Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine November 2025

HVACR NewsMagazine November 2025

State National Chapter News

The second event tied to CO poisoning occurs during or just after storm or disaster recovery. Generators are improperly used to provide power for well pumps, refrigeration and lighting. Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless gas. CO’s mechanics as a poison, works to displace oxygen, thus death by asphyxiation is the result. CO is breathed in and binds with hemoglobin at a rate 200 times more readily than oxygen. This binding makes less room for oxygen to be carried by the blood. CO in the body is cumulative, and toxicity builds with repeated exposure. CO’s half -life in room air is five to six hours. With this fact in mind, we see why poor combustion with relation to many types of fuel fired appliances can poison people over long periods of time. If anyone on your team comes across a victim of CO poisoning it is incredibly important to get oxygen for those exposed. First responder oxygen is the first step to dilute the concentrations of CO. Pure oxygen treatment like those in a hospital will reduce the CO half-life from six hours to ninety minutes as the entire body will benefit from oxygen saturation. Hyperbaric chambers can reduce the half-life to thirty minutes. The higher the CO concentration and longer CO exposure leads to more damage to the body. Carbon monoxide

Combustion process

During the manufacturing process for furnaces conditions are well controlled. Just as air flow is monitored by static pressure, fuel pressure is monitored and internal gas pressure set at 3.5”wc. with field adjustments of 3”wc to 5”wc expected due to variables after installation. In the field everything changes. Just as the manufacturer has no idea how the furnace or air handler performs regarding air flow, the same goes for influences working against efficient combustion. Is there enough primary and secondary air? Does the air flow across the heat exchanger maximize performance? Is the flue termination of sufficient height and clearance? What is the btu content of the fuel source? The manufacturer keeps the pressure on the safe side from the factory. The Combustion Analyzer gives you the information to formulate answers for most of the questions above. With proper training the information becomes a handbook for maximizing combustion performance and safe operation of combustion appliances. While most air conditioning installation errors result in