(Radio Iowa) – Carbon monoxide poisoning is usually associated with fall and starting up the furnace, but Iowans need to be aware that the colorless, odorless gas can be equally as lethal during the summer months — including while staying in a rental cabin or even while boating. Dr. Benjamin Orozco, an emergency physician at Emplify Health by Gundersen, says people need to know the causes and the risks.

Dr. Benjamin Orozco (Gundersen photo)

“When you start working on your lawn equipment for the spring, if you’re running a small engine inside a garage or in an enclosed space, that’s a common cause of carbon monoxide poisoning,” Orozco says. “If you’re pressure washing indoors with a gas-powered pressure washer, these are real problems.”

Carbon monoxide poisoning can also strike water skiers and anyone else being towed on the water, though it’s more rare.

“Even outdoors, right behind a boat, if the wind is right and you’re just breathing in that boat exhaust at a close distance, maybe wakeboarding or water skiing where you’re right behind it,” Orozco says. “If you’re getting a headache, you’re getting nauseous, you’re not feeling right, it has actually caused significant carbon monoxide poisoning in people in close proximity to motor sports.”

Many Iowans have plans for summer vacations and he suggests you consider packing a combination CO and smoke detector — with fresh batteries — to take along on the trip.

“When you’re in vacation rentals, sometimes the owners aren’t on top of changing those smoke alarms, and sometimes the equipment in there is getting used by various people at different times,” Orozco says. “There have been poisonings of families who are in vacation rentals, so I actually travel with a small carbon monoxide detector to keep my family safe.”

Emplify Health by Gundersen has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.