[bsmurray]

I know this is not a medical forum, however I was curious and wanted to ask this question.

I just removed the pressure adjuster for my airline tubing from my DIY co2 and in the process I got a good whiff of some freshly brewed co2. I felt a little dizzy and had to sit down. Don't know if it was in my head or I was really being affected. Either way after re-connecting the tubing I sat down and the feeling went away after a couple minutes.

My set up is on my windowsill and the window is open, so fresh outside air is coming inside.

My question is how much co2 does one have to breathe in for it to be dangerous?

 

[rdmustang1]

Read This

 

[prighello]

I think you'll be okay considering the fact that kids suck down whippets for fun (small CO2 carts) by hyperventilating on them with a balloon and pass out before they asphyxiate.

 

[bsmurray]

So if my room is about 12x12x9 and I have a 1 litre bottle co2 set up, is that 5 lbs of co2?

How do you measure weight of co2?

 

[prighello]

So if my room is about 12x12x9 and I have a 1 litre bottle co2 set up, is that 5 lbs of co2?

How do you measure weight of co2?

No way is that 5lbs. The post is about 5lbs of liquid co2 in a co2 tank. Also you'd have to dumb the whole tank to get those concentrations. You're DIY so you're not generating enough pressure to produce liquid co2 plus a 1L container does not hold 5 lbs of liquid co2. I highly doubt a DIY setup is capable of producing dangerous levels of co2 is a typical sized room, but I'll let an expert chime in on that one.

 

[oldpunk78]

If there's too much co2 in the air, you would suffocate. The light headedness is from lack of o2.

 

[PlantedRich]

You may be confusing CO (carbon monoxide) with CO2. You will not be harmed by DIY CO2 unless you have some real special health problems. More likely to be able to pass out by holding your breathe than from breathing DIY CO2! Gas from the normal roommate may be more dangerous....

 

[bsmurray]

You may be confusing CO (carbon monoxide) with CO2. You will not be harmed by DIY CO2 unless you have some real special health problems. More likely to be able to pass out by holding your breathe than from breathing DIY CO2! Gas from the normal roommate may be more dangerous....

Ok great. Even when the aquarium is on a window shelf that sits right next to the headboard of my bed? Basically Im sleeping (with my head) being within 3 feet from the aquarium throughout the night.

 

[AndreyT]

My question is how much co2 does one have to breathe in for it to be dangerous?

There's no meaningful answer to this question the way it is stated. CO2 has no adverse effects by itself. It is not poisonous in any way. The gas is perfectly neutral health-wise. In fact, your body is already full of CO2 it produces by itself. CO2 is what you expel every time you exhale (and some of it you then actually inhale back). As you probably know, sometimes people breathe into a paper bag as a method of dealing with anxiety attacks. The whole point of that procedure is to make you breathe a lot of CO2 (in comparative terms, of course)

The only dangerous thing CO2 can do to you is displace oxygen and thus cause suffocation. In that regard CO2 is as dangerous as water, for one example. One can drink a gallon of water without any issues. But at the same time one can drown to death in a gallon of water. In the latter case it is not water per se that kills the person, but the absence of air (displaced by water). CO2 works the same way. One can drown in CO2.

So, referring to your question, you can breathe in as much CO2 as you want - nothing will happen to you as long as you breathe in enough oxygen with it. Of course, at some point breathing in less oxygen than usual might (and will) produce noticeable effects like dizziness, darkening vision etc.

 

[m00se]

The current percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere is 0.0391% or 391 ppm. The OSHA maximum safe level is 3% or 30,000 ppm. Lethal dose is 30 minutes at 10% or 100,000 ppm.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/124389.html

You have a better chance of growing another set of arms than suffocating from DIY CO2. Not possible.

Also, while you can get high on CO2 whippets, NO is more commonly used (nitrous oxide).

HTH

 

[exv152]

For pressurized, if ever one of your co2 tanks leaks, open the windows and doors, and the disaster is mitigated. No way will the co2 concentrations get to toxic or lethal levels if it's well ventilated. I wouldn't even worry about DIY.

 

[Bandit1200]

There's no meaningful answer to this question the way it is stated. CO2 has no adverse effects by itself. It is not poisonous in any way. The gas is perfectly neutral health-wise. In fact, your body is already full of CO2 it produces by itself. CO2 is what you expel every time you exhale (and some of it you then actually inhale back). As you probably know, sometimes people breathe into a paper bag as a method of dealing with anxiety attacks. The whole point of that procedure is to make you breathe a lot of CO2 (in comparative terms, of course)

The only dangerous thing CO2 can do to you is displace oxygen and thus cause suffocation. In that regard CO2 is as dangerous as water, for one example. One can drink a gallon of water without any issues. But at the same time one can drown to death in a gallon of water. In the latter case it is not water per se that kills the person, but the absence of air (displaced by water). CO2 works the same way. One can drown in CO2.



So, referring to your question, you can breathe in as much CO2 as you want - nothing will happen to you as long as you breathe in enough oxygen with it. Of course, at some point breathing in less oxygen than usual might (and will) produce noticeable effects like dizziness, darkening vision etc.

This is not true at all. It is true that at normal concentrations it is considered non-toxic. At elevated levels it can have detrimental effects regardless of O2 level. Those effects can include death. Google carbon dioxide poisoning to see.

 

[Bettatail]

It is a series mistakes to bring down a modern commercial jet...

In your case, I don't see problem, feeling dizzy is something else, not co2, but if you put your face right in front of the outflowing co2 for 10 minutes, problem.

As some people stated above, co2 does not react or cause damage to the body, but high concentration of co2 in the air(then in your system) displace oxygen and cause suffocation.

Naturally high co2 concentration in an enclosed enviroment, always low o2, sometimes, CO also present.
Co2 fatal accident is rare, you may not hear any, but once you talk to any korean you may hear stories.

 

[PlantedRich]

While we can read of many hazards on the internet, I find it pays to look over the whole situation and determine if those hazards really fit my situation. I find CO2 can have some hazards but they are so odd and low level that I have determined that those who actually are harmed in any major way, fit into Darwin's theory and would have expired some other way if they had not had CO2 available.
When I hurt myself with a gas that the kids at Burger King handle safely, I should just check out!

 

[Darkblade48]

Co2 fatal accident is rare, you may not hear any, but once you talk to any korean you may hear stories.

I'd like to hear more about this.

 

[rezco]

...I got a good whiff of some freshly brewed co2....

In this case - with DIY CO2 the real danger is not from CO2 but from other volatile organics that are a byproduct of fermentation. You likely got a good shot of volatile fatty acids and alcohols which can have transient neurological effects.

 

[Bettatail]

I'd like to hear more about this.

Anthony, unfortunately you are not Korean any more, just like me, we are both catogorized as asian..

Winter cabbage/vegetable storage/basement in Korea or North China....

No matter you believe CO2 is dangerous or not, just don't turn your room into another fish tank that meet the perfect requirement to gas the fish...

 

[Darkblade48]

Anthony, unfortunately you are not Korean any more, just like me, we are both catogorized as asian..

Winter cabbage/vegetable storage/basement in Korea or North China....

I'm not Korean anymore? Or did you mean I wasn't any more Korean, compared to you

I'll ask my Korean friends. You should see those kimchi refrigerators they have nowadays. You would swear they're selling equipment fit for a wine cellar!

 

[greaser84]

I think you'll be okay considering the fact that kids suck down whippets for fun (small CO2 carts) by hyperventilating on them with a balloon and pass out before they asphyxiate.

AWWW the good old days

 

[Steve002]

If you want to know what CO2 toxicity feels like just hold your breath. I'm not being flippant. Our bodies produce CO2 constantly and we out gas it at our lungs with every exhale. CO2 is the trigger that sets off the breathing sensor in your lungs, too much CO2 and you'll quickly feel out of breath and this will build to a point of significant discomfort and a feeling of suffocation. Our bodies don't actually know if there is sufficient oxygen in the air we're breathing. By that I mean we have no way of sensing its presence or not. If the oxygen was suddenly stopped we would simply fall unconscious and die with little or no discomfort being felt.
So bottom line, yes CO2 is toxic and can be fatal but you would have plenty of warning before such an occurrence took place.