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LEL Vs Percent Volume
LEL Vs Percent Volume
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Unless you have a technical background, the concept of measurement scales can be
complicated. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to explain them and sketch this out on
a white board or napkin!
Units of measure and scale are very important. If your readout device says there are 100 of
something, is that a bad thing? That all depends; if it’s gold, that’s good! If it’s benzene, it’s
probably not.
10%, means 10 parts out of 100, (1/10th of 100), so therefore its 90% something else.
2% butterfat milk means that 2% is fat and 98% is something else, compared to skim
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Eventually we go down to 0.1%, 0.01%, 0.001%, but these numbers get kind of cumbersome,
so it becomes convenient to change scale.
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1% is the same as 10,000 parts per million.
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This one is important, 1% = 10,000 ppm.
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Let’s look at some common examples:
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Oxygen in the air we breathe is 20.9% (or 209,000 ppm)
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The time-weighted average (TWA) for carbon monoxide is 25 ppm (the same as saying
0.025%)
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Eventually, as the numbers get smaller, it is convenient to switch scales again – this time, to
parts per billion.
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1% = 10,000 ppm
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Without knowing the scale of measurement or what you’re measuring, a reading of 100 of
anything lacks any meaning.
If we use methane (CH4) as an example, the LEL (lower explosive level) of methane is
generally considered to be 5% by volume (5% bv). That means the mixture is too lean to burn if
there is less than 5% methane present. But at 5%, we can burn or explode if there is an ignition
source.
So we call 5% bv methane the same as 100% LEL. 5% methane is 100% of the explosive
concentration.
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Most portable gas monitors will alarm at 10% of the LEL. Regardless of whether we use the
%LEL scale, the percent scale or the ppm scale, the concentration is all the same.
So here we have three numbers at the alarm level: 10 and 0.5 and 5000. Without scale they are
meaningless.
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Pretty much all combustible gas monitors are built to be layman-proof. The operator doesn’t
need to understand scale or range; they just need to know what to do when the alarm goes off.
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It’s similar to when the temperature light in my car goes on. I don’t need to know if it’s
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measuring in Fahrenheit or Celsius or exactly how hot that really is; I just need to know to stop
my car quickly. It’s my mechanic that needs to know all that other stuff.
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If you’re in a position of authority, you may need to know all about units of measure, scale and
range. If you’re working the tools, you just need to understand what to do when the alarm goes
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So generally, you need to know the units of measure to make an informed decision about the
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concentration, unless you have a device that gives you an “idiot-light” that screams DANGER,
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