Carbon Monoxide (CO)

Measurement

Methods used to measure the amount of carbon monoxide in a given volume include electrochemical alarms and solid state detectors.

Most Commonly Used & Accepted:

Permanently-mounted Electrochemical alarms work by converting the carbon monoxide electrochemically to carbon dioxide. This conversion generates an electrical current that is taken as a measure of the gas concentration and sounds the alarm on the device when it reaches a certain predetermined level. Electrochemical alarms are usually battery operated and last several years.

Portable Electrochemical sensors (CO Detectors) are small devices that generate a voltage, based on a reaction between a specific target gas and a chemical mixture in the sensor. These sensors can be highly specific to the gas measured and highly accurate (better than ±5 ppm at concentrations under 50 ppm). Accuracy is not significantly affected by humidity and temperature.