The best way to test your Monitor is to purchase the
"Certified Test Gas" available from C O - Experts,
since it is a known PPM of C O that will also give you a
pretty good "Accuracy" test too; however, if you simply
want to verify that your Monitor is reacting to exposure to Carbon
Monoxide, you can do one of the following.
Please read the entire text below, and then do as explained
Regardless of which "Test" method you choose, make sure
the Monitor is activated by pushing the "Test Button". Turn
off fans or shield from all air currents that will blow the
smoke away from the Monitor during testing procedure. The smoke must
move freely into the housing of the Monitor.
1. If there is a cigarette smoker in the home, take a lighted
cigarette, and hold your Monitor in an inverted position, as if it
were hanging on the ceiling.
2. Hold the smoldering cigarette under the center of the Monitor for
30 to 45 seconds, then place it face down on a table, desk or
other flat surface.
3.
If the first attempt fails, repeat the procedure extending the
period of smoke exposure by 30 seconds.
1. If a cigarette is not available, take a paper "book
match", while holding the Monitor in an inverted position, as
if it were mounted on the ceiling. Turn off fans or
shield from all air currents that will blow the smoke away from the
Monitor during testing procedure. The smoke must move freely into
the housing of the Monitor.
2. Light a match and let it burn about half way, blow the flame out
and IMMEDIATELY hold the smoldering match as close as you can under
the lower right side of the upper set of holes in the front face of
the Monitor for 30 to 45 seconds.
3. Then put the Monitor face down on a table, desk or other flat
surface.
4.
If the first attempt fails, repeat the procedure extending the
period of smoke exposure by 30 seconds.
Since my Monitor is designed to take a "Reading" every
three seconds, for 5 readings, then averages these 5 Readings and displays this average.
The display actually changes are slightly over a minute apart, AFTER
the first CO is displayed. There is an additional delay in the
FIRST reading because of the time required to displace the original
"Clean Air" that was trapped in the "Housing",
thereby permitting the
CO to get inside the Sensor.
Always remember that NO detector / alarm
in the World, mine or anyone else's, can go into an "Alarm
Mode" until whatever it is designed to detect actually gets
into the detector.
Therefore, the need for the proper number and the placement of
detectors / alarms is critical for maximum protection.
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Where Should C O alarms / Monitors be
Installed ?
The proper place to install any
C O alarm with a digital display, is "Head High"
or slightly higher on an INSIDE WALL. If only one C O alarm
per level of the home is installed, it should be in the
hallway outside the bedrooms. If only one bedroom in the house is
used, or if someone sleeping in that bedroom has a hearing
problem, the C O Monitor / alarm can be installed
INSIDE THE OCCUPIED BEDROOM, on an INSIDE WALL, head high of
slightly higher where the display can be seen clearly, and the
test button easily reached.
IF the C O alarm does
NOT have a display, and is "Hardwired", the
"Best" place to install is on the
ceiling, at lease two feet away from any wall or corner. If
the unit does not come with a "Lifetime Lithium
Battery", I do not recommend a ceiling mounting because
this presents a potential problem during battery
replacement, especially for the Elderly.
[I have a personal story about
my Father, at age 94, standing on a kitchen chair, to change
a battery in a smoke detector that someone else had
previously installed for him, on the ceiling of his
bedroom. Yes, I DID let him know that it was an Extremely
Foolish thing for him to be doing at his age.]
I personally believe that every
home should have a Photoelectric Smoke detector in EVERY
room except the bathrooms.
C O Monitors should be
installed on every level in the hallway outside the
bedrooms, plus one within 15 feet of ANY possible C O
producing appliance or backdraft entry point back into the
home.
Why is my Monitor's
Display always Blank ?
You are living in a very SAFE HOUSE.
On all Monitors made before July 1st, 2007, the
Display IS DESIGNED to remain BLANK until it reaches 10 PPM.
Monitors made after July 1st, 2007 will Display
"000" under 10ppm.
10 PPM is the first, or "Lowest" level of C
O that requires any action by the Consumer.
I found that in "Field Testing" an earlier version
of C O - Experts that displayed from one, [1], PPM UP, that my Contractors were
getting many calls from people when it displayed 2,3,4 etc., because DESPITE
the instructions
on the Monitor that NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED until it
displayed 10 PPM, we were all getting hundreds of these unnecessary, nuisance
calls.
The CO - Experts Low Level CO
"Health" Monitor is the BEST in the World today, and is fully "Self-Monitored" and will
notify you automatically if anything goes wrong within the unit.
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Hi George,
I have played around quite a bit with the monitor around cars
over the
last year and reconfirmed my findings this morning.
1. On the newer cars (tested using 2003 Toyota Highlander)
when warmed
up, I could not detect any CO. I did not try this vehicle on a
cold start.
2. On my own 1991 Nissan which has just passed its EPA exhaust
check on
start up about six inches from the exhaust the monitor
saturated within
seconds and took about 30 minutes to settle back down to 0 ppm.
On
startup with cold engines values of 1% or 10,000 CO ppm are
not
uncommon. This was not really a fair test for the detector I
know, but I
thought lets see what happens if we really saturate the
sensor. It
seemed to handle it but was quite slow to recover.
3. I then took the unit out into traffic and only at
intersections with
the intake blower going and other cars nearby could I get the
unit to
register up to 5 ppm. Once away from the intersection and
driving it
would rapidly return to 0 ppm.
4. Today I found a VW Golf emitting blue exhaust while driving
at 40
mph. I tailed this car about 25 feet behind with the
car's blower
going. Within about one minute it registered high or 70 ppm,
but this
time on opening the window and getting out of the exhaust
stream the
unit recovered in a few minutes as I suspect the CO level was
much lower
than the cold start test.
5. On returning home with a well warmed up engine but old car
in a wind
free garage at 3 feet from the exhaust no CO was recorded. At
18 inches
about 12 ppm and at 6 inches only 35 ppm. I then slowly moved
the
monitor back to three feet over several minutes and could see
the ppm
level decreasing every ten seconds back to zero.
My conclusion is one can use an older warmed up car to bump
test this
unit. A newer car unless the engine is cold may not show any
CO.
In order to use this unit to test scuba tanks for CO its
functioning
must be checked prior to each session of field testing the
tanks. False
negatives could result in the death of a diver hence daily
bump tests
ideally with a cal gas in the 5 to 25 ppm are required to
ensure
reliability.
I plan to purchase some cal gas this week at 25 ppm CO in air
and at a
flow rate of 1 LPM to use for daily 'bump' tests while diving.
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