Measured Carbon Monoxide Concentrations from Stock and Reduced- Emission Prototype Portable Generators Operated in an Attached Garage

Published

June 16, 2017

Author(s)

Steven Emmerich, Leon Wang

Abstract

There is concern about the hazard of acute residential CO exposures from portable gasoline powered generators that can result in death or serious adverse health effects in exposed individuals. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission subsequently developed low CO emission prototype generators by adapting off-the-shelf emission control technologies on a commercially-available generator. NIST conducted a series of tests to characterize the indoor CO concentrations resulting from portable generators operating in the attached garage of a house under seven different test house/garage configurations. The tested generators include both unmodified and modified low CO emission prototype configurations. The configurations studied included different garage bay door positions and connecting door settings between the garage and the family room. CO concentrations varied widely with peak house CO concentrations ranging from under 10 L/L to over 10,000 L/L. The highest concentrations in the house resulted from operation of the unmodified generator in the garage with the bay door closed and the house access door open. The lowest concentrations resulted from operation of a modified low CO-emission prototype in the garage with the bay door open and the house access door closed. These tests documented reductions of 85 % to 98 % in CO concentrations in the house due to emissions from two prototype low CO-emission portable generators compared to a "stock" generator.

Citation

Journal of Air and Waste Management Association

Pub Type

Journals

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DOI Link

Keywords

Generator, carbon monoxide, exposure, indoor air quality, health, measurements

Citation

Emmerich, S. and Wang, L. (2017), Measured Carbon Monoxide Concentrations from Stock and Reduced- Emission Prototype Portable Generators Operated in an Attached Garage, Journal of Air and Waste Management Association, [online], https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2017.1300202 (Accessed April 27, 2024)