Hydrogen Alarms

Hydrogen is a highly flammable and explosive gas; therefore a hydrogen alarm has been installed in the ECE444 laboratory to monitor hydrogen levels.

The hydrogen detection system display head is located on the wall south of the furnace, near the gas control cabinet.  The system, an MSA Ultima, detects and displays hydrogen at the ppm level. 

2.5% LEL Hydrogen Alarm

• Evacuate the building immediately

If the concentration of H₂ exceeds a safe level, the Ultima display panel will report an alarm condition to the MNTL control room and will activate the building emergency annunciators.

0.5% LEL Local Hydrogen Alarm

• Turn off Hydrogen
• Notify a TA

The oxidation furnaces have built-in flow meters which determine the amounts of O₂ and H₂ injected into the furnace. If too much H₂ is injected, a local alarm at the furnace will sound.

The gas controller fails-over to a safe condition, so no evacuation is needed. The alarm is reset upon turning off hydrogen. Calling 9-911 is not needed in this case.