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Carbon Monxide in Hot Water
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Posted by water_daddy (My Page) on Sun, Feb 7, 10 at 22:15
| I've got an apartment office that consistently has hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon monoxide(CO)form in the ELECTRIC water heater. H2S has been up to 20 ppm and the CO over 140 ppm. I understand the H2S formation and the tank has been cleaned/temp raised, but the odor comes back......Now the CO makes no sense. I've check for cross connection and my the instruments show the water heater is culprit....how is this possible? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Carbon Monxide in Hot Water
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| Do you heat the house with gas? |
RE: Carbon Monxide in Hot Water
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| No, it's all electric and no boilers either. I've seen traces of CO from gas heaters (0-4 ppm), but CO isn't a surprise when there is incomplete combustion. However, this is an electric water heater that is actively used, . The concentrations are above 30 ppm, which means it's unsafe to breath. I'm afraid that someone that ignores the stinch of H2S could take a bath in this and never wake up....very odd and I'm awaiting response from the manufacturer. |
RE: Carbon Monxide in Hot Water
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| Maybe the CO is a result of some other mix of chemicals, but I can't imagine what. Does anybody use gas or coal nearby? |
RE: Carbon Monxide in Hot Water
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| How are you measuring the CO? |
RE: Carbon Monxide in Hot Water
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| We use several type of digital air quality instruments that have been calibrated and are accurate to the nearest part per million....these instruments keep us from entering unsafe confined spaces. I called the manufacturer about this and they were not aware of such a condition. It's only in certain heaters and comes back about month after thoroughly cleaning the tanks. Perhaps some kind of residue or material degrading? |
RE: Carbon Monxide in Hot Water
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| If you have anything in the tank breaking down with heat there is unlikely to be enough oxygen for complete combustion, resulting in CO production. Even a coating on the electric heating element could do this, or very hot water with an organic load. How hot are you heating the water? The hotter it gets the more likely you are to have undesired reactions with things dissolved in the water and contaminants in the tank. |
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