Beware of charging batteries!
What
you need to know about carbon monoxide alarms
Many
carbon monoxide alarms and sensors encounter cross-interfering gases
that cause “false positives” or false alarms. The
presence of hydrogen can generate false alarms for many carbon
monoxide alarms or false/positive measurement readings on some
combustion analyzer test instruments. This is important for
consumers, emergency responders and the heating technician and others
to know. The devices alarming or displaying CO are sold as carbon
monoxide testing devices and the purchaser is assuming that’s
why it is alarming or detecting; but they can be cross sensitive to
hydrogen and other common gases like nitrogen.
Several
times a year,
emergency responders and others will respond to a CO alarm that is
not coming from a source that can possibly produce CO.
One
common example
of mistaken diagnosis suggests that carbon monoxide can come from a
charging car battery or a charging electric golf cart or fork lift.
(If you see a news story like this, please know that it is wrong.)
This is a hydrogen cross sensitivity issue. In this charging process,
there often is an out-gassing of hydrogen and the uninformed
technician or consumer is unaware of this phenomenon and then the
“chase for the ghosts” of CO begins. This can be
frustrating and has proven to be costly.
One
remedy for this of course is to utilize CO testing devices with
maximized technologies
that reduce the cross sensitivity of these common gases to the
sensor. It is very difficult to filter out all cross sensitive
atmospheres but they can be significantly reduced to avoid many
nuisance alarm situations. Consult with the manufacturer of the
device before purchasing.
Please
be advised
that some CO alarm systems are designed to protect people when CO
concentrations are under 30 PPM and more in line with fire department
self protection and civilian evacuation levels. All carbon monoxide
alarms are designed to save lives from deadly concentrations. Some
are quite a bit more effective than others in protecting your overall
health. Bob
Dwyer, CSME Carbon Monoxide Safety .
http://cosafety.blogspot.com/2012/06/carbon-monoxide-news-june-30-2012.html
Tags: batteries! what, batteries!, charging, beware