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<< Lancair Builders' Mail List >>
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Winter and CO go together like sleigh bells and mistletoe.........
I thought it would be appropriate to to repeat the letter I sent to AVWeb and
was also printed in LNN last year:
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12 December 1998
Sirs:
A week ago I purchased 3 AIM carbon monoxide detectors after reading the
subject article. One of the detectors would be carried in my flight bag to
be used in flight (Skymaster or Lancair 320) as a replacement for one of
those simple round ones with no digital display which was a replacement for
my 1992 "Dead Stop" detector.
Yesterday I took the AIM out to my heated hangar where it immediately read 50
ppm. Because of that reading, I left it there overnight. This morning, when
I arrived at the hangar, I was greeted by the beeping AIM unit and a push of
the hush/reset button revealed that several hours before, the unit had
registered a level of 120 ppm of CO. A level which would decrease the oxygen
carrying ability of my blood by 10% in less than 90 minutes of exposure.
I work every day in the hangar (experimental aircraft are never finished and
my latest one is a Quad-Cities Challenger II) and have often gone home
feeling less than 100%. Furthermore, I frequently fly later in the day and
may start out oxygen-impaired before I even leave the ground. Since the
half-life of CO is so long, I am sure that a few days of intensive work in
the hangar results in a cumulative CO poisoning effect. Up to now, the
weather has been fairly mild and the heater does not run quite as frequently
as it would when it is colder, probably resulting in a higher concentration
of CO in the hangar.
What does all this mean to me? It means my health and safety were at risk
until I acted on your article that described the best available detector with
a method to indicate a low level CO threat. I have called a heating
contractor to fix my heater. Finally, tonight I ordered 2 more AIM detectors
for others in my family. I will make sure that these detectors will be used
in places where we spend a great deal of time.
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I had a "First Alert" unit on my workbench which never sounded an alarm. I
suppose at 500ppm (just before I died) it would have triggered the siren.
I carry the aim unit on every flight, winter or summer and have noted the
following:
1. In high temperatures, I sometimes get a false reading of about 20 ppm.
2. When I use a gas tug to pull out the Skymaster, I will get a temporary
8ppm reading in the cockpit.
The AIM digital display is in my once every 15 minutes "Odd items to be
checked" scan.
Thanks for listening to my CO2 on CO,
Scott Krueger
N92EX
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LML website: http://www.olsusa.com/Users/Mkaye/maillist.html
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