Carbon monoxide on board

[Searush]

<<I thought CO poisoning turned you a "healthy" shade of pink - it's CO2 that would turn you blue?>>

Yes, normal flesh goes pink, lips & nails blue - quite a pretty combination - but not healthy. I think it was due to CO preventing your blood (Heamoglobin or red cells?) absorbing the oxygen needed to keep you alive.

 

[BrendanS]

The CO binds to the site on the haemoglobin molecule which normally binds to O2, but about 200 times more efficiently, thus blocking O2 from binding and transferring O2 around the body.

 

[Ships_Cat]

I agree with you Blackbeard.

If one is prepared to accept that diesel engines do not produce enuff CO to worry about then one also has to accept that gas appliances such as cookers, frig's don't either - as like diesel engines as long as operated with an adequate supply of oxygen they don't, in fact they produce much less, maybe near enuff to zilch.

So everyone can stop worrying about rushing off and buying CO detectors I guess /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

John

 

[William_H]

Re Co from diesel. As I understand it diesel has more carbon than petrol which has more hydrogen. However because a diesel engine operates on the self ignition by compression the mixture is always quite lean wheras if a petrol engine were to run that lean the self ignition (ping or detonation) would destroy the engine. So petrol engines always run richer to minimise chance of self ignition. Hence produce more CO which is however on modern cars now largely catalysed by the catalytic converter to CO2. ...olewill

 

[huldah]

Yep, all boats should have carbon monoxide alarms. Its the alarm that saves lives.

Philip