022 Annual Estimates, Table 1).^[1]
3. Generators alone were tied to an estimated 892 CO deaths from 2012 to 2022, against 622 for heating systems, 1.43 generator deaths per heating death (CPSC).^[1]
4. Furnaces' share of US heating-system CO deaths fell from 44.6% in 1999 to 2002 and 51.3% in 2015 to 2018 to 32.7% in 2019 to 2022 (HVAC Business Brokers calculation from CPSC Table 1).^{[1][2][3][4][5][13]}
5. Portable heaters' share of US heating-system CO deaths rose from 26.7% in 1999 to 2002 to 42.4% in 2019 to 2022 (HVAC Business Brokers calculation from CPSC Table 1).^[1][13]
6. The US furnace CO death rate fell from 1.0 per 10 million people in 1999 to 2001 to 0.69 in 2020 to 2022, a 31.0% decline (calculation from CPSC Tables 1 and B.1).^[1][12][13]
7. Of 43 LP gas heating deaths in 2022, about 70% involved unvented portable propane heaters, and 11 of 15 natural gas heating deaths involved installed furnaces (CPSC).^[1]
8. LP gas portable heaters were tied to 191 estimated US CO deaths from 2012 to 2022, 1.82 times the 105 tied to natural gas furnaces (sum of CPSC annual estimates).^[1]
9. January accounted for 332 of 2,159 US consumer-product CO deaths by month from 2012 to 2022 (15.4%), and August for 85 (CPSC Table 6).^[1]
10. November to February held 59% of US consumer-product CO deaths on average in 2020 to 2022 (CPSC).^[1]
11. CDC WONDER counts 481 unintentional non-fire CO deaths from all sources in 2020 and 526 in 2019 (X47 underlying cause with T58).^[19]
12. Over 2012 to 2020 the CPSC consumer-product estimate equals 45.5% of the CDC all-source count, up from 33.3% in 1999 to 2003.^[1][19]
13. CPSC's 2023 NPR put CO deaths tied to gas furnaces and boilers at an estimated 21 a year in 2017 to 2019 and 539 from 2000 to 2019.^[24]
14. In 1994 to 1998, under ICD-9 coding, heating systems were tied to 76% of consumer-product CO deaths (152 of 200 a year); CPSC says the 1999 switch to ICD-10 coding may explain part of the drop in estimates after 1998, so the eras are not directly comparable.^[17]

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Reproduce this analysis

Every figure comes from the files below. The scripts that pulled and computed them are kept with the report and can be re-run.

Data quality and exclusions

• CPSC marks a cell with '*' when it received no reports; we coded these as 0. CPSC Table 1 cells shown as '<1' appear only in average columns, which we did not sum.
• Edition 2011 (data year 2011) has optical character errors in its fuel subrows (the letter I for the digit 1); we used it only for its clean three-year averages and took the 2011 annual values from the 2021 edition.
• The 2002 and 2005 editions are image-only PDFs; 2 of 25 downloaded editions were not parsed. Their data years are covered by later editions.
• Month-of-death sums total 2,159 against 2,161 for the annual totals, a 2-death rounding gap in CPSC's own table; shares use the month total.
• September 2022 shows no reported deaths in CPSC Table 6; it is kept as 0, not imputed.
• All 24 annual all-product totals from the latest-edition series match CPSC Appendix B.1 exactly (0 mismatches).

Methodology

Selection: the primary source is the CPSC series Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products. We downloaded every edition listed on cpsc.gov (1995 to 2022 data years) and parsed Table 1 from the 16 editions for data years 2007 to 2022, which share one category structure. The 2002 and 2005 editions are scanned images with no text layer and were not parsed.

Annual series: for each year from 1999 to 2022 we used the most recent edition that reports it (the 2009 edition for 1999 and 2000, the 2010 edition for 2001, the edition for year plus ten for 2002 to 2011, and the 2022 edition for 2012 to 2022). Every resulting all-product total matches the 1980 to 2022 series in Appendix B of the 2022 edition. Generator and engine-driven tool figures come from Tables B.2 and B.4 of the 2022 edition.

Derived metrics: period shares are ratios of sums, not averages of annual percentages. Rates per 10 million use CPSC's own population column. All calculations are in scripts/04_build_tables.py and scripts/05_facts.py and reproduce from the saved PDFs without network access.

Cross-check: CDC WONDER Multiple Cause of Death 1999-2020 was queried through the public API for national totals only, underlying cause X47 and multiple cause T58, by year. The query reproduces CDC's published 1999 to 2010 total of 5,149 exactly. A 2018 onward single-race WONDER query was attempted and did not return data; it is listed in excluded.md.

Conflicts: where CPSC editions disagree, the latest edition wins, and the size of past revisions is shown in table t7. Where CPSC and CDC disagree, both are shown with their definitions; neither is treated as wrong.

Limits and update: CPSC estimates for 2018 to 2022 are incomplete and may change. This page was last updated 2026-11-02 and will be revised when CPSC posts its 2023 edition. Published by HVAC Business Brokers Research Desk at sell-my-hvac-business.com. Not medical, legal or safety advice.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, financial or investment advice.

Sources, ranked by quality

Tier 1: primary and official sources (25)

• [1] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2022 Annual Estimates (May 2026). 2012-2022. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [2] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2021 Annual Estimates (Feb 2025). 2011-2021. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [3] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2020 Annual Estimates (Feb 2024). 2010-2020. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [4] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2019 Annual Estimates (Mar 2023). 2009-2019. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [5] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2018 Annual Estimates (Sep 2021). 2008-2018. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [6] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2017 Annual Estimates (Nov 2020). 2007-2017. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [7] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2016 Annual Estimates (Sep 2019). 2006-2016. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [8] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2015 Annual Estimates (Dec 2018). 2005-2015. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [9] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2014 Annual Estimates (Sep 2017). 2004-2014. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [10] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2013 Annual Estimates (Nov 2016). 2003-2013. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [11] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2012 Annual Estimates (Oct 2015). 2002-2012. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [12] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2010 Annual Estimates (Jan 2014). 2001-2010. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [13] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2009 Annual Estimates (Dec 2012). 1999-2009. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [14] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2008 Annual Estimates (Dec 2011). 1999-2008. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [15] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2007 Annual Estimates (Jan 2011). 1999-2007. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [16] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2011 Annual Estimates (Sep 2014). 2002-2011. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [17] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Deaths Associated with the Use of Consumer Products, 2001 Annual Estimates. 1994-2001. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [18] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Research and Statistics: Carbon Monoxide (report listing). 1995-2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [19] CDC National Center for Health Statistics. CDC WONDER, Multiple Cause of Death 1999-2020 (API query: UCD X47, MCD T58, by year). 1999-2020. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [20] CDC. QuickStats: Average Annual Number of Deaths and Death Rates from Unintentional, Non-Fire-Related Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, United States, 1999-2010 (MMWR, Jan 2014). 1999-2010. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [21] CDC. Carbon Monoxide-Related Deaths, United States, 1999-2004 (MMWR, Dec 2007). 1999-2004. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [22] CDC. Carbon Monoxide (CO) Poisoning Basics (page dated Oct 26, 2026). current. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [23] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission via Federal Register. Performance Requirements for Residential Gas Furnaces and Boilers; Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 84 FR 42847 (Aug 19, 2019). 2013-2015. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [24] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission via Federal Register. Safety Standard for Residential Gas Furnaces and Boilers; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 88 FR 73272 (Oct 25, 2023). 2000-2019. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [25] Office of the Federal Register. Federal Register API: documents in docket CPSC-2019-0020. 2019-2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (2)

• [26] Safety+Health magazine (National Safety Council). Deaths linked to carbon monoxide from heaters and generators continue to climb: report (Mar 21, 2024). 2010-2020. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [27] CBS News Philadelphia. Highest Number Of Unintentional Carbon Monoxide Deaths Occur During Winter: Officials (Jan 29, 2019). 2010-2015. Accessed 2026-11-02.