RE: Home brewing and carbon monoxide

I have a digital CO detector in my brewery and pay particular attention to it. CO is developed at two different times for different reasons. When the kettles are cool, CO is produced even with a balanced flame. As the kettles get warmer, CO seems to be produced when the burner is fired beyond the ability of the flame to burn or escape. We have a few combustion engineers in the club that can provide much greater technical details but the warning is very real. Thanks for the toxic details. The following tips may help. Please add more and re-send as appropriate. 1. Keep your burners well adjusted and keep the jets clean. 2. Clean the outlet holes (if a multi-drilled cast iron device) with a small drill bit that you rotate by hand. 3. Prevent the recirculation of exhaust gases into the orifice inlet. Sometimes this requires some creative engineering especially if the inlet tube is within the burner chamber. 4. Adjust any burner that appears to be candling (appearance of yellow-brown area within blue flame) by allowing more air or less gas. 5. Always vent combustion gases to the outside - even in the middle of winter! 6. Ensure you have adequate house leakage to ensure a path for make-up air. 7. Check (test) your CO meters and make sure they are functional and located correctly. Rick -----Original Message----- From: mba-bounce(a)thebarn.com [mailto:mba-bounce@thebarn.com] On Behalf Of allan.boyce(a)usbank.com Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 11:29 AM To: mba(a)thebarn.com; mnbrewers(a)yahoogroups.com Subject: Fw: Home brewing and carbon monoxide ----- Forwarded by Allan V Boyce/MN/USB on 04/05/2005 11:27 AM ----- "Mike Norden" 04/03/2005 09:47 PM To cc Subject Re: Home brewing and carbon monoxide Carbon Monoxide is very common from household gas ranges although the level is usually less from natural gas ranges. Any time you have a non vented appliance you run a good risk of CO. We never want to see any CO in a home, but it is not uncommon to see 5 PPM form people who smoke. 50 PPM is not good and you should be venting your home while you brew, or any other long cooking session. Fresh air is always good in a home and is one of the reasons the state of Minn. requires Air Exchangers in all new homes. I have had one in my home since 1989 and would not live in a home with out one (one of the good government requirements). "Dilution is the solution to Pollution". That being said, it is great that you have a CO detector. Especially one with a digital readout which will tell you the exact level in your home. 50 PPM is not that uncommon and you can have 200 PPM for less than on hour, according to OSHA, with no concern. The time weighted average for a worker with no concern is 8 PPM over an 8 hour period. As you can see the levels of concern are somewhat dependent on time and levels. CO builds up in the system and takes many hours to be removed from the body. It also affects children much worse than adults. As with all "indoor air quality" problems, ventilation is the best place to start. IAQ according to the EPA and American Lung Association is one of the greatest health concerns in America today. Both web sites are very informative with tons of info. Mikey Harvey & Frannie Tjader wrote: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------ Electronic Privacy Notice. This e-mail, and any attachments, contains information that is, or may be, covered by electronic communications privacy laws, and is also confidential and proprietary in nature. If you are not the intended recipient, please be advised that you are legally prohibited from retaining, using, copying, distributing, or otherwise disclosing this information in any manner. Instead, please reply to the sender that you have received this communication in error, and then immediately delete it. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. ======================================================================== ======