Emission testing by old timers

steamfitter

Wondering how the old timers might have checked the flue gases before electronic meters were invented. Were they able to know if carbonic monoxide was present? Other than visually checking the flame, was there a measuring tool/gauge which showed the amounts of each flue gas?
When and how did these modern tools come into play?
Historically curious.

steamfitter

Meant to write "carbon monoxide (CO)"
Sorry guys!

ChrisJ

Look up Bacharach Fyrite Classic and Bacharach Monoxor.
The Fyrite "shakers" are available for CO2 and O2. The Monoxor does CO.

As far as I know, these so called "wet kits" have been around since the 1930s.

Not sure when digital stuff started coming out, maybe the 1990s?


http://www.mybacharach.com/product-view/fyrite-classic/


https://youtu.be/---DIO1DpGM

delta T

We still have have one of those old "shake n bakes", it sits on our shelf un used and lonely slowly collecting dust. Haven't used it in about ten years probably. They are surprisingly accurate though, when we got our first combustion analyzer I checked it against the Bacharach kit and they only differed by about 0.4% for the co2 reading. Of course taking one sample of flue gas took about two minutes (after you had everything set up). The other thing about the old kits is that the fluid is really nasty. Can't remember off hand what the chemical actually is but it comes in little bottles with a BIG skull and crossbones on it. And you had to keep track of how many tests you did so you knew when to change the fluid because it would start to become inaccurate once it was exhausted. It is a pretty ingenious kit though, no electronics, just chemistry and physics. Measure the co2 with the shaker, measure the stack temp, get out the chart and voila, you had your efficiency.

JUGHNE

Does anyone want one? I had the entire kit back when there was still oil around. I still use the draft gauge and stack thermometer.

steamfitter

Thanks guys!
Great information!!! Interesting stuff! I appreciate the link and the video. Info Technology is awesome when used for educational purposes.
I don't know much about this extremely important topic, but now I have a bit of valuable knowledge. The entire emission sector is so important to both our environment and economy. This stuff is exponentially critical when it's associated with power plants and power generation.
Thanks again!
Manny

Tim McElwain

As one who used the "Wet Kit" for many years until the electronic analyzers came out they served the purpose. The red chemical for CO2 the Blue for O2 along with the ampoules which changed color on the carbon monoxide testers. Then match up with the a stack temperature gauge and a draft gauge you were in business. Finally a "Fire Finder" which was matched up to net stack temperature and the CO2 reading from the wet kit cylinder got you efficiency. The testing process back in those days was called an "ORSAT". It was defined as a chemical analysis of flue gases.

I still find some of the old stuff sometimes more convenient than the analyzer especially as to temperature and draft. I must say however I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I got my first electronic analyzer.

There are still some oil folks who use a wet kit up here in New England. Most oil techs however never measured O2 or carbon monoxide. There test was CO2, a smoke test, net stack temperature and overfire and stack draft. They matched up CO2 with net stack to get efficiency. I have actually over the years tested oil systems after the oil folks had tested the system and found very high levels of carbon monoxide. They would often say "Zero Smoke" no CO that is however not true. Just like a blue flame on gas means no CO is not correct. If you do not test you do not know.