would this work to detect CO?

[Scared Silly]

Unless you are filling tanks in your garage with a gas powered compressor, CO is really not anything worth worrying about

Yeah right. The chance may low but then again when divers got sick and died in Cozumel cause the primary fill operator had issue it took DAN and Analox donations to get them to install CO detectors at the stations. Gives me great confidence.

professional fill stations have to submit gas for analysis yearly to stay compliant and included in that is a CO measurement from the gas.

Stay compliant with what??? PADI used to require quarterly testing but dropped it. I would love to see the complaint rules for the USA. May be insurance require such testing but once mean little for an active fill station with lots of filter changes.

For reference, I believe current limits are 5ppm in Canada, 10ppm in US, and 15ppm in UK. I try to make sure everything is <5ppm since that is what the old standard was.

The UK is 5 ppm.



For the OP the main issue with the home detectors is the range and sensitivity. Home detectors are something like 0-500ppm or 1000ppm with a sensitivity of ~25ppm. So even if you got a reading of 5ppm it could be 0 or 30 ppm. Not really usable. That plus many of the other reasons listed above are why it is not usable.

 

[tbone1004]

there's articles from the UK that indicated a change to 15ppm, did they change back? All fill stations I've been to have their certs for Grade E air hanging on the wall like health codes. NOAA and OSHA require biannual testing for their compressors so quite a few fill stations I frequent test to that, but most still do once a year, that may be because there are other governing bodies requesting it, who knows. The majority of domestic fill stations are electric not gas. If I am at a dive center that doesn't have the testing results posted I check with my analyzer, if they have the quality testing posted, then there's no reason to check.

The big point is that if it was a major concern for even a small majority of divers, CO analyzers would be taught in basic scuba and every serious diver out there would carry one and test their bottles after every fill. As I can honestly say I almost never see a CO analyzer, and you almost never hear of any incidents with CO, it is not something to be concerned about for most divers in most conditions. If the intake for the compressor is nowhere near any fuel burning engines and the compressor is electric, the odds of you ever detecting CO are minuscule. The situation where there was standing water in the tank is a reason that I always pick up all of my tanks before I dive with them, you can hear/feel the sloshing if there is any real amount of water in there.

 

[Kharon]

Thank's everyone. It was just an idea due to the post about the tank that generated it's own CO. I thought it was probably not something that I had to worry about - now I won't.

---------- Post added August 21st, 2014 at 10:57 AM ----------

CO-Pro detectors. $8, reusable.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Could we get a link?

 

[grf88]

I guess it was also something these three divers didn't worry about either:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...sion-chamber-italy-tuscany-3.html#post7202096

 

[fsardone]

I guess it was also something these three divers didn't worry about either:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...sion-chamber-italy-tuscany-3.html#post7202096

Yes those will never need to worry about it anymore.
Just for everybody to know, if an electric driven compressor overheats, the oil used to lubricate pistons could flashover and add to good air carbon monoxide. This would not be coming from ambient but produced directly inside compressor. Inline CO testing would detect this and shut down the compressor. This might happen in hot weather or in running a compressor for long time. Filters cannot do anything against CO (nor even gas masks, rescue going into CO environment need to use respirators). Due to the nature of this source the same compressor can produce perfectly good fills when cold (maybe those for air quality testing) and killer tanks at the end of the batch (when it is hot).

For those thinking that nitrox or oxy fills are ok, keep in mind that partial pressure filling in presence of hydrocarbons on filling whips and manifolds can cause explosions and fire which will be evident but can also cause hidden flashovers which are source of CO in tanks. This would become undetectable if you add oxy and then air even from a monitored compressor (CO is already in the tank).

Fact is your problem might go undetected, become an headache or be cause of death especially diving deep.
Would you bet your life on CO be absent or check your tanks ?

Your question to answer.

Fabio

 

[Kharon]

CO-Pro detectors. $8, reusable.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

Once again - can we get a link?????

 

[fsardone]

Those are also available on the DanEurope shop. Unfortunately DAN does not allow deep linking but:
go https://secure.daneurope.org/shop
Then select language from top drop down combo box
Then select member or non ember from center of page
once there from the right end menu select Diving Safety and you will get the CO pro 1 and CoPro5 (single and package of 5)
also the electronic CO monitor.

Also in this world of googling everything typing 'COPRO carbon monoxide' in a google search box will find the manufacturer and a few shops.

.... and no you cannot get a link

Fabio

 

[FoxHound]

CO-Pro detectors. $8, reusable.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

Once again - can we get a link?????

CO-PRO - Personal Carbon Monoxide Protection

for your viewing pleasure

 

[tbone1004]

Yes those will never need to worry about it anymore.
Just for everybody to know, if an electric driven compressor overheats, the oil used to lubricate pistons could flashover and add to good air carbon monoxide. This would not be coming from ambient but produced directly inside compressor. Inline CO testing would detect this and shut down the compressor. This might happen in hot weather or in running a compressor for long time. Filters cannot do anything against CO (nor even gas masks, rescue going into CO environment need to use respirators). Due to the nature of this source the same compressor can produce perfectly good fills when cold (maybe those for air quality testing) and killer tanks at the end of the batch (when it is hot).

For those thinking that nitrox or oxy fills are ok, keep in mind that partial pressure filling in presence of hydrocarbons on filling whips and manifolds can cause explosions and fire which will be evident but can also cause hidden flashovers which are source of CO in tanks. This would become undetectable if you add oxy and then air even from a monitored compressor (CO is already in the tank).

Fact is your problem might go undetected, become an headache or be cause of death especially diving deep.
Would you bet your life on CO be absent or check your tanks ?

Your question to answer.

Fabio

Hopcalite 300/monoxycon oxidize CO into CO2 which can handle up to like 300 ish ppm of CO and knock it back down to less than 5ppm, usually less than 1ppm, and then an activated carbon filter with 13x molecular sieve helps to lower the CO2 values, but CO2 is allowed up to 1000ppm so you're still well under the limits. You still need a sensor on there after all of the filtration with an auto shutoff for the compressor or one helluva alarm, but the point being is yes, CO can be filtered out of air. You should also have a temp cutoff on your compressor because the numbers are documented in the safe operating temps of the compressor. Fitting a temp sending unit isn't hard. I don't know these numbers off hand because I have a RIX so I don't have to worry about oil lube.

 

[nimoh]

Hopcalite 300/monoxycon oxidize CO into CO2 which can handle up to like 300 ish ppm of CO and knock it back down to less than 5ppm, usually less than 1ppm, and then an activated carbon filter with 13x molecular sieve helps to lower the CO2 values, but CO2 is allowed up to 1000ppm so you're still well under the limits. You still need a sensor on there after all of the filtration with an auto shutoff for the compressor or one helluva alarm, but the point being is yes, CO can be filtered out of air. You should also have a temp cutoff on your compressor because the numbers are documented in the safe operating temps of the compressor. Fitting a temp sending unit isn't hard. I don't know these numbers off hand because I have a RIX so I don't have to worry about oil lube.

I think the point is that not all fill stations are doing this stuff and especially for the new diver it is difficult to determine what is a good fill shop vs a bad one. So, if divers are going to use these places, a CO tester is probably not a bad investment.