None of us do not like an easy and fast way to detect carbon monoxide concentration indoors. This blog will explore how to test for carbon monoxide without a detector.
What Does Carbon Monoxide Smell Like?
We cannot smell it with human senses. Because carbon monoxide is completely odorless, colorless, and tasteless, which makes it extremely dangerous. Over-inhalation may lead to headache, weakness and even loss of consciousness. According to the CDC, approximately 400 Americans die from unintentional CO poisoning each year. And about 50,000 people visit emergency departments due to accidental CO exposure. Thus, it is very necessary to carefully monitor CO concentration in our daily life, especially in our houses where we stay for the most time of each day.
Where to Test for Potential Sources of Carbon Monoxide?
This first thing is to know where to monitor potential sources of CO in our house.
Basement or Utility room
When your furnace burns fuel like natural gas or oil, it needs the perfect balance of fuel and oxygen. If its burners get dirty or its heat exchanger cracks, this balance gets disrupted. So there will be incomplete combustion and CO production.
Your boiler works in a similar way, but it’s focused on heating water. When scale builds up inside or its burners get clogged, the boiler can’t burn fuel efficiently. This inefficient burning is like a car engine running rich – it creates more CO than it should.
The flue pipe doesn’t actually create CO, but it’s like the highway for exhaust gases to escape. When this pipe develops holes, disconnects, or corrodes, those dangerous gases can escape into your living space.
Finally, your chimney serves as the final exit path for these gases. While it doesn’t produce CO either, a blocked or damaged chimney can force carbon monoxide back into your home instead of releasing them safely outside.
Kitchen
Moving to the kitchen, our gas stove is a key spot to check. When your gas stove is working properly, the natural gas mixes with oxygen and burns with a crisp blue flame. This creates a complete combustion process that produces mainly carbon dioxide and water vapor.
However, CO can form when this burning process goes wrong in several ways. If the burners become clogged with food debris or grease, they can’t mix the gas and oxygen properly. This leads to incomplete combustion and CO production. Additionally, if the burner ports are misaligned or the gas pressure is incorrectly set, it can create an improper fuel-to-air ratio, causing inefficient burning and CO formation, too.
Garage
First, when you start your car to warm it up or back it out, CO are produced. Even running for just a few minutes in the garage can create dangerous CO levels, because the gas accumulates faster than it can escape.
Second, when you use gas-powered tools, like lawn mowers, in the garage, there will be CO, too. These smaller engines also produce CO. Without proper ventilation, these dangerous gases get trapped inside.
What Are Signs of Carbon Monoxide in Your Home?
Physical Signs Around Your House
- Soot or brownish-yellow stains around appliances
- Pilot lights that frequently blow out
- Yellow or orange flames on gas appliances (should be blue)
- Excessive moisture on windows and cold surfaces
- Smog-like haze inside your home
- No upward draft in chimney
- Fallen soot in fireplaces
Plant/Pet Behavior
- House plants dying unexpectedly
- Pets acting sluggish or unwell
How to Test for Carbon Monoxide Without A Detector
In addition to the above easy observation method, we can apply heated copper oxide to identify CO.
Heated Copper Oxide
The first method needs heated copper oxide. The principle behind this method relies on carbon monoxide’s reducing properties, which can reduce heated copper oxide (CuO). During this test, gas is passed through heated copper oxide and then into clear limewater. If copper oxide changes from black to red color, and the clear limewater becomes cloudy. This indicates the presence of carbon monoxide in the gas sample. Experiment tools and materials are listed as follows.
- Gas collection bottle is designed for storing and supplying carbon monoxide gas. Due to CO’s toxicity, we recommend using specially manufactured bottles with excellent sealing properties.
- Glass tube holds heated copper oxide and allows gas passage. The test tube or glass tube should be long enough to observe color changes in copper oxide clearly.
- Gas washing bottle purifies or dries the gas before it enters the detection apparatus to ensure accurate experimental results.
- Alcohol lamp heats copper oxide until it reaches incandescence.
- Iron stand supports test tubes, glass tubes, and other experimental equipment.
- Glass connecting tubes link various pieces of equipment to ensure smooth gas flow throughout the system.
- Rubber tubing works in conjunction with glass tubes. It provides greater flexibility and better sealing properties.
- Single-hole rubber stopper seals one end of the test tube or glass tube while allowing gas to pass through specific conduits.
- Tapered glass tube directs gas to specific locations within the glass tube for more precise experimental control.
- Copper oxide powder appears as a black solid.
- Clear limewater detects carbon dioxide produced from carbon monoxide combustion, indirectly proving CO’s presence.
- Matches or lighter are used to ignite the gas.
Combustion Test
The second method is the combustion test. This method works because carbon monoxide is combustible and produces carbon dioxide when burned.
To perform this test, the gas should be ignited before placing a cool dry beaker over the flame. After the beaker is then quickly inverted, we add clear limewater to it. If water vapor appears on the beaker’s inner wall and the clear limewater becomes cloudy, this suggests the presence of carbon monoxide. However, it’s important to note that this method isn’t the most specific test, as other combustible gases might produce similar results. So we don’t really recommend this approach.
Remarks
These are laboratory methods for controlled experiments only and should never be attempted at home for safety testing. Anyway, sign observation method is more recommendable than chemistry experience because it is easy and cost-effective.
Can My Phone Detect Carbon Monoxide?
No, standard smartphones cannot detect carbon monoxide. Those carbon monoxide detector apps come across on your phone’s app store. While they might look promising, here’s the real story.
These apps simply offer data about CO concentration which are sent from your connected IoT CO detector. Some apps make bold claims about detecting CO using your phone’s built-in sensors, but that’s misleading and potentially dangerous. They might try to use other sensors in your phone, like air pressure or temperature sensors, but none of these can actually detect carbon monoxide molecules.
Easy Way to Prevent High-Concentration of CO Indoors
- Clean Your Fireplace Chimney
- Install Garage Ventilation Fans
- Proper Stove Usage Guidelines
- Install CO Detectors
What Is the Fastest Way to Test for Carbon Monoxide?
The fastest way to test for carbon monoxide is using smart sensor devices. If you are sensitive to its cost and convenience, we highly recommend Ionization WiFi type to you.
