Gas Ranges and Carbon Monoxide Levels in a Tight House
rfaesy
| Posted in General Questions on
Does tightening homes exacerbate CO issues in homes with gas ranges? Are there any studies or data sets out there that show any correlation between house tightening (for air leakage and/or duct leakage) and CO levels in homes with gas (propane or natural) ranges? Are we making homes with gas ranges worse in terms of CO by tightening them?
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Search and download construction details
Replies
A tightly constructed house should be paired with a controlled mechanical ventilation system. Uncontrolled air leakage will not be the thing that makes or breaks your air quality, controlled ventilation measured in air changes per hour (ACH) will be.
The issue isn't the gas range but ventilation. As long as you have a properly sized range hood there's no risk. CO levels of a typical gas range are well under 100 ppm.
Thanks. We understand the building science and need for mechanical ventilation. The question is whether there are any data or studies that address this question of CO concentrations with tighter homes for a financing program that needs data to make a decision.
What financing program?
Everything goes up with tighter homes. PM2.5 (from cooking), off gassing, co2, humidity levels, etc. all go up in a tighter house.
It doesn't need to be studied because it's a matter of common sense.
Subscribing...
Richard,
This doesn't directly address what you are looking for, but may lead you to more directly useful studies: https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/the-hazards-of-cooking-with-gas
> Are we making homes with gas ranges worse in terms of CO by tightening them?
Other things (like mechanical ventilation) being equal, yes. This is basic physics, which shouldn't require supporting data.
How significantly worse is the better question - and this is much more complicated.
Sounds like what is needed is a quantification that can be addressed via mechanical ventilation. If there's a high throughput of ventilation then that would significantly increase overall energy use (read "less energy efficient"). Perhaps funding is based on energy efficiency numbers and the OP needs to quantify the impacts from a gas range?
Let's keep in mind that, for the most part, while we "eliminate" pollution from the insides of our homes we're increasing it elsewhere (externalizing). More electrical use mans more coal burned: yes, centralized energy production can be more readily upgraded and more tightly controlled; but, most completely look past this point- it's not factored [externalized]. And for folks in my neck of the woods -PNW- more electrical use also means more fish kills (hydroelectic: dams).