I hope this story scares the hell out of you!

Regularly check heat exchangers on all gas appliances for cracks and corrosion. That is how CO gets into the room.

 

We are talking of a diesel heater, it would have stunk terribly in there ? And had it been petrol there would have been a death. C monoxide doesn't give you any chances like that. It sounds much more like low oxygen levels than carbon monoxide effects.

[edit...Talking below about hypoxia not CO poisoning ]
Normal oxygen content of air is 21 % and humans can tolerate half that with some stress at 10% by the time it drops to 8 % you will die but not before a period of obvious discomfort, panting blurred vision etc but your muscles will still work. No different to re breathing air in a bag.

Intereststing point Westvanhan made about rust using up oxygen in a confined space, it's certainly possible and I calculated you'd need to fully corrode 9 kgs of steel in a 50 m3 space to reduce the oxygen content to 10% . Certainly possible. But again you'd experience difficulty and get stressed long before your muscles stopped working, unlike the effects of carbon monoxide. [ edit: see post 30 below double the steel mass it's O2 not O1]

 

Happens in container ships all too often.

You're off on your numbers and info there a bit mate.

Why are you contraindicating?

 

Tom which numbers specifically and what's it got to do with contraindications ?

 

This is a guide to confined space oxygen levels and effects: [edit comment: Just to make this clear this is Hypoxia only nothing to do with CO poisoning]


20.9 percent: Normal air.

19.5 percent: Minimum advised oxygen level for workers.

15-19 percent: Decreased ability to work strenuously.

12-15 percent: Respiration and pulse increase; impaired coordination, perception, and judgment.

10-12 percent: Respiration further increases in rate and depth; poor judgment and bluish lips.

8-10 percent: Symptoms may include mental failure, fainting, unconsciousness, an ash-colored-face, blue lips, nausea, and vomiting.

6-8 percent: Within 8 minutes is 100 percent fatal; 6 minutes - 50 percent fatal; 4-5 minutes - recovery with treatment.

4-6 percent: Coma in 40 seconds, convulsions, respiration ceases - death.

 

It appears that the symptoms for acute CO poisoning and hypoxia are very similar, probably because high concentrations of CO kill by depriving the body of oxygen, which is what hypoxia is.

Wikipedia | Acute Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Wikipedia | Hypoxia

I understand that death by pure CO is relatively peaceful. Of course engines typically do not produce pure CO, but rather a hot and noxious mix of poisonous gases.

 

The actual percentage of oxygen becomes irrelevant when you add carbon monoxide to the mix. It binds to your red blood cells 240 times more tightly than oxygen does, starving your body of the oxygen it needs.

I rented a house once in Oklahoma, that came with one of those old freestanding gas heaters with the A-frame briquettes over the flames. I didn't realize it, but they were the wrong size and partially covered the burner, interfering with combustion when the gas wasn't turned up high enough to blast past them. One night I turned the heat down low, and woke up in a house full of carbon monoxide.

My brother's wife found me stumbling around outside in the morning. I was barely conscious and mumbling incoherently, with blue lips, blue fingernails and a raging headache. I wound up in an emergency room breathing oxygen for a couple of hours, and consider myself very lucky.

 

Absolutely, that's why I said it sounds like low O2 rather than high CO.

I posted the O2 levels because Tom seemed to have issue with the numbers.

Similar to your experience CO Often kills people in caravans.

 

Mike

If you wish to throw CO into the mix, it doesn't really alter your values at all, as it isn't taking up any appreciable volume at all. Since dangerous levels of CO start circa 150ppm, which equates to 0.015% by volume. Thus not a lot!

Like all deadly poisons, it doesn't take much...its a case of quality not quantity

Thus either it is there..or it isn't!

 

Except that your brain has a very good feedback mechanism for low blood oxygen ( hypoxia) and you will feel distressed as the OP did.
But CO is the killer because most often the first you know about it is when you wake up. And yes it is a painless termination for the deceased.

 

Again, absolutely.

But I was suggesting that the original poster was suffering hypoxia rather than CO poisoning.
Interesting about the rust. I'd never calculated just how much O2 it uses but there are 2 moles of iron and 3 moles of oxygen in Fe2O3.

 

No, you are mistaken. Our bodies have only minimal ability to detect low blood oxygen. The primary stimulus for respiration is a buildup of CO2 in the cells, not a lack of oxygen. The reason why acute CO poisoning kills is not because CO is a poison (though it is), but because it blocks red blood cells from taking on oxygen, as Troy noted. You die from acute CO poisoning because of hypoxia, which is why the symptoms are the same.

The reason why breathing CO is considered a "peaceful" way to die is because as you respire the mix of air and CO, you keep blowing off the CO2, just like "normal", so your body thinks you are getting the proper amount of oxygen, even though you are not. By the time your body figures out you don't have enough oxygen you are already unconscious.

Respiratory System - Pulmonary Ventilation

 

OK now I'm confused, if you have hypoxia through low oxygen levels you will get a CO2 buildup in the cells won't you? For example if you put a plastic bag over your head and seal the neck you'll be distressed enough to want to remove the bag long before you faint. Wouldn't that also happen if you wandered into a space with say 8% oxygen ?


I know about carbon monoxide, there's no disagreement there and I apparently didn't make myself clear enough before so I have added some comments in my prior posts.

 

IIRC it was a large barge over 100m long,no one been in there for a year or more-so over all that area inside.

One guy was missing,another went to look for him,and so on

IIRC the last guy managed to make a cell call before he passed out,I think he died later in hospital-the rest were dead at the scene.

 

Phil Sweet just pointed out that it's O2 not O1 in a mole of gas and therefore it needs twice as much steel as I suggested in 50m3, thanks Phil .

He calculated it adjusted for temp adjust and came to 16.9 kg