My air quality detector

[ExpUt]

I was mentioning to Jeremiah how old school my unit was... I don't think my verbal description did it justice. This thing is old but apparently works. I paid ~ $40-50 off of eBay 5 or so years ago, can't say its let me down yet Either that or I've been in good air the whole time.

Here is my unit.





Interesting note, I was out in the Nevada desert this past weekend with some of my wifes extended family. Stay with me here :P My wifes mother, has a cousin that just married a dude (sounding redneck yet) that works at a place called Wagner and Associates in Midvale. I found this out as we were discussing old mines and some of the guys that come into his work (a miner named Tommy Love ring a bell to anyone?). Anyways, they sell different types of safety equipment, 4 gas air detectors being one of them. They also deal with some other fire-fighter and underground specific safety devices, Pelican flashlights, etc. I can't find them in a quick google search but I plan to stop by sooner or later (located near Sportsmans Warehouse off of 7200 south and state).

Jeremiah, you mentioned you purchased a test gas setup? What kind of apparatus is it? Brad (the aforementioned relative) said their units use a single bottle with a regulator setup. Setups are in the $200 range? Similar to your setup?

[UnderUtah]

Kurt

What I was using was "obtained" thru my dad's supply chain with the Air Force. It was a small cylinder like a person on oxygen would cart around. I used it to test the function of the unit's CO detection. The cylinder has a specific concentration of a gas, (CO, CO2, H2S, Etc.) and you attach the sampling tube to the cylinder, open the valve, and the unit should sample the gas and return a value (% saturation) that matches what is printed on the bottle, within a certain range. It dosen't necessarily auto calibrate the unit or anything, just gives you a standard by which to judge the sensor's accuracy compared to a known saturation. I only did the CO beacuse that was all I had access to. My detector will detect CO, H2S, %LEL, and O2. When hooked-up to the CO it alarmed and displayed the same concentration as the bottle specified and the O2 dropped drastically, indicating that the O2 sensor worked as well. Haven't tested the H2S but did test the %LEL with gasoline fumes. Seems to work just fine. Should take it to a professional outfitter soon for it's annual check-up though.

Your detector does look pretty old school, but if it works....

Thanks for the info!

[ExpUt]

Great info Jeremiah,

I'll let you know what my contact tells me. If there are enough of us with detectors it might not be a bas idea to invest in a setup that will test all of the parameters. I've got a customer that works for the fire department here in the valley. He offered to calibrate mine for me at one point, if anything I be he would be willing to come to verify our testing techniques? Might not be a real need now but as the MU membership grows we might get a handful more that have detectors. I'll update when I find out more.