Portable Generator CO Emission

[Tom_H]

Use a diesel genny, the CO output is not enough to kill you.......you'll be black with soot, but still standing.

You may not die quickly from the CO, but you will die later from lung cancer caused by all the carcinogenic large particulate matter that lodges in your alveoli.

 

[Grrrr]

You may not die quickly from the CO, but you will die later from lung cancer caused by all the carcinogenic large particulate matter that lodges in your alveoli.

How about we don't just stand so close to a generator in the first place

 

[Highbeam]

And the cost of that diesel genny will be outrageous compared to the cheap and loud gas job.

I admit to owning a genset with an 11HP tecumseh engine. I run it way outside and I use CO detectors in the house even though I have no gas burning appliances.

If only a nice cummins geset could be bought for 500$.

 

[schmism]

If only a nice cummins geset could be bought for 500$.

it can, but it might be from the 50's

id love a nice 4 cylinder 1500 rpm 8K genny that purs like a kitten and starts with a key.... id s#*t a golden egg if it ran on propane!

 

[hockeypuck]

Or buy a propane generator and do not worry about the emissions.

 

[Tom_H]

The propane and natural gas units do not put out as much of other kinds of pollutants as gasoline and diesel, however they still do put out CO2. They also put out plenty of CO (unless you've attached a catylitic converter). People think of NG and LPG as "clean". They are "cleaner" than other fossil fuels in the sense of noxious toxins, but you could suffer CO poisioning and O2 deprivation via excess CO2 just as easily as from the other fuels, so be careful with any energy source involving the oxidation reduction reaction of carbon and oxygen. The only fuel that oxidizes pollution free is hydrogen. In a space shuttle engine and a J2 rocket engine they burn. In a fuel cell they undergo a cooler oxidation. In either case, they produce H2O: water.
2H2 + O2 = 2H2O + heat.

 

[hockeypuck]

I understand that propane is not a pure burner, but explain how ventless propane fireplaces work? Some of them put out 40000 btu's and do not vent to the outside?

 

[Tom_H]

They must be used in places that are very well ventilated. If they are used in smaller and airtight spaces, they are easily fatal. This is the same reason a NG or LPG range must have a ventilator fan. Most of these are older units; my grandmother had one that was probably made in the 1920's or earlier, and my parents bought a portable one for emergency backup heat after a freak ice storm knocked out the power throughout Georgia for about a week, circa 1964. Code is pretty strict on these things today, particularly because of the airtightness that comes from vapor barriers, but every now and then you still hear about someone dying from CO poisioning, or asphyxiation (all O2 is used up as CO2 is produced) from one of them. The most airtight houses now have to have air-to-air heat exchangers to bring in fresh air while transferring the heat from the stale air to the fresh air.

 

[schmism]

I understand that propane is not a pure burner, but explain how ventless propane fireplaces work? Some of them put out 40000 btu's and do not vent to the outside?

they have a catalic converter to burn off any CO..... i thought CO production only occured at "high" temp burns, simply burning wood, candles etc in a 1 atomosphear enviroment was fairly benign. Else we would have all died a long time ago from our gas stoves, dryers, hot water heaters etc

 

[Highbeam]

I understand that propane is not a pure burner, but explain how ventless propane fireplaces work? Some of them put out 40000 btu's and do not vent to the outside?

They poison you. Only some of these stoves are equipped with cat converters and all of them dump the huge amount of CO2 and water vapor into your home in addition to the deadly CO. Don't install one of these. They are outlawed in many areas for a reason.