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From: Richard Goodwin (no email)
Date: Wed Oct 03 2001 - 10:02:05 EDT
I think the right answer is more like:
Any combustion of carbon-based material can produce carbon monoxide.
The more complete the combustion process, the less CO will be produced,
and conversely, the less complete the combustion, the more CO will be
produced. "Complete" combustion requires that every atom of carbon
combines with two atoms of oxygen to make CO2. If there is too much
fuel and too little oxygen, then some CO will be present along with the
CO2.
A lot of factors influence this. A gasoline engine by its nature
produces a fair amount of CO even with an unrestricted air supply,
because of the fuel/air mix. Apparently diesel is not as likely to do
that for some reason, perhaps because you need as much air as possible
to get the stuff to burn at all :-).
Propane and other fuel gases, as well as kerosene, burn fairly cleanly
while there is plenty of fresh air for them to breathe, but in an
enclosed space, if they start to use up too much of the available
oxygen, with your help from breathing, faster than it can be replaced,
then they will start to produce more CO as a result of the O2 shortage.
I believe you will notice the flame getting more yellow when this
happens. Pure blue flame indicates more complete combustion. Makes you
wonder about these gas log fireplaces that burn with bright yellow
flames.
Dick
R C Smith Jr wrote:
>
> Then do I have this right? Only gas-powered boats/generators can produce
> deadly carbon monoxide. Those of us who are diesel-powered have nothing to
> worry about.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bob
> ________________
> R C Smith Jr
> M/V Susan Marie
> Hatteras 58 LRC
> Chesapeake Bay
>
> > From: "Rosalie B." <>
> > Organization: mindspring.
> > Reply-To:
> > Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2001 08:15:56 -0400
> > To: Richard Goodwin <>
> > Cc: <>
> > Subject: Re: lv-ab: Deadly gas
> >
> > Having said that, when I sampled exhausts from vehicles (at the transfer
> > station), the big diesel trash trucks made hardly any impression on the
> > meter while little pickup trucks and cars would peg it right over.
>
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