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Combustion Safety Testing

Combustion Safety Testing. Your Instructor…. Brian Kumer Thermal Imaging Services, Inc. 1136 E. Brookview Lane Peoria, IL 61615 Cell: 309-251-1719 Office: 309-547-5000 brian_kumer@yahoo.com www.improvinghomeperformance.com or www.briankumer.com. Building Science Hot Line.

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Combustion Safety Testing

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  1. Combustion Safety Testing

  2. Your Instructor… Brian Kumer Thermal Imaging Services, Inc. 1136 E. Brookview Lane Peoria, IL 61615 Cell: 309-251-1719 Office: 309-547-5000 brian_kumer@yahoo.com www.improvinghomeperformance.com or www.briankumer.com

  3. Building Science Hot Line Illinois Home Performance Building Science HOT LINE 866-395-1032 ext. 3 Free to homeowners, renters, contractors, anyone looking for unbiased advice on specific home performance issues and improvements! To learn more go to: www.illinoishomeperformance.org/hotline

  4. Todays Conversation… • BPI’s new standards what that means to you • Major changes related to combustion safety • When will they become finalized (who knows) • Equipment needed for testing • Air-Free vs As-Measured CO readings • Sources of carbon monoxide • CAZ testing procedure • Measuring ventilation through baht fans • Measured CO limit changes • CO exposure limits

  5. My Website… www.improvinghomeperformance.com or www.briankumer.com

  6. Largest Manometer in the World!

  7. Largest Manometer in the World! 24” wide x 44” tall Touch screen DG700 manometer Coming to a theater near you!

  8. Useful Links • COSA Carbon Monoxide Safety Assoc. • Not for profit providing CO: Education, Training & Certification www.cosafety.org • GAMA Gas Appliance Manufactures Assoc. www.gamanet.org • NFPA Nation Fire Protection Assoc. • Developed the NFPA 54 National Fuel Gas Code www.nfpa.org

  9. Parking Lot Topics Questions you may have about: • Problem homes • Testing procedures • Interpreting results • Test equipment • Remediating problems • Anything, really anything…

  10. Future Training Topics • Thermography (IR) • Duct pressure testing • Ventilation • Multi-family Blower Door testing • Whole House Air Leakage Control Installer • Your thoughts?????

  11. Changes to the BPI Standards • No CAZ depressurization limits • No draft measurement • No smoking the doors • No testing failed spillage under natural conditions • No checking the air filter during CAZ • Not required to measure CO on both sides of turbulator

  12. Effects ofCarbon Monoxidein Our Lives

  13. What Causes Carbon Monoxide? CO is produced by: • Insufficient or excess combustion air (oxygen) • Insufficient or excess fuel • Flame impingement **When any part of the flame is reduced below 1,128º F, CO will be produced.

  14. Bob Dwyer – Co-Founder of COSA Bob Dwyer - former Director of training for the Carbon Monoxide Safety Association, and also Bacharach Inc., a manufacturer of environmental test instruments for 13 years. Author of “Carbon Monoxide, A Clear and Present Danger” Bob Dwyer

  15. Carbon Monoxide Sources.. There have been carbon monoxide sources and carbon monoxide poisonings dating back to times when people lived in caves. Carbon monoxide is formed by the incomplete combustion of materials containing carbon and can be produced by virtually anything that burns. The more efficient the combustion process, the less carbon monoxide is produced.

  16. Cold Weather Carbon Monoxide Levels The largest numbers of poisonings occur in winter when fireplaces, furnaces and boilers are being used to keep buildings warm. Vehicles are also left idling more during winter. This creates circumstances that can easily cause carbon monoxide levels to rise within a vehicle and the surrounding area (such as a garage).

  17. Power Outages Power outages increase the risk of rising carbon monoxide levels. Power outages and natural disasters greatly increase the carbon monoxide risk as people are placed in unfamiliar circumstances using unfamiliar equipment.

  18. McDonalds Drive Thru - 800 ppm

  19. After getting his Bronco stuck late one night, Shane and three of his friends die of CO poisoning when the exhaust became blocked with mud

  20. Teak Surfing is be Deadly! Surfers hold onto the teak platform to perform there surfing moves behind the moving boat with no life jacket. When they are overcome by CO they let go and sink into the water. Teak surfing has been outlawed in several states.

  21. Ventless Water Heater???? Do you realize there is no difference between operating this gas water heater with no vent and operating a gas cook stove? Stop Everything! Disable water heater before leaving the house!

  22. 3 Sources of Carbon Monoxide • Automobile exhaust 66% • Faulty heating appliances 33% • Fire – burning wood, smoking 1% I would assume that the automobile exhaust incidences would increase due to Power-vented replacement furnaces less likelyto cause CO poisoning Source: Illinois Department of Public Health

  23. Greatest Risk of CO Poisoning? The most vulnerable have the greatest risk of CO poisoning and they are… • People with existing health problems such as heart and lung disease • Elderly • Infants • Children and pregnant women • Smokers • Small animals

  24. Health Affects of CO Poisoning When carbon monoxide is inhaled into the lungs and bonds with hemoglobin in blood, which forms Carboxyhemoglobin (COHb). This condition displaces oxygen in the blood stream and affects all major organs and muscles. Carbon monoxide molecules bond with hemoglobin in blood over 200 times more easily than oxygen molecules. Suffocation occurs from the inside out.

  25. Symptoms of CO Poisoning 200 ppm Slight headaches, tiredness, dizziness, and nausea after 2-3 hours 400 ppm Frontal headaches within 1-2 hours, life threatening after 3 hours 800 ppm Dizziness, nausea and convulsion with 45 minutes. 800 ppm Unconsciousness within 2 hours. Death with 2-3 hours 1,600 ppm Headache, dizziness and nausea within 20 minutes. Death within 1 hour 3,200 ppm Headache, dizziness and nausea within 5-10 minutes. Death within 30 min. 6,400 ppm Headache, dizziness and nausea within 5-10 minutes. Death within 10-15 min.

  26. UL 2034 CO Detector Alarm Levels Detector must ignore CO levels of 30 ppm or less for at least 30 days 70 ppm Unit must sound alarm within 60-240 minutes. 150 ppm Unit must sound alarm within 10-50 minutes. 400 ppm Unit must sound alarm within 4-15 minutes.

  27. CO Detector Comparison Test

  28. UL-2034 vs CO Experts

  29. Killer Water Heater… 1,200 ppm + tested before dilution with 100% spillage! Notice the rust on the side of the di-electric fittings from the constant back-drafting

  30. Combustion Basics&Measuring CO(As Measured & Air-Free)

  31. Combustion Appliance Zone CAZ CAZ is the air space surrounding your natural draft or induced draft heating appliances CAZ pressure testing lets us know what conditions the drafting equipment has to work in

  32. Natural Draft Furnace A natural draft furnace requires 15 cubic/ft of dilution air for every cubic foot of natural gas it uses. 1 cubic foot (cf) = 1,027 Btu 100 cubic feet (1 cf) = 1 therm (approximate) The operation of a 100k furnace for one hour is the equivalent of operating one 50cfm bath fan operating for one hour

  33. Air + Fuel + Ignition = Heat The Three T’s of Combustion Time Temperature Turbulence HEAT IGNITION FUEL AIR

  34. Our Atmosphere Our atmosphere is made of: 79% Nitrogen 20.9% Oxygen Nitrogen is an inert gas that will not react in the combustion process.

  35. What is Perfect Combustion? For perfect combustion all 20.9% of the oxygen was completely used up during the combustion process and 0% of oxygen will be measured in the spent flue gases in the vent. That would be considered perfect combustion. A typical water heater or furnace would measure 6 to 8% oxygen.

  36. Excess Air Excess air is the amount of air (specifically oxygen) in the combustion gases in excess of the exact amount needed for perfect combustion. When combustion is perfect, just the right amounts of fuel and oxygen are supplied to the combustion process so that all the oxygen is utilized - no oxygen remains in the combustion gases.

  37. “As Measured” vs “Air Free” • There are two scales with which to measure CO: one is “As-Measured” and the other is “Air-Free.” • As-Measured is the method used by most technicians today. The CO is measured from a sample of combustion gases with no regard for the amount of excess air diluting the CO concentrations.

  38. “As Measured” vs “Air Free” The basic problem with the as-measured method is this: As the amount of excess air increases, the as-measured CO value falls for a given source strength of CO. In other words, the amount of excess air in the sample can significantly influence the as-measured value. This can cause a technician to mistakenly think that a hazardous burner is working properly. - Rick Karg

  39. “As Measured” vs “Air Free” “As-Measured” – is a CO measurement made in a situation where there is no control of the combustion air entering the combustion chamber of an appliance. You could think of it as measuring the CO from an open flame on stovetop. You are measuring diluted flue gases. The flue gases would then contain large quantities of oxygen (above approx. 15%). An example would be measuring the CO in an oven or the stovetop burners. AsMeasured CO is always lower than Air Free CO measurements.

  40. “As Measured” vs “Air Free” This technician is measuring the CO approx. 15” above the burner in diluted flue gases. This is considered an “As-Measured” CO measurement.

  41. “As-Measured” vs “Air-Free” Air-free measurement of CO takes account of the amount of excess air by incorporating an adjustment to the as-measured ppm value, thus simulating air-free (oxygen-free) conditions in the combustion gases. To do this, a reading of oxygen (O2) percentage is taken from the combustion gases along with the as-measured CO reading.

  42. “As Measured” vs “Air Free” “Air Free” – is a CO measurement in the vent of a heating appliance where the volume of air entering the combustion chamber is somewhat controlled. These flue gases would typically contain oxygen levels between 4% and 10%.

  43. “As Measured” vs “Air Free” If air-free CO is determined with a single meter, the meter will have an integral electronic chip that will calculate the air-free level from as-measured CO ppm and O2 percentage.

  44. Calculating Air-Free CO 20.9 20.9 – O2 COAFppm=( )x COppm COAFppm = Carbon monoxide, air-free COppm = As-measured combustion gas carbon monoxide ppm O2 = % of oxygen in combustion gas, as a percentage CO = % of carbon monoxide in combustion gas, as a percentage 20.9 – 8% (O2) = 12.9 (20.9 ÷ 12.9) x 23 (CO) = 37 ppm air-free

  45. “As Measured” vs “Air Free” This technician is measuring the CO in undiluted flue gases of this water heater. This is an “Air-Free” CO measurement. The instrument you will be using does have the Air-Free option. No math required!

  46. BPI CO Thresholds Page 12 7.8.5

  47. Venting Gas Appliances

  48. Venting Gas Appliances Venting spent fuel gases to the outside of the home from combustion appliances can be done one of three ways: • Masonry chimney • B-vent (metal double wall pipe) • PVC pipe – high efficiency equipment only!

  49. Masonry Chimney A masonry chimney may be constructed out soft brick and it may have a clay tile liner on the inside connecting the heating appliance to outside. Chimneys most times are oversized and take a long time to warm up and promote draft. Installation of a a flue liner will correct this problem.

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