Indoor air pollution due to emissions from unvented gas-fired space heaters. Revision

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5219399

Traynor, G W; Girman, J R; Apte, M G; Dillworth, J F; White, P D

Operation of an unvented combustion appliance indoors can elevate pollutant concentrations. Under laboratory conditions, the oxygen consumption rates and the pollutant emission rates of CO, CO/sub 2/, NO, NO/sub 2/, HCHO and submicron suspended particles emitted from eight unvented gas-fired space heaters operated with well adjusted air shutters at partial and full fuel consumption rates in a 27-m/sup 3/ chamber were determined. Emission rates were also determined for some heaters operating under poorly tuned conditions. Four of the eight heaters were subsequently tested in a 240-m/sup 3/ research house with .36 to 1.14 air changes per hour. Based on measurements near steady-state, projected steady-state pollutant and oxygen levels were: 1930 to 11,100 ppM for CO/sub 2/, 1.0 to 26 ppM for CO (under well-tuned conditions), 0.40 to 1.46 ppM for NO/sub 2/, and 19.1 to 20.7% for O/sub 2/. Concentrations of CO/sub 2/, CO, and NO/sub 2/ were sometimes observed to be above outdoor or occupational guidelines. Analysis showed that CO, NO, and NO/sub 2/ emission rates can vary with time and that, while short-term emission rates derived from laboratory tests were consistent with initial emission rates observed in the field, they did not always correspond to steady-state emission rates. 18 references, 9 figures, 6 tables.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA); Consumer Product Safety Commission, Bethesda, MD (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 5219399
• Report Number(s): LBL-15878-Rev.; CONF-830617-6-Rev; EEB-Vent-83-6; ON: DE84009243
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500100* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Basic Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOL MONITORING
AIR POLLUTION
ALDEHYDES
APPLIANCES
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL EFFLUENTS
COMBUSTION PRODUCTS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FORMALDEHYDE
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUEL-AIR RATIO
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
HEATERS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
MONITORING
NATURAL GAS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN DIOXIDE
NITROGEN OXIDES
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
POLLUTION
SPACE HEATERS
VENTILATION