Carbon Monoxide Testers, That Time Of Year.....

It is that time of year again when it is not a bad idea to test your heaters to make sure they are NOT LEAKING CO into your cabin. A monitor is cheap insurance and a "final test" to make sure you don't poison yourself or others.

I use a $45 portable CO detector with a digital monitor on the front. It uses a 9v battery and I test the air when ever I do something to the exhaust or add a heat muff, ect. It is cheap, portable, sensitive (I get readings of 15 PPM after taxing, zero when flying), and reliable.

http://www.kiddeus.com/utcfs/Templates/Pages/Template-53/0,8062,pageId=4428&siteId=384,00.html

There are some 12v portables also

http://www.guardianavionics.com/products.html

Here is a table I found about the different levels of CO and what it can do. It is not as simple as just get fresh air. CO inhibites the blood from taking in O2 for a long time after exposure. You could be exposed to a high level and still become incapacitated even if you can correct the situation. I'm not trying to scare anyone, just educate. Be SAFE!

Concentration of CO in air / Inhalation time and toxic developed

30 parts per million (ppm) = Safety level as specified by the Health and Safety Executive

100 PPM = Slight headache within 2-3 hours

300 PPM = Frontal headache within 1-2 hours, becoming widespread in 3 hours

600 PPM = Dizziness, nausea, convulsions within 45 minutes

1,000 PPM = Unconsciousness in minutes, death within 1 hour

I did......

The other day I received my Guardian CO detector from .....yep u guessed it Guardian (THANKS Rosa and...and....Dam...what is his name...the Owner? "Brain Fade"). Great People, Fast service, Great products. Nope I don't have stock in Guardian! Anyway, I wired it to the IE MVP-50 ( Another Great Group Of People) and thought Hummmm, How am I going to test this thing?" Hey its lunch time, I'll do it later. After eating a heavily laiden burger with onions I blew into the co detector. The reading went up to 43ppm. It works and I figured I could use this before I go pick up chicks......

I put a Kidde on the floor just aft of my heater vent (archer).
It holds peak measurement until you clear the value which is nice. I typically see a little bump after start up then zero once moving. When the battery was almost dead it read out very high values (erroneously). Corrected with fresh battery.

Steve

Sticky1 said:

Hey its lunch time, I'll do it later. After eating a heavily laiden burger with onions I blew into the co detector. The reading went up to 43ppm. It works and I figured I could use this before I go pick up chicks......

Click to expand...

Well, unless you were drinking gasoline or some other fossil fuel with your gut buster burger how are you expelling carbon MONoxide? Carbon DIoxide is what humanoids expel when breathing.

Are you sure you are human?

My guess is the CO Guardian is pretty sensitive to guys with high testosterone and on the prowl!

s_tones said:

I put a Kidde on the floor just aft of my heater vent (archer).
It holds peak measurement until you clear the value which is nice. I typically see a little bump after start up then zero once moving. When the battery was almost dead it read out very high values (erroneously). Corrected with fresh battery.

Steve

Click to expand...

Exactly right Steve. I also see a bump to 13-15PPM after touch down & taxi. Under 50 PPM is fine for less than 8 hours a day according to OSHA.

What is nice about these $45 9v/110v CO monitors / testers with digital read outs is you can take it home when you are done and protect your family....

...........Unless you are Stick1. In his case he'll need a "natural gas" monitor after eating the gut buster burger. No way he'll have a family after digestion issues and chasing away ANY women and therefore, any hopes of ever having a family.

Getting colder. Time to read this thread again guys & gals.

These sound like they are an excellent choice. At work where there was a chance of CO poisoning happening we had a debate as to which detector to use. At the time there were the CO detectors for home and RV's (Motor Homes and such not airplanes) that cost about $50 and detected at 400 ppm well above the long term exposure limit and then there were the industrial CO detectors for around $1000 more than we wanted to pay. The price and sensitivity of these new detectors seems great and I would not want to fly with out one.

Bob Parry