Given the age-old problem of tracing fuel odors, especially in the trunk, has anyone ever used or considered a 'sniffer'?

http://www.tequipment.net/TPI/725L/C...-Gas-Detector/

Possibly helpful in pinpointing which fitting or hose in particular is the offender?

Any experience with such testers?

Thoughts?

Cheers
DD

 

I have this one: http://www.tequipment.net/TIF/8900/C...tor/?rrec=true

It's good down to 5 ppm and works very well. I mainly use it for detecting leaks in AC systems, as I evacuate the system, give it a shot of BBQ propane and run the sniffer over every joint. Doesn't take long to find the leaking joint. It would work very well for finding fuel leaks too.

 

Do you think the lower priced version would do the trick? I wouldn't mind saving $100

Cheers
DD

 

Probably, although it says good to 40ppm methane. You'd have to look up the spec sheet to see what its sensitivity to gasoline is.

Usually there will be a different sensitivity threshold for each hydrocarbon. Typically they are the most sensitive to methane, and less sensitive to other hydrocarbons. Suppose it's 100ppm for gasoline I'm not sure if that's sensitive enough for detecting a minor vapour leak. I don't know. I also don't know what the human thresehold of smell is for gasoline.

I bought mine mainly for AC work, so wanted the most sensitive I could get at a reasonable price.

 

"Warning properties: Characteristic pungent odor at <l ppm; adequate warning for acute and chronic exposure"

From:

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mmg/mmg.asp?id=465&tid=83


Cheers
DD

 

So if we can smell 1 ppm, then a detector that bottoms out at 40 (or more) might not be useful. Although presumably a leak is greater than 40 ppm.

I have had my detector go crazy when I brought it close to the gas cap on my DS420, it was the fumes venting off through a less than perfect rubber seal. No idea what the concentration was, but the detector strongly registered that was where the smell was coming from. I put on a new cap and it was happy and the garage didn't stink.

 

I bought a used Tif 8800 off eBay for $60 or so a few years ago and it works well. Once you get the hang of it, you can isolate the source. I'm sure similar models would work just as well.

 

I bought this one after trying a cheaper $40 one that didn't work.


That detector worked so well that it detected me spraying undercoating from 10 feet on a windy day.

You have to develop a technique, maybe like metal detecting, to hone in on the source. I also found that with a big leak in a closed space it was too sensitive so I had to air out my "trunk" (shooting brake cargo area) for a bit to be able to locate fuel leak in the materials.