colin loach Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 Hi all can anyone tell how much carbon monoxide a gas pilot light would give off in a narrow boat that vent in side the boat from a gas fridge. Thanks Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlt Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 No. There are so many variables that it is impossible to say. A nice clean jet, with no soot build up in the way and a nice blue flame would produce very little. A clogged up jet, sooted up and with a yellow flame will produce more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bizzard Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 To keep a gas fridge working properly with as Carl says a nice blue flame,you need to service it once a year.Sweep its flu,dismantle and clean the burner,probe and blow out the gas jet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackrose Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 (edited) Some people have an exhaust outlet on their gas fridge while others don't. I don't know how effective they are but it just seemed safer to fit one on my gas fridge. The main difficulty is finding a fitting for the outside that won't get knocked off. I don't know how well CO detectors work in proximity to the source of CO, but perhaps someone can advise if it would be a good idea to fit a second CO detector/alarm somewhere near the back of your fridge (assuming you already have one in your saloon or kitchen area). Edited May 25, 2012 by blackrose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlt Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 I don't know how well CO detectors work in proximity to the source of CO, but perhaps someone can advise if it would be a good idea to fit a second CO detector/alarm somewhere near the back of your fridge (assuming you already have one in your saloon or kitchen area). Not a lot of point really. If you have an accurate CO meter and measure the CO in an average room it should register zero, or thereabouts. Light a candle and the room levels won't vary much but put the meter near the candle and it will jump to around 30ppm, giving a false dangerous reading. Placing an alarm near a pilot light will just give lots of alarms when it is actually perfectly safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higgs Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 My gas fridge was vented into the boat. There were no issues at any boat safety checks. The fridge never set off the CO detector, which was close to the fridge. No reading at all, on the detector - from the fridge. The gas fridge was replaced with a 12v, eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin loach Posted May 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 Thanks all for your comments I’m going on the thames and could take water on through the vent so I was thinking of covering it and venting into the boat until I return to the canals later Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 Hi all can anyone tell how much carbon monoxide a gas pilot light would give off in a narrow boat that vent in side the boat from a gas fridge. Thanks Colin About 20 parts per million. How does that help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlt Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 About 20 parts per million. How does that help? A flame will give out a quantity of CO, not a concentration. The concentration depends on the amount of air it is mixing with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 <i>A flame will give out a quantity of CO, not a concentration. The concentration depends on the amount of air it is mixing with. </i> Well as we are getting picky, a flame will give out a specific quantity of CO over a specific unit of time. The concentration (measured in pasrts per million) will depend on the number of air changes per hour in addition to the quantity of air diluting it, as you seem to be assuming I am quoting the concentration of CO in the room atmosphere. My figure of 20ppm is the typical concentration of CO found in the POCs of a gas flame burning with around about 100% excess air, so 50% dilution. 20ppm in the room air would be a potentially fatal concentration. But whatever, I still don't see how OP can make any meaningful use of the answer to his question. Gotta go now, boilers to fix. Just popped in for a minute having just finished my five-yearly gas exam renewals! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlt Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 Gotta go now, boilers to fix. Just popped in for a minute having just finished my five-yearly gas exam renewals! So you were essentially saying what I said in my previous post. There is no point putting an detector near the source because it will give a false alarm. The amount of CO given off at the flame will still vary though, depending on the state of the equipment so your figure of 20ppm is still a guesstimate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higgs Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 20ppm of CO, given as a reading on detector, is not fatal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bizzard Posted May 25, 2012 Report Share Posted May 25, 2012 To reignite this topic.My gas fridge and so do most others,have three flame sizes ''High,medium and low''controlled by a knob. So that should make three different readings on your Gasometers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Commodore Posted May 29, 2012 Report Share Posted May 29, 2012 The key word that should be here is ventilation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dor Posted May 29, 2012 Report Share Posted May 29, 2012 20ppm of CO, given as a reading on detector, is not fatal. CO is a cumulative poison, there is no such thing (effectively) as a fatal concentration as it depends on the time that the person was exposed to it. My previous boat was sold as the owner died on the boat due to CO poisoning. The boat was impounded for several months while investigations were carried out and in the end the conclusion was the CO came from a poorly maintained gas fridge exacerbated by the boat having poor ventilation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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