First, a bit of history… This facility, a small office complex, was built a little more than a decade ago, and the required carbon monoxide safety monitor in the equipment room was disabled at the beginning of the first heating season because there was an ongoing problem with it being activated from time to time. Technicians investigating the cause of the alarm, decided after several incidents that the problem was not CO in the area, but the alarm itself, and it was disabled with the intent of replacing it.

Now, with a new facility manager who discovered the safety violation and took immediate steps to have a new alarm installed, you are responding to a request for service to investigate the presence of CO in the equipment room. When you arrive and confirm the situation with the on-site maintenance personnel, you accomplish your first step of using an ambient CO device and SCBA equipment upon entry to the equipment room, and you confirm that the alarm is responding to a spill into the area.

After accomplishing the necessary safety procedures that allow to you to safely enter the area and accomplish a preliminary inspection of the 5 pieces of equipment located in this equipment room (shown in Figure 1), you recognize the underlying cause of the problem.

Your troubleshooting question: What step do you need to take in order to ensure the proper operation of these heating units?

Compare your answer with ours HERE.

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