A little experiment: carbon monoxide levels from cigs vs. e-cigs

[cheesy9]

(this appears to be the only forum I could post in, so forgive me if it's the wrong place for it)

Someone may have already tried this, but I recently bought a carbon monoxide alarm (everyone should do this) and also started vaping, so I thought I'd give it a try. I blew both smoke and vapor onto the detector, and snapped a photo of the results.

This, of course, is highly unscientific, but I thought it was neat how easy it was to confirm e-cigarettes don't produce carbon monoxide, while "analogs" do.

f.y.i. the detector is supposed to alarm at 400 PPM. I don't know how high the cigarette could have gotten it, I only blew a few puffs of the cigarette onto it. I tried many puffs of vapor.

 

[fishhd]

Interesting. They would be vary proud of these finding in Copenhagen.
Just doing our part to reduce that carbon Man/Bear/Pig foot print.

 

[Dillan]

carbon monoxide (CO) isn't particularly implicated in global warming - it's far more toxic than its greenhouse gas big brother, CO2, however.

That said - I'd wager that the amount of CO2 in an e-cig is also essentially zero; CO2 is produced by combustion (whether that combustion material is gasoline, coal, wood, paper, or tobacco matters very little) - and CO is a toxic byproduct of combustion that essentially occurs because the amounts of carbon and oxygen aren't perfectly balanced under real-world chemical reaction conditions.

But a hypothetical CO2 monitor couldn't be tested by exhaling - because we produce it by our normal breathing, so I'd expect a vapor-exhale to also include significant natural CO2 - you'd have to somehow test the draw instead to actually "prove" a CO2-free inhale.

 

[john doe]

there might be something here.
http://www.healthnz.co.nz/RuyanCartridgeReport30-Oct-08.pdf

 

[JinniVapour]

Nice experiment cheesy9 !!

I salute you!

 

[smokingisbad]

That is pretty cool, maybe get some more posts in and show others. GL and Welcome!!!

 

[zcrashz]

ya know i never thought about that..very good that you did that... i will say however that most CO detectors might alarm at 400PPM but thats after exposure for 15minutes straight...and to my knowledge (which isnt much) and from what my boss used to tell me, which oddly enough i never researched... but after i believe he said 200PPM for 15min would start to kill you basically, so at 400PPM you are pretty much dead by the time it activates the alarm...however, like i said i never looked into this and never thought to test the theory...lol... but we do have one that says at 400PPM and 15min exposure it will alarm and last year while i was at work i got a call from my pregnant wife (29 at the time) that the CO alarm was going off and didnt know what to do..she called the fire dept. in and as soon as they came through the door with their alarm made her and the 2 kids (4 and 3 at the time) get out of house, it was like 20F out and snowing...didnt even let them get coats, fortunatley my dad was working right outside and got them in the van to keep warm...they opened all the windows and had the neighbors eveacuate their apt. too... they told herif she had been in there another 15-20minutes the baby prolly would have died and possibly the kids... they said she prolly would have made it but would have got sick...they did find traces of CO in the kids blood but nothing too harmful...turns out the bakery we live above had a known leak in a vent and never fixed it, although they knew about it, our landlord reamed them a new one as i did the same when i found out... what this has to do with the price of rice in china, i dont know... just thought id throw it in there... im tired and a little out of it from the cough medicine i tihnk....lol... well goodnight and happy vaping... oh btw if anyone can confirm or correct the PPM and the amount of time before it is fatal please let me know...

 

[zcrashz]

ya know i never thought about that..very good that you did that... i will say however that most CO detectors might alarm at 400PPM but thats after exposure for 15minutes straight...and to my knowledge (which isnt much) and from what my boss used to tell me, which oddly enough i never researched... but after i believe he said 200PPM for 15min would start to kill you basically, so at 400PPM you are pretty much dead by the time it activates the alarm...however, like i said i never looked into this and never thought to test the theory...lol... but we do have one that says at 400PPM and 15min exposure it will alarm and last year while i was at work i got a call from my pregnant wife (29 at the time) that the CO alarm was going off and didnt know what to do..she called the fire dept. in and as soon as they came through the door with their alarm made her and the 2 kids (4 and 3 at the time) get out of house, it was like 20F out and snowing...didnt even let them get coats, fortunatley my dad was working right outside and got them in the van to keep warm...they opened all the windows and had the neighbors eveacuate their apt. too... they told herif she had been in there another 15-20minutes the baby prolly would have died and possibly the kids... they said she prolly would have made it but would have got sick...they did find traces of CO in the kids blood but nothing too harmful...turns out the bakery we live above had a known leak in a vent and never fixed it, although they knew about it, our landlord reamed them a new one as i did the same when i found out... what this has to do with the price of rice in china, i dont know... just thought id throw it in there... im tired and a little out of it from the cough medicine i tihnk....lol... well goodnight and happy vaping... oh btw if anyone can confirm or correct the PPM and the amount of time before it is fatal please let me know...

ok i just found something if anyone is interested...

A person suffering from carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication may first experience euphoria (similar to the effect of a martini or two), then carbon monoxide poisoning effects lead to a headache, followed by nausea and possibly vomiting as the concentration of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood increases. To prevent these effects, OSHA has established a PEL of 50 ppm for an 8-hr exposure

400 ppm Evacuate the area. 3 hour exposure may be fatal.

guess i was a little off... but the site i found this on was for work areas dont know if it applies to homes as well... i would assume so but then again...heh.. anyway the site i found this on was .inspectapedia.com/hazmat/CarbonMonxide.htm

 

[Lightgeoduck]

good work Chi Z .. pretty interesting

 

[fair dinkum]

Brilliant cheesy9, thanks for that post.

 

[martha1014]

My neice and nephew were found unconscious from carbon monoxide poisoning. They just passed out right where they were. They did not remember passing out or did not remember experiencing any symptoms.

They were found what we believe after about 3-4 hours. They said if it had been much longer they would not have survived.

 

[cpcp68]

cheesy9, your test may be highly unscientific, but I think it is enlightening. Can you try the same with the CO detector in a 1 gallon ziploc bag?

good job!

 

[Lightgeoduck]

cheesy9, your test may be highly unscientific, but I think it is enlightening. Can you try the same with the CO detector in a 1 gallon ziploc bag?

good job!

how would the vapor get to the sensor?

 

[cpcp68]

you blow it into the bag and then seal it.

of course you need also a control sample: just do not vape or smoke for 2 minutes and breathe into the bag and seal it.