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Tested the CO Experts alarm

Lyle C
Lyle C Member Posts: 96
About a year ago myself and a helper were changing 2 Trianco heat exchangers . In a basement about 30X30, closed windows, fire door, after about 2 hours of work. The CO from us breathing set off the detector 5 feet away. Makes you wonder about those jobs you've worked on and felt wiped out in a couple of hours .

Comments

  • Spudwrench
    Spudwrench Member Posts: 47
    Tested the CO Experts alarm

    I bought a CO Experts alarm a while back and got sick of seeing 000 ppm (not that that's a BAD thing!) so I thought I'd try an experiment.
    I was running a charcoal grill outside and brought the CO experts alarm out on to the porch...probably at least 10 ft away from the grille, on a windy day. There was what I would consider a mild charcoal burning odor; you would never have a second thought about sitting at this proximity to the grille. Within seconds, the display rapidly counted up and the alarm began to sound!
    It really makes you wonder about the safety of young children around campfires and charcoal grilles.

    Nathan
  • Mark Hunt_3
    Mark Hunt_3 Member Posts: 184
    Nathan and Lyle


    Those are two of the best posts I have ever seen on The Wall.

    It is amazing what we find when we look.

    Thanks for posting!

    Mark H
  • jp_2
    jp_2 Member Posts: 1,935
    ah oh!!!!

    humans normally do not exhale CO.

    CO if you are a heavy smoker.

    I'd suggest there was a different problem in that basement.
  • Lyle C
    Lyle C Member Posts: 96
    CO

    (Normal healthy people have breath CO in the range of 0-2ppm. People with various chronic diseases including asthma, diabetes and heart disease exhaled 5-10ppm from endogenous CO production, while smokers and people recently exposed to high levels of CO from exogenous sources may exhale 50 to over 500ppm.)
    I borrowed this from a medical testing website. Neither of us smoke. We've had physicals 3 months ago other than my weight we're both in good health. We used the torch for about 10 minutes ,no appliances were running . I can't think of any other source.
  • Jim Davis_3
    Jim Davis_3 Member Posts: 578


    There was an article about a CO poisoning last summer where the guy was cooking outdoors on the patio but all the windows were open in the house. When he came in with the food his wife and daughters were unconscious sitting at the table.

    Unless you breathe into a small bag you cannot detect the CO from your breath and it is impossible for CO in your breath to raise the levels in a room. Smoke filled bars rarely get over 15ppm with people smoking. Smokers exhale 20ppm to 60ppm several minutes after smoking. They have to be exhaling the smoke itself to get any higher. People with 500ppm in their breath are probably not conscious.

    Also the CO Experts does not display until the levels in the room reach 10ppm.
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