Answers to the questions that come before the quote.
How to choose a sensing principle, where to set an alarm, which certificate actually applies. These are the decisions that get made before anyone picks a model number, and getting them wrong is expensive to undo.
China Ex, ATEX and IECEx: what the marking on a detector actually tells you
Three certification systems look similar on a datasheet and are not interchangeable. This is how to read the marking and check the paperwork behind it.
Read the guide →Twelve questions to ask a gas detection OEM before you send a PO
Most of these take one email to answer. The four that matter most are the ones about certification ownership, firmware control, tooling and support, and they are the four buyers ask least often.
Read the guide →Choosing the sensing principle before you choose the model
Four principles cover most industrial gas detection. Picking the wrong one gives readings that look plausible and are wrong, so the decision comes before the model number.
Read the guide →Why a wider measuring range is not a safer one
Specifying 0-1000 ppm where 0-100 ppm would do costs accuracy exactly where the alarm sits, and can hide a leak until it is large. Range selection is an accuracy decision.
Read the guide →IP65 and IP66 differ by one digit and one washdown hose
The first digit is dust and both grades pass it. The second digit is water, and the gap between a 12.5 litre jet and a 100 litre jet is the gap between a hose and a pressure washer.
Read the guide →Why 10% LEL and 25% LEL are both correct alarm setpoints
Two numbers appear on almost every combustible gas detector, and they are not competing recommendations. They do different jobs, and conflating them is how alarms end up bypassed.
Read the guide →Why confined space testing follows O2, LEL, H2S, CO in that order
The order on a four-gas instrument is not alphabetical or traditional. It runs from the hazard that kills fastest to the one that kills slowest, and one channel cannot be trusted until another has been read.
Read the guide →Why calibration needs a certified gas, not the air in the room
Zeroing in ambient air assumes the ambient air contains nothing. In a plant it usually does. Span needs a concentration that someone has measured and certified, or the instrument is being told a number that is not true.
Read the guide →Finding a duplicate Modbus address without pulling the loop apart
A duplicated address does not stop the bus. It produces one garbled reply and a working system, which is why it survives commissioning. The symptom is intermittent, so the diagnosis has to be systematic.
Read the guide →What a gas sensor costs over five years, not at the PO
A cell that costs half as much and lasts a third as long costs more. Five-year cost is dominated by replacement interval, calibration labour and the cost of the day it stops working.
Read the guide →Question not covered here?
If it concerns gas selection, detector placement or certification, ask us directly. If it is a common one, it usually becomes the next guide.