Home » Uncategories » How to Test Co2 Levels in Home

How to Test Co2 Levels in Home

In this commodity I volition bear witness how to measure carbon dioxide levels in your abode. An important factor to test for when trying to measure indoor air quality (IAQ) is carbon dioxide. Tight homes with not enough ventilation and/or buildings with high occupancy are the usual candidates to having elevated carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels, it is easy and low cost to measure CO_ii levels. There is data from Lawrence Berkeley Lab that shows elevated indoor carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels does impair cognitive abilities.

With that said it is important to call up carbon dioxide is only a function of a much larger indoor air quality flick. There are many contaminants that can be in the air in the following categories; particulate, biological, chemical / VOC, and gases. These are such things as dust mites, pollen, mold spores, mycotoxins, endotoxins, total VOCs, radon, and ozone but to proper name a few. These are all also influenced by temperature and humidity so only doing a carbon dioxide measurement is non going to requite you enough data to have a good understanding of the state of your indoor air quality but it is a of import data bespeak.

Straight link to YouTube video

1. Carbon Dioxide Measurement Using Colorimetric Gas Detection Tubes

1.1 Carbon Dioxide Gas Detection Tubes

Colorimetric gas detector tube are used to measure the amount of a target gas nowadays in an environment when a known book of that environment's air is pumped through a tube. The tube typically has a layer which indicates the analyte (target gas to mensurate) by changing colour, depending on the amount of the gas which has passed through the tube the length of the zone which has changed colour will exist unlike.

The best value carbon dioxide tube I establish was RAE Systems 10-104-thirty, 300-5000 ppm gas detection tube. It comes in a x pack which costs $35 plus shipping. With all supplies needed information technology should come out to about $five per test.

i.two Manual Hand Pump

Normally what is used to pump the air through this carbon dioxide detector tube is a professional hand pump matched to the aforementioned industry of the tubes which volition accurately pump 100 mL of air through the test tube. These pumps have prissy features like indicators to show when the tube is no longer under vacuum, latches to hold the pump plunger, settings for 50 mL or 100 mL strokes, and stroke counters for tubes that need more than 100 mL of air pumped through them. These pumps are an absolute requirement for a professional doing these measurements for a client or for traceability. Most people reading this article are going to be just a DIY'er or a homeowner trying to get a general idea of your indoor CO2 levels and so a unproblematic 100mL syringe can exist used. This volition likely non yield every bit accurate results but should not be an issue for most non-professional uses.

Professional Manual Hand Pump
Cost: ~$200-$400 for most

1.3 Measuring Carbon Dioxide Testing Procedure

While performing the exam make certain not to breath on or around the tube as it will falsely increase your indoor carbon dioxide measurement

Using a 100 mL syringe

Connect air tubing to syringe (pump)
Break both ends off carbon dioxide test tube off
Push air tubing over the test tube making sure the airflow management arrow is pointing towards the end you connected the tube to
Slowly pull syringe to 100 mL mark on syringe and hold while air is getting pulled through tube, this will have one-2 minutes
Read tube reading immediately

Using a professional manus pump

Set the pump to a 100 mL stroke (most pumps tin can exercise either 50 mL or 100 mL strokes)
Intermission both ends of the carbon dioxide examination tube off
Insert CO2 test tube into the hand pump with the air flow arrow pointing towards the pump
Tighten the pump to tightly hold the tube if your pump has this
Pull pump handle and await two minutes or until vacuum indicator on pump indicates the tube is not under vacuum anymore
Read tube reading immediately

1.iv Reading the Carbon Dioxide Level From Tube

The above detection tube has a reading of about 500 ppm. The all-time way to read these tubes is to place them side by side to an unused tube and compare. If there is a slope you lot desire to measure towards the end of the slope. In the above tube you can see the region from virtually 500 ppm to right after thousand ppm is slightly darker, this can be ignored.

ii. Carbon Dioxide CO_two Reference Levels

Level	Reference
350 – 450 ppm	Typical outdoor CO2 level
yard ppm	ASHRAE 62-1989. ASHRAE 62-1999 standard recommends maintaining nether 700 ppm CO₂ differential between outdoor and indoor air. "This level is not considered a wellness risk but is a surrogate for human comfort (odor)" equally elevated CO2 levels are closely related to the number of occupants and their activity level which can exist a good correlation with the amount of body odor.
2,500 ppm	Lawrence Berkeley Lab study which assessed cognitive function assessed using a computer-based program called the Strategic Direction Simulation (SMS) at different indoor air levels of CO2. Found a CO2 level of ii,500 ppm diminishes test subjects cognitive function to "dysfunctional" on the taking initiative and thinking strategically indexes.[source]
thirty,000 ppm	OSHA less than 15-minute Curt-Term Exposure Limit (STEL)
twoscore,000 ppm	Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health Concentrations (IDLH) (greater than v minutes)
~50,000 ppm	30-minute LC (Lethal Concentration) in humans, causes unconsciousness
70,000 – 100,000 ppm	Few infinitesimal LC (Lethal Concentration) in humans, causes unconsciousness