Gas monitor

[firebill911]

Need a new gas monitor, have a 8 year old aim and it is a been a pain, expensive sensors etc. We need it for ordinary (is there such a thing) fire calls, gas leaks and confined space. What do you use and what would you like thanks, did a search and could not find anything. Thanks

[wischief]

We are in the same boat and looking at a MSA Solaris. The local haz-mat team has them and likes them.

[GTRider245]

We have Multi Rays (sp) and everyone who uses them seems to like them.

[SWFD22]

We started off with a single AIM that was complicated to use and had a full numeric keypad on a flashlight shaped device. We broke it so often that we found out how much it was to fix it and then to fix it and fix it again. At some point the keypad disappeared and it only had 4-5 buttons.

We switched to Biosystems PhD Ultra and put one at each station. Those held up much better, and as far as I know the only maintenance was the periodic sensor replacements.

That model was discontinued, so we switched to the Biosystems MultiPro.

I took a look at the MSA and it looks very similar to the Biosystems in the look and feel and the pricing. I think they start at $1,000 for the first meter and a calibration setup, and then about $600 for additional meters.

The nice thing about these new meters is that they are a one-button device, so they are fairly simple to use.

Brian

[specialops6]

We carry several monitors, but the one we most commonly use and that would fit your needs is the MSA sirius. Ours monitors LEL, O2, CO and H2S. We use for everday haz mat calls as well as confined space.

[robertr2m]

I can tell you the Gas Alert Micro 5's are junk disguised as a yellow beeping thing. I personally would go with GT's sugestion on the Rae's. A little more cost initially but well worth it IMHO.

Be safe, R2

[jimlanphear]

We use Rae meters almost exclusively. We like 'em okay. We've tried a few others & ended up sticking with the rae's.
I really liked the layout & user interface of the Micro 5's - now if they could just make them actually work...

[JamesIdealCal]

Hey Firebill,

Do you need just the normal 4 gas?

I run a calibration and repair company for gas monitors, so I work with a ton of different models every day.

I would steer away from anything which has "sensor packs" as you'll find you're purchasing sensor packs every time your oxygen sensor goes down (2-3 years max) even though your H2S and CO sensors are still running strong.

If you're doing confined space entry and want a simple monitor to calibrate and use for confined spaces, I still like the Orion. It comes back to me with the least problems because it isn't very user configurable. There isn't much for the people using it to mess up.

The Altair series is really nice with the waterproofing of the monitors. RAE's are great monitors, but the price and the fact that they're a bit prone to moisture issues is a bit of a turn down. The altairs can actually be calibrated underwater, and the newest Altair5 comes with a very easy to read full color screen if you want it.

For our consulting trips, we personally use the Ibrid MX6 by IndSci with the built in sample pump. I've been nothing but happy with it, and we have ours set up to 6 gases including NO2 and the PID. They have a new 4gas out in the Ibrid series which is really cheap and lightweight, they're about the size of a ToxiPro single gas, but again, I haven't had any experience with them yet and don't know if they come with a confined space pump option.

If you have any questions about any monitors, I'd be happy to answer them. Feel free to email me, james@idealcalibrations.com

Hope this helps,

James Moore
http://www.idealcalibrations.com/