Zamboni's can make you sick, or worse....

Mark Eatherton

<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/07/us-hockey-illness-idUSTRE71669L20110207">http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/07/us-hockey-illness-idUSTRE71669L20110207</a>



61 people exposed due to Zamboni ice resurfacing machine and a ventilation system that wasn't working right,



Maybe Zamboni ought to consider making an all electric resurfacing machine....



EDIT: Zamboni makes an all electric machine. At a premium I am sure.



<a href="http://www.zamboni.com/Default.aspx?menu=machines">http://www.zamboni.com/Default.aspx?menu=machines</a>



ME

Tim McElwain

Mark we just had on the news

a report of some hockey players from a visiting team here in Rhode Island to play one of our local college hockey teams getting sick after they left the rink when the game was over. The initial diagnosis was not CO but further investigation showed three noxious emissions from the Zamboni one which was CO and also a carbon noxide and also nitrous oxide.



Many of the Zamboni run on Propane and they tend to not be very well maintained so emissions can be very high. Also many hockey rinks use infrared heaters or space ray heaters which either burn propane or natural gas. All of these can contribute to carbon monoxide poisoning



My daughter coaches the girls high school hockey team from Barrington, RI. I am going to equip her with a CO detector to carry with her.

Tim McElwain

Actually the code

does not require infra-red or co-ray-vac units to be vented. As long as the square foot area of the building is so much per 50 BTU's they feel the air in the building and the hot gases will rise and dissipate.

Mark Eatherton

Try a google search of ice arena + carbon monoxide...

You'd think that someone would catch on. Something as simple as an interlock switch, that IF and WHEN the Zamboni is not parked in its usual resting spot, the whole house exhaust fans and make up fans are ON, because there is a 99% chance that the CO levels are going to rise. That, or require that a CO detector be interlocked into the HVAC system so that when high levels of CO are sensed, the fans kick into high gear.



This is not rocket science, and all of these components are available off shelf.



Crazy. THE most PREVENTABLE method of inadvertent poisoning, and it still continues...



ME

Tim McElwain

Your are certainly

correct. I have convinced one hockey rink owner here in RI to look into some means of safe shutdown in the event of high levels of CO. Part of the problem is the vast area that has to be monitored



A similar situation is forklifts used in some box stores. They use propane for fuel and are very rarely tuned to insure proper burning. They make CO like crazy when they are left running while waiting to load something. I have stood near several at different times with a detector and it is not uncommon for levels 10 to 15 feet away from the forklift to be 150 to 200 PPM. I have seen over 500 on several occasions when left sitting and running. Imagine what the operator is inhaling. Just think I used to work off those when working on unit heaters high up in warehouses.

Mark Eatherton

You would think that in this day of Nannyism Government...

That the AHJ's would be PROactive instead of REactive and be out looking at their sports facilities and supporting equipment to make sure these situations don't occur.



Shaking my head in wonderment...



ME