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Carbon monoxide poisoning from 3D laser printer may have killed Berkeley couple

sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

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Re: Carbon monoxide poisoning from 3D laser printer may have killed Berkeley couple

#21

Post by zokier »

chris_st wrote: post #11
oasisbob wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glowforge marketed their laser cutter as a 3D laser printer, didn't they? As someone waiting for their Glowforge to ship, I really hope their device wasn't involved in all this.

From Glowforge's website, for their base model: > It needs ventilation via the provided 4″ diameter (10.2cm) hose. We recommend putting the hose out a window.

They also say:

> Lasers normally require some ventilation via a small tube out a nearby window. Our optional Air Filter that sits under Glowforge and ventilates using HEPA filters and charcoal, meaning no outside ventilation is required.

Best to my knowledge HEPA and charcoal don't help against CO. So running one with the filter in an unventilated space might still be hazardous.

Re: Carbon monoxide poisoning from 3D laser printer may have killed Berkeley couple

#22

Post by j_koreth »

stcredzero wrote: post #16
dekhn wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anything specific in this case (I have been following it since it was first reported, since it's local, and mysterious). But my first suspicion would be the CO2 gas supply to the laser. Low-quality CO2 gas has CO impurities. I think a leak in the gas supply, combined with really poor ventilation, could possibly lead to this situation, but I'm still surprised there would be enough CO to fatally poison 2 p…

CO poisoning is cumulative. It takes a long time for CO to get unstuck from hemoglobin. It could have snuck up on them slowly, then one evening with the cats "napping" they felt particularly tired and thought to themselves, "We must be in hibernation mode from the chilly weather," then they went to sleep then never woke up. CO is odorless. You might get a headache, or you might only feel tired. What's worse: a lot of…

Your description makes me increasingly worried; do you have any preferred CO detectors?

Re: Carbon monoxide poisoning from 3D laser printer may have killed Berkeley couple

#23

Post by robinhouston »

Off topic, but I’ve never seen the care-of symbol (℅) used in place of percent (%) before. I’m really curious how that could happen. On my keyboard I can type % as shift-5, but there’s no way to type ℅ without selecting it from a list of characters.

Re: Carbon monoxide poisoning from 3D laser printer may have killed Berkeley couple

#24

Post by jandrese »

mattnewton wrote: post #7
mbgaxyz wrote: post #2

Related: "According to a study completed by a team at the Illinois Institute of Technology, typical desktop 3D printers emit particles and compounds during printing that federal agencies say could cause cancer or other ailments." http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/ct-3d-printe...

Though this is marketed as a "laser printer" its most likely a laser cutter. Glow forge was the first I know of to start this stupid fad of calling them printers to be associated with the 3D printer market. Laser cutters burn materials at high energy and need to be properly vented.

Exactly. This was more like having an unventilated fireplace in the house, except it makes much less smoke so you don't realize just how dangerous it is.

Re: Carbon monoxide poisoning from 3D laser printer may have killed Berkeley couple

#25

Post by pmoriarty »

stcredzero wrote: post #18

CO poisoning is cumulative. It takes a long time for CO to get unstuck from hemoglobin. (About 2 weeks, IIRC.) It could have snuck up on them slowly, then one evening with the cats "napping" they felt particularly tired and thought to themselves, "We must be in hibernation mode from the chilly weather," then they went to sleep then never woke up. CO is odorless. You might get a headache, or you might only feel tired.…

What CO detectors would you recommend?

Re: Carbon monoxide poisoning from 3D laser printer may have killed Berkeley couple

#27

Post by stcredzero »

j_koreth wrote: post #22
stcredzero wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CO poisoning is cumulative. It takes a long time for CO to get unstuck from hemoglobin. It could have snuck up on them slowly, then one evening with the cats "napping" they felt particularly tired and thought to themselves, "We must be in hibernation mode from the chilly weather," then they went to sleep then never woke up. CO is odorless. You might get a headache, or you might only feel tired. What's worse: a lot of…

Your description makes me increasingly worried; do you have any preferred CO detectors?

Avoid cheap ebay stuff. I think Consumer Reports have done a rating of those devices sometime. However, that might be out of date at this point. I just did a search on YouTube, and even those random reviews seem to date from 2014. There should be a way to verify those. Maybe Cody's Lab could handle this?

Re: Carbon monoxide poisoning from 3D laser printer may have killed Berkeley couple

#30

Post by stcredzero »

pmoriarty wrote: post #25
stcredzero wrote: post #18

CO poisoning is cumulative. It takes a long time for CO to get unstuck from hemoglobin. (About 2 weeks, IIRC.) It could have snuck up on them slowly, then one evening with the cats "napping" they felt particularly tired and thought to themselves, "We must be in hibernation mode from the chilly weather," then they went to sleep then never woke up. CO is odorless. You might get a headache, or you might only feel tired.…

What CO detectors would you recommend?

At his point, I would just pony up some cash. Maybe bug a chemistry geek YouTuber.
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