Thursday, April 16, 2009

Four gas monitor or PID meter? Which one do you use?

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Many people in the process industry used to use a standard "four gas" monitor for years, until the advent of PID type gas monitors. So this is just an open ended question to you all... what's your favorite meter? To the newbies, a four gas monitor is basically what it says, a portable gas monitor that can measure upto four different types of gases. These can be any mix of four sensors, or a mix of one LEL sensor (for explosive gases and vapors), an Oxygen sensor (for confined space entry) and two toxic gas sensors (say H2S and Chlorine for example). These type of four gas monitors have been used for several years and are workhorses of the plant operations and maintenance teams. However the advent of PID type meters has meant a threat to the domination of the four gas monitor. Essentially a PID meter stands for a gas monitor that uses a PID (Photoionization detector) to measure a wide range of gases. These cover most compounds found in industry such as most volatile organics and toxic gases like H2S. Many PID meters also come with a built in software and systems to automatically do datalogging and calculations of parameters like TWA, etc for regulatory compliance. Calibration is easier too, with just one gas IsoButylene being used.
So tell us what's your favorite meter- PID or four-gas?