I know that if an ideal burn is maintained, CO production can be kept to a minimum through nearly complete combustion of the propane. But, even if a burn is overly rich or lean, would the carbon monoxide produced follow the wide-held belief of staying near ground level? It is at an extremely high temperature, therefore I would assume that it would rise up rather than sink down.
So, to test this, a friend and I brought out a CO2 monitor to a brew day. We had it sitting 3 feet above the ground, approximately 4 feet away from the burner, located in a garage with the door open. Throughout the entire time, we noticed only a slight increase in the ppm of CO2 measured by the monitor. After everything was cleaned though, we turned on a fan (it can get a little toasty in there) and the CO2 concentration spiked, from what I'm assuming was as close as we could get to a well-mixed environment.
We did the test again with the door partially open, and this time we measured the CO2 concentration at the gap at the top of the door, where all the hot air was escaping. It read out substantially higher than when sitting next to the burner (atmospheric CO2 concentrations were similar between the two days).
So my hypothesis is that even if you do produce undesirable amounts of CO during propane combustion, all of the reaction products are so hot that they rise up rather than sink down, so a CO monitor placed at head level would be more beneficial than the standard low-level placement for typical CO detection.
I will still always brew outside when I can, because even if I do have a near stoich burn I don't exactly trust my eyes to tell me how well the combustion is proceeding.
Just thought I would share what I found out with you guys. I don't claim to be a scientist by any means and realize I don't have multiple trials, any real controls, etc, because this was more just of a "hey, let's see if this is true or not."
So, to test this, a friend and I brought out a CO2 monitor to a brew day. We had it sitting 3 feet above the ground, approximately 4 feet away from the burner, located in a garage with the door open. Throughout the entire time, we noticed only a slight increase in the ppm of CO2 measured by the monitor. After everything was cleaned though, we turned on a fan (it can get a little toasty in there) and the CO2 concentration spiked, from what I'm assuming was as close as we could get to a well-mixed environment.
We did the test again with the door partially open, and this time we measured the CO2 concentration at the gap at the top of the door, where all the hot air was escaping. It read out substantially higher than when sitting next to the burner (atmospheric CO2 concentrations were similar between the two days).
So my hypothesis is that even if you do produce undesirable amounts of CO during propane combustion, all of the reaction products are so hot that they rise up rather than sink down, so a CO monitor placed at head level would be more beneficial than the standard low-level placement for typical CO detection.
I will still always brew outside when I can, because even if I do have a near stoich burn I don't exactly trust my eyes to tell me how well the combustion is proceeding.
Just thought I would share what I found out with you guys. I don't claim to be a scientist by any means and realize I don't have multiple trials, any real controls, etc, because this was more just of a "hey, let's see if this is true or not."
