I heart Carbon monoxide- an unscientific test

[highsierrabear]

Here is something I posted on one of the other chainsaw carving forums. I thought some of this forum's readers might find this of interest as well. (I lurk in all the forums, but rarely post).

Here it is-

I was playing with our gas detector at work today and had some sobering results with carbon monoxide. Here are some pics and information that might be of interest to some.

Info first (boring), then pics.

What is carbon monoxide?
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a poisonous, odorless, colorless, tasteless gas that is a byproduct of incomplete combustion. CO is poisonous because it displaces the bodys ability to take in oxygen. CO poisoning is basically a lack of oxygen to the brain and other vital organs.
Red blood cells transport oxygen into the body, and carbon dioxide out of the body. CO cells bond much more readily to red blood cells than oxygen (more than 300 times more readily). What this means is that your red blood cells prefer CO to oxygen.

Symptoms of CO poisoning are headaches, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, or even chest pain.

What are the acceptable levels of CO?
OSHA limits for carbon monoxide are 50ppm (parts per million) over an 8-hour period.

NIOSH limits for CO are 35ppm over an 8-period, and a 200ppm short term exposure limit (15-minutes).

Here is our 4-gas detector before testing. Oxygen is a normal 20.9% and CO readings are zero. Incidentally, I'm out on the apron (driveway) of the fire station.



First test-
Here I am holding the detector in front of the muffler of our Stihl 440. Within a few seconds at idle, the alarms started going off (the "get the hell out" alarm). At full throttle near the muffler I was hitting CO levels OVER 2000ppm- toxic, acutely poisonous levels.



Second test-
Here I am running the saw with the detector about 5 feet away.



Here is the CO level.



Yeah, that's 494ppm. Remember that 200ppm is considered by NIOSH to be a max level for a 15-minute exposure.