"Geoffrey W. Schultz" wrote:
Peggie Hall wrote in
:

If his engine was diesel, he'd have had to be standing on his head
with with his nose next to the exhaust thru-hull...'cuz there's never
been a reported marine related CO death or "near miss" from a diesel
exhaust in open air...they've all been from gas (petrol to you g)
engines/generators. In fact, gasoline engines are the only ones at
issue, because most smaller boats and boats on inland waters where
most of the accidents happen have gas engines.

This isn't true. Actually there have been a few documented cases of CO
death due to diesel generators outputting exhaust fumes below swim
platforms and/or blowing back into poorly ventilated deck spaces. I spent
quite a bit of time looking into this last year. Quoting from the much
missed FischerPandaSucks.com forum:

I don't know that this is the best place to get info. I have sampled
for CO at a solid waste transfer station, and none of the trash trucks
which were diesel made the meter move at all (it was under cover but
it was quite a large building), and the cranes etc that were running
in there constantly did not either. Every time a little pick-up came
through the door though, the meter would peg over.

"OSHA sets a CO exposure limit of 50 PPM for 1 hour. If levels exceed 100
PPM personnel must be removed.

No that it a Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) of 50 ppm for 8 hours
(Time Weighted Average). The old standard which was overturned and
which NIOSH still recommends was 35 ppm for 8 hours. The ACGIH
recommends 25 ppm for an 8 hour TWA. The ceiling (max value) for 5
minutes is 200 ppm.

That's for industrial exposures.

Exposure to 300 PPM for 1-2 hours can result in death. Exposure to 800 PPM
for 1 hour is deadly. Source:
http://www.ilpi.com/msds/ref/carbonmonoxide.html

The instantaneous limit (like from opening a blast furnace) allowed is
1500 ppm. The IDLH (immediately dangerous to life and health) level is
1200 ppm (that's less than an hour).

While diesel exhaust has a much lower CO composition (0.4%) compared to
gasoline engine (7%), it does have 1000-5000 PPM of CO with levels up to
60,000 PPM possible. Source: http://www.coheadquarters.com/coDiesel01.htm"


This says undiluted exhaust. IOW they are measuring in the exhaust
pipe. While it is true that all combustion will produce CO, gasoline
engines produce at least double the amount that diesel does. And when
it is in diesel exhaust, the exhaust gases themselves have an odor so
if you can smell the diesel exhaust you probably ought to do something
about it because it will have CO in it.

However, I will definately state that this type of problem was MUCH more
prevelent with gas power generators.

grandma Rosalie