Carbon Monoxide Detector?

Another informal survey.

How many of you have, and use a battery powered Carbon Monoxide Detector
when you fly?

Why, or why not?
--
Jim in NC

Morgans wrote:
Another informal survey.

How many of you have, and use a battery powered Carbon Monoxide Detector
when you fly?

Why, or why not?


I've flown many aircraft that have one of those stick-on type brown dots but
I've never flown anything with a battery powered detector. I've also flown an
old Apache with a Janitrol heater that would give you a headache every time you
used it. I flew all that winter with a blanket on my lap. What can I say?
Part 135 maintenance....



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

How many of you have, and use a battery powered Carbon Monoxide Detector
when you fly?

Yes.

See it he

http://makeashorterlink.com/?P4845270C

It's small, and VERY sensitive. (It will sound an alarm in an extended
climb, when the nose is high and the exhaust stream hits the fresh-air
intake mounted way up at the top of the tail.)

It's not cheap, but we fly all winter -- and I never trusted those dumb
"Dead Stop" things to do anything...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I use several $ 2 variety "button" CO detectors. I started using them after
seeing a bunch of emergency vehicles surrounding a PA28 on the ground at
Long Island MacArthur APT back in 1985. A couple from New England became
unconscious during their taxi out. Leak was traced to a faulty heater
shroud. They made it. Fortunately, they passed out before they took off.
"Morgans" wrote in message
...
Another informal survey.

How many of you have, and use a battery powered Carbon Monoxide Detector
when you fly?

Why, or why not?
--
Jim in NC

In article ,
"Morgans" wrote:
Another informal survey.

How many of you have, and use a battery powered Carbon Monoxide Detector
when you fly?

Why, or why not?


Yes. The "why" should be obvious, particularly if you fly a
single-engine airplane with cabin heat provided by the muffler shroud.

The cardboard dots and most of the "Home Depot Specials" are almost
worthless. You need an electronic monitor that will display low levels
of CO, starting at 10ppm or lower, and alarm at those lower levels.

The CO monitor that Jay Honeck linked to is a very good one. Aeromedix
used to sell an imported Senco detector that alerted at low CO levels,
but I believe that Senco went out of business or was acquired by someone
else (this is the detector that I'm using). The key is to avoid the
purchase of a detector that is UL listed or approved to US residential
standards, because those detectors will alarm only at fairly high CO
concentrations.



JKG

I use the same one as Jay - AeroMedix. Love the sensitivity.

Why battery over the "dots"? Allegedly the dots wear out over time (OK - so
do batteries), but more because I value my life. Plus, being an engineer,
it's fun to play around with it. In the winter with all the vents closed up,
it's amazing to see how much CO comes in from the tailcone area. Just
cracking a vent or cabin air or heat just a bit to produce positive pressure
almost instantly removes the issue.

"Morgans" wrote in message
...
Another informal survey.

How many of you have, and use a battery powered Carbon Monoxide Detector
when you fly?

Why, or why not?
--
Jim in NC

Why battery over the "dots"? Allegedly the dots wear out over time (OK - so
do batteries), but more because I value my life. Plus, being an engineer,
it's fun to play around with it. In the winter with all the vents closed up,
it's amazing to see how much CO comes in from the tailcone area. Just
cracking a vent or cabin air or heat just a bit to produce positive pressure
almost instantly removes the issue.

The dots will give a false CO reading when exposed to autogas fumes,
also. AVIATION CONSUMER did a report on the CO dot detectors back in the
80's or 90's.

Yes they did, and they discovered that the dots work pretty well. They
recommended an electronic one as top of the line, but said that if you
keep fresh dots in the plane, it is not a bad solution, IIRC. I'm
puzzled by the thinking that an electronic device will always work as
expected. The dots are so simple they are probably more reliable,
although not as effective. You should definately have something in the
plane for CO detection.

Bruce Cunningham



john smith wrote:
Why battery over the "dots"? Allegedly the dots wear out over time (OK - so
do batteries), but more because I value my life. Plus, being an engineer,
it's fun to play around with it. In the winter with all the vents closed up,
it's amazing to see how much CO comes in from the tailcone area. Just
cracking a vent or cabin air or heat just a bit to produce positive pressure
almost instantly removes the issue.

The dots will give a false CO reading when exposed to autogas fumes,
also. AVIATION CONSUMER did a report on the CO dot detectors back in the
80's or 90's.

In article .com,
wrote:
Yes they did, and they discovered that the dots work pretty well. They
recommended an electronic one as top of the line, but said that if you
keep fresh dots in the plane, it is not a bad solution, IIRC. I'm
puzzled by the thinking that an electronic device will always work as
expected. The dots are so simple they are probably more reliable,
although not as effective. You should definately have something in the
plane for CO detection.


If I recall correctly, the big problem with the "dots" is that they
require a relatively high concentration of CO before they will indicate.
They will not detect a problem, they will tell you when you're in big
trouble, and by that time... you're in big trouble. Without an
electronic detector capable of displaying low concentrations of CO, and
alarming on those concentrations, you could be flying for hours with
dangerous levels of CO and never realize it until you become noticeably
impaired.



JKG

I've got a "black dot" that is supposed to be good for 18 months. It turned
black on a long flight the other day, so I bought a Night Hawk (Kidde)
battery operated alarm so I could trouble shoot the problem. It cost only
about $40. It will detect 11-999 ppm. The display reads continuously from
30 to 999, but by using the peak hold feature, you can get readings down to
11 ppm.

Being able to read actual values as I made changes to ventilation settings,
sealing with tape, etc. has been very useful.

tom


"Morgans" wrote in message
...
Another informal survey.

How many of you have, and use a battery powered Carbon Monoxide Detector
when you fly?

Why, or why not?
--
Jim in NC