Citation

Emmerich SJ, Wang L, Persily AK. J. Air Waste Manag. Assoc. (1995) 2017; 67(8): 889-898.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Air and Waste Management Association, Publisher Informa- Taylor and Francis)

DOI

10.1080/10962247.2017.1300202

PMID

28406745

Abstract

There is concern about the hazard of acute residential CO exposures from portable gasoline powered generators which can result in death or serious adverse health effects in exposed individuals. To address this hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has developed low CO emission prototype generators by adapting off-the-shelf emission control technologies onto commercially-available generators. A series of tests were conducted to characterize the indoor CO concentrations resulting from portable generators operating in the attached garage of a research house under seven different test house/garage configurations. The tested generators include both unmodified and modified low CO emission prototypes. It was found that CO concentrations varied widely, with peak house CO concentrations ranging from under 10 ppm to over 10,000 ppm. The highest concentrations in the house resulted from operation of the unmodified generator in the garage with the garage 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 up to 98 % in CO concentrations due to emissions from two low CO-emission portable generators compared to a stock generator. Implications Improper portable generator use has caused 800 U.S. deaths in the past 14 years. Generators operated in attached garage can cause CO to quickly reach deadly levels. Two low-emission prototypes generators were tested and had reduced CO emissions of up to 98%. Low-emission generators can reduce the risk of consumer poisonings and death.

Language: en