4 ms·

It's actually more or less impossible with modern cars. Hell, in a lot of cities what comes out of the tailpipe is cleaner than what goes in the intake.

by TylerE 4y ago

mschuster91 4y ago
You can still die from carbon dioxide exposure/oxygen inefficiency. It will just take longer, now that carbon monoxide emissions are down because of catalytic converters eliminating a lot of them. And yet, a lot of people still die or get seriously injured, particularly because their "keyless" crap acts up [1]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/business/deadly-convenience-keyless-cars-and-their-carbon-monoxide-toll.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/business/deadly-convenien...
- philsnow 4y ago
  I agree that carbon dioxide exposure is dangerous, but it is probably less dangerous because (TIL) there's a specific brain mechanism that wakes you up when your blood has elevated CO2[0]. On the other hand, carbon monoxide poisoning will only wake you up if its symptoms (among which headache, nausea/vomiting, elevated heart rate, and cardiac arrest seem likely) do so. [0] https://medicine.uiowa.edu/content/specific-neurons-trigger-waking-due-inhaled-co2 https://medicine.uiowa.edu/content/specific-neurons-trigger-...
bombcar 4y ago
Cleaner on noxious chemicals but not on carbon dioxide which is what gets humans. I’m kind of surprised garage doors don’t have co2 monitors built in but I suppose it could be used as a security bypass.
- FateOfNations 4y ago
  Carbon Monoxide alarms are being required in more and more places, though typically only enforced in situations where you are getting a building inspection (new construction, extensive remodels, etc.) or where it's a rental property. You can pick one up at the hardware/big box store.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    I'm thinking more of something that causes the garage opener to open if it detects a running car in the garage or CO2 limits approaching unhealthy. I do have a very nice CO alarm that I keep in the kitchen (portable pilot very sensitive one from CO Experts).
snotrockets 4y ago
[citation needed] But until you find one, let's do some math: Let's only look at CO2 and disregard the even nastier NO gasses emitted by a gasoline engine. EPA data suggests a car produces 2,345 grams CO2 for every liter gas. And a modern, but without shut-at-stop, idling car burns about 0.75 l/hour. So 1758 g/hour CO2 for an idling car in your garage, which is roughly 63 m^3, and CO2 is 44.01 g/mol, so after an hour idling in a closed garage, you'd have 14,440 PPM CO2. That is enough to cause drowsiness in most, and some illness in sensitive populations. The OHSA standard for allowed exposure is 5,000ppm averaged over 8-hour workday.
- dmlekrng093 4y ago
  .. and assumes an airtight garage.
  - snotrockets 4y ago
    My back-of-envelope calculation must've few mistakes in it (I was multiplying numbers from the internets, ffs), but none as big as the above comment nonsense.

It's actually more or less impossible with modern cars. Hell, in a lot of cities what comes out of the tailpipe is cleaner than what goes in the intake.

by TylerE 4y ago

It's actually more or less impossible with modern cars. Hell, in a lot of cities what comes out of the tailpipe is cleaner than what goes in the intake.

mschuster91 4y ago

You can still die from carbon dioxide exposure/oxygen inefficiency. It will just take longer, now that carbon monoxide emissions are down because of catalytic converters eliminating a lot of them. And yet, a lot of people still die or get seriously injured, particularly because their "keyless" crap acts up [1]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/business/deadly-convenience-keyless-cars-and-their-carbon-monoxide-toll.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/business/deadly-convenien...

philsnow 4y ago
I agree that carbon dioxide exposure is dangerous, but it is probably less dangerous because (TIL) there's a specific brain mechanism that wakes you up when your blood has elevated CO2[0]. On the other hand, carbon monoxide poisoning will only wake you up if its symptoms (among which headache, nausea/vomiting, elevated heart rate, and cardiac arrest seem likely) do so. [0] https://medicine.uiowa.edu/content/specific-neurons-trigger-waking-due-inhaled-co2 https://medicine.uiowa.edu/content/specific-neurons-trigger-...

bombcar 4y ago

Cleaner on noxious chemicals but not on carbon dioxide which is what gets humans. I’m kind of surprised garage doors don’t have co2 monitors built in but I suppose it could be used as a security bypass.

FateOfNations 4y ago
Carbon Monoxide alarms are being required in more and more places, though typically only enforced in situations where you are getting a building inspection (new construction, extensive remodels, etc.) or where it's a rental property. You can pick one up at the hardware/big box store.
- bombcar 4y ago
  I'm thinking more of something that causes the garage opener to open if it detects a running car in the garage or CO2 limits approaching unhealthy. I do have a very nice CO alarm that I keep in the kitchen (portable pilot very sensitive one from CO Experts).

snotrockets 4y ago

[citation needed] But until you find one, let's do some math: Let's only look at CO2 and disregard the even nastier NO gasses emitted by a gasoline engine. EPA data suggests a car produces 2,345 grams CO2 for every liter gas. And a modern, but without shut-at-stop, idling car burns about 0.75 l/hour. So 1758 g/hour CO2 for an idling car in your garage, which is roughly 63 m^3, and CO2 is 44.01 g/mol, so after an hour idling in a closed garage, you'd have 14,440 PPM CO2. That is enough to cause drowsiness in most, and some illness in sensitive populations. The OHSA standard for allowed exposure is 5,000ppm averaged over 8-hour workday.

dmlekrng093 4y ago
.. and assumes an airtight garage.
- snotrockets 4y ago
  My back-of-envelope calculation must've few mistakes in it (I was multiplying numbers from the internets, ffs), but none as big as the above comment nonsense.