Tracer Gas Test Methods

to
Diagnose Ventilation-Related
Indoor Environmental Quality Problems
Prepared by
Rex W. Moore, CIH, CSP
Boelter & Yates, Inc.
Presented by
Catherine E. Simmons, CIH
Park Ridge, Illinois
847-685-9285
rmoore@boelter-yates.com
What is Tracer Gas Testing?

¾ The marking of air with a gas

¾ Monitoring for its presence and

concentration

¾ Evaluate ventilation parameters

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 A Good Tracer Gas?

¾ Non-toxic

¾ Colorless and odorless

¾ Inert

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Common Tracer Gases Used

¾ Carbon Dioxide
¾ Nitrous Oxide
¾ Freon
¾ Helium
¾ Sulfur Hexafluoride

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 Tracer Gas Technology

¾ Ventilation Applications

„Quantification of outside air

„Air distribution system efficiency

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 Importance of Outside Air
Inside a Building

¾ Too little outside air?

„ Odors-sense of stuffiness
„ Eye irritation, headaches

¾ Too much outside air?

„ Excess energy costs
„ HVAC overload?

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 How Much Outside Air?

Occupancy Category cfm/person* cfm*/ft2

Office space 5 0.06

Classroom 10 0.12
Dining room 7.5 0.18
Shipping/Receiving --- 0.12
Health Club 20 0.06

*Quantities at breathing zone

-ASHRAE Guidelines 2004

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 Measure Outside Air?

¾ Volumetric Air Measurements

¾ ASTM Designation: E741-00
„ Standard Test Method for Determining Air
Change in a Single Zone by Means of a
Tracer Gas Dilution

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 ASTM E741 Test Method

¾ Three different methods:

„ Concentration Decay
„ Constant Injection
„ Constant Concentration

¾ Determines air change rate

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 Air Change Rate?
1 HOUR

VOLUME of AIR ENCLOSED AIR VOLUME

10 m3 SPACE (10 m3) 10 m3

ONE AIR CHANGE PER HOUR = 1 m3/hour of outside air

Air Change Rate = The number of room or building

volumes per hour that are being displaced with outside air.

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 Concentration Decay Method
¾ Inject predetermined volume of
gas into room
¾ Mix room air to get uniform
concentration
¾ Monitor gas concentration
decay

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Concentration Decay Method

ln CT2 - ln CT1
Air Change Rate, A =
∆T (in hours)

ln = log normal
CT1 = Tracer Gas Concentration at start of test
CT2 = Tracer Gas Concentration at end of test
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SF6 Concentration (ppm)
Concentration Decay Method

12.00
10.00
A = 5.43
8.00
A = 2.66
6.00
A = 1.32
4.00
2.00 A = 0.51
0.00
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40
Time after test start (minutes)

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Whole Building vs. Single Room
SPILL INTAKE
\\\\ \\\\\\ Sample
RETURN FAN SUPPLY FAN
Injection

LOBBY

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 Advantages

¾ Doesn’t require any airflow measurements

„ Need volume

¾ Can do whole building/single room

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 Distribution System Efficiency?

How well is outside supply air

distributed to breathing zones in
occupied areas?

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Why Worry About Good Mixing?
¾ Poor Mixing
„ Occupant complaints
¾ ASHRAE Standard, Ventilation for
Acceptable Indoor Air Quality
„ Based on amounts of outside air
getting to breathing zone not to
supply air louvers
¾ System balancing done at louvers

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 Why Worry About Good Mixing?

¾Short – circuiting airflow patterns

¾Where a significant portion of supply air

flows directly to the exhaust, bypassing
the occupied portion (breathing zone) of
the ventilated space.

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 How Do You Test for
Good Mixing?

¾ASHRAE Standard 129 – Measuring Air

Change Effectiveness

¾Uses Tracer Gas Techniques

¾Age-of-Air Measurements

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 Air Exchange Effectiveness?

¾The definition of air-change

effectiveness is based on a
comparision of the age of air in the
occupied portions of the building to
the age of air that would exist under
conditions of perfect mixing of the
ventilation air.
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 Age of Air??
¾ The age of the air at a give location is the
average amount of time that has elapsed since
the air molecules at that location entered the
building.

¾ Amount of time outside air has been in an area

¾ Two Methods of determination

„ Step-up constant tracer gas injection
„ Tracer gas concentration decay

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 How is This Testing Done?

¾ Air in the room is marked

with tracer gas
ƒ Ventilation turned on

¾ Age of Air Measurements

ƒ Locations of interest-A & B
ƒ In the exhaust (C)

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 How Do You Measure Age of Air?

Age of air at a location =

Average tracer gas level during test
Tracer gas level at beginning of test

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 Age of Air Relates to
Air Exchange Effectiveness?

Air change effectiveness (E)

E = avg age of air – Exhaust

avg age of air – bz

bz = breathing zone

E = < 1.0 (less than perfect mixing)

E = 1 (perfect mixing)
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 Significance of Results?
¾ ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2004 Ventilation for
Acceptable Indoor Air Quality
ƒ Outside air requirements = QA/E
ƒ As E decreases, OA should increase
¾ US Green Building Council LEED Rating
requires an E > 0.9
ƒ In all ventilated zones

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Sampling Instrumentation
Measuring
Sulfur Hexafluoride
And Carbon Dioxide

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 How to Collect Samples?

Sampling Pump
and Tedlar Bag
®

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 INNOVA Multi-Gas Monitor

¾ Weight (~18 lbs)

¾ Quasi direct-reading instrument
¾ Works on photo acoustic principle
¾ 2-3 ppb limit of detection
¾ ~ $36,000 purchase cost
¾ ~ $2,800 rental fee – California Analytical

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 TSI Q-Trac
To detect
Carbon Dioxide

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 Foxboro Miran Sapphire

¾ Weight (~18 lbs)

¾ Quasi direct-reading instrument
¾ Works on infrared principle
(good down to ~ 50 ppb)
¾ ~ $12,000 purchase cost
¾ ~ $1,200 rental fee

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 FTIR

¾ Weight (~50-100 lbs)

¾ Reportedly good down to 50 ppt
¾ ~$ 50,000+ purchase cost
¾ ~$ 5,000 rental fee
¾ Often needs liquid nitrogen as coolant

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 Gas Chromatography with
Electron Capture
¾ Varying weights
¾ ~ $30,000 - $50,000 Purchase Fee
¾ Rental price????
¾ Reportedly down to 50 ppt
¾ Sample collection normally with syringes
¾ Laboratory type device-Not easily
transported

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 Poor Man’s Way?

¾ Collect sample in bags or syringes.

¾ Send to laboratory for analysis.
¾ Pros and Cons?

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Thank You

Questions?

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