How to Calibrate the BW GasAlertMax XT II Video

How to Calibrate a GasAlertMax XT II Video Transcript

Hi, this is Rick Pedley and welcome to pksafety.com.

Today we're going to look at calibrating the BW GasAlertMax XTII Confined Space Gas Detector. OK, so we've got the unit turned on. You can hear the pump running. We're just in normal running mode, just like it's warmed up.

So what I'm going to do is introduce cal gas. And I'll kind of cover what we've got here. First, here's a cylinder of calibration gas. This has all four gases in it: hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, oxygen and the explosive gas, or LEL. On top, i have a regulator. Now this is a constant flow regulator and it puts out a half liter per minute. This is the one that comes in the kit and this one happens to be made by PortoGas. BW does use others from time to time.

When we turn this on, it's going to flow the gas through this tube and out the end, which we're going to attach to the instrument. So, the first thing I'm going to do now that I'm ready to go -- I've got everything here -- is press this button. It's important when you're doing this that you press and hold this button. So, I'm going to hold it in and hold it. And it's counting down. The screen goes blank, then it comes back up with "Cal 1, 2, 3." Now I can release this and it's auto-zeroing. Important that we do this in an area of clean air.

And now it says "Apply gas." So, first thing I'm going to do is turn on the cylinder of gas. The gas is now flowing. I take this hose, and I attach it with the quick connector. And immediately, the reading starts to rise. This is in response to the gas. It's going to come very close to what's listed in this cylinder. After a period of time, which is approximately a minute, the unit's going to self-adjust to the exact specifications that are on this cylinder. And this is the cylinder that they intend for you to use.

Calibration is a kind of interesting this. OSHA, if you follow the rules exactly, I think would have you calibrate this unit every day. Most of our utility customers -- that is, people who use these things day in and day out -- they may go for a week or a month. But if you're the type of user who only fires up the instrument occasionally, let's say once a month, or something like that, I would suggest that you strongly consider calibrating it every time. This is a life saving instrument, and really the only way to know that it's working appropriately is by putting cal gas across the unit.

Now, this is going to take about two minutes as it goes through its cycle here. This regulator flows at a half liter per minute, so we're going to use about a liter of gas. This cylinder, the one that comes in the kit, contains 34 liters. You should get about 30 calibrations out of this cylinder.

[One minute later]

Alright, calibration is done. We're all set there. Now it's going to tell me to remove this thing -- essentially it has gone into alarm because the cal process is over with. So what I'll do now is just remove this hose off of here and turn off the gas. This is kind of important because this gas is ridiculously expensive!

So now the readings are going back to zero as the censors have been flushed with new air. We're reading zero across the two toxics and the LEL and 22.9 on the O2. The instrument is now calibrated and ready to go. The cal has now been reset on this as a countdown from 180 days. I don't recommend that you wait 180 days to calibrate this instrument, but that's the way the factory sends it.

That's all there is to it! Pretty simple! Thanks a lot!

Follow this link to buy the BW GasAlertMax XT II.