What gas concentration to 

detect?
The requirement is to monitor a variety of gases in a range of conditions and applications for either
occupational exposure levels or gas leak detection levels in accordance with international standards.

Basic Concepts

Concentrations can be expressed in a number of ways, the most commonly found are:

1‐ % Volume composition: the ratio of the volume of a component to the sum of the volumes of all
components of a mixture before mixing. Conversion rate: 1% vol= 10.000ppm

2‐ Mass concentration (mg/m3): This is the ratio of the mass of a component to the volume of the mixture.
Conversion rate at 20°C and 1atm: mg/m3 = (ppm) (gram molecular weight of compound)/24.04

3‐ PPM (parts per million): is the numbers of parts of a component in 1 million parts of the gas mixture.

4‐ LEL: This only applies to low concentrations of combustibles gases, and it stands for Lower Explosive
Limit. It is the volume composition of a flammable gas in air. Below this limit no explosive atmosphere will
be formed. Concentrations levels for gas detection purposes are expressed in % of LEL. In other words it
is a volume ratio of the gas relative to the LEL.

Details of gas properties including LEL values can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/pdfs/2005‐
149.pdf 
Combustible gases can have very different LEL values and different authorities have different values, typically: 
Gas  LEL  Gas  LEL 
Ammonia 15% Carbon Monoxide 12.5%
Butane 1.9% Isobutane 1.8%
LPG 1.9% Hydrogen 4%
Methane 5.0% Gasoline 1.4%
Toluene 1.1% Propane 2.1%

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5‐ TWA: Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs), Recommended Exposure Limits (RELs) and Threshold Limit
Values (TLVs) are limits considered safe for most people exposed to a chemical agent 8 hours per day, 40
hours per week, 50 weeks per year, over a working lifetime. These limits are often referred to as 8‐hour
time weighted averages (TWA).

6‐ STEL: Short‐term exposure limit varies in different countries and substances from 10 to 15‐min time –
weighted average exposure.

Detection levels

Concentration levels to be detected vary with the purpose intended: Occupational Safety or Detection of a
gas leakage.

a‐ Occupational Safety: Generally legislation and standards concerned with Occupational Safety require
that gases be monitored at levels expressed as Time Weighted Averages (TWA) covering long term (8
hours) and short‐term (10 minutes) exposure.

Each country sets its own Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs) generally by reference to official
values from other countries.

In Europe the EC is trying to establish a standard set of reference values, and Commission Directive
2000/39/EC includes a first list of indicative OELs. The Directive requires States to establish National
OELs taking into account the Community values. The European Committee of Standardisation (CEN)
is currently working on a standard for the assessment of workplace exposures.

Many countries worldwide in setting values would refer to the UK Health and Safety Executive
Occupational Exposure Limits (Workplace Exposure Limit WELs) or the MAK values (DFG‐Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft). In the USA values are set by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, US Department of Labour), NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety, Health‐
US Dept of Health and Human Services), and ACGIH (American Conference of Governmental Industrial
Hygienists).

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Table 1. Indicative List of Exposure Levels

Gas in ppm ACGIH ‐ TLV OSHA‐PEL NIOSH‐REL UK‐WEL DFG‐ MAK

8‐hour 8‐hour 10‐hour 8‐hour 8‐hour
Ammonia 25 50 25 25 20
Carbon Dioxide 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000
Carbon Monoxide 25 50 35 30 30
Hydrogen Asphyxiant
Hydrogen Sulphide 10 ‐ ‐ 5 10
Halocarbons eg. R22 1,000 ‐ 1,000 ‐ 500
Hydrocarbons eg: 1,000 ‐ ‐ 600 (butane) ‐
Methane, Propane, Butane

(Guide to Occupational Exposure Values – compiled by ACGIH www.acgih.org and EH40‐Health and Safety Executive UK)
(Also visit the International Programme of Chemical Safety: and section 6.3 shows ammonia Exposures limits worldwide
http://www.inchem.org/documents/hsg/hsg/hsg037.htm#SectionNumber:6.1)

b‐ Gas Detection: a typical industry where gas detection levels are applicable is Refrigeration and Air
Conditioning. In this case the position is more defined. For example ASHRAE in the USA, specify the
long term Threshold Limit Value (TLV) level as a suitable maximum alarm threshold for gas detectors.

However most Standards derive from the ISO 5149 and so are similar.

In Europe, the EN378 2000 specifies ‘Practical Limits’ for the maximum alarm threshold. These
practical limits are based on various criteria. For halocarbons it is based on half the concentration
that can lead to suffocation due to oxygen displacement or which has narcotic or heart sensitisation
effects. Typically this can be at levels of 7‐8 % (70‐80,000 ppm) ie.: R407C 8%, R404A 11%. For
combustible gases 20% of the Lower Flammability Level (LFL) is used. With toxic/combustible gases
such as ammonia, the practical limit refers to the toxicological and flammability characteristics. For
ammonia a low‐level alarm threshold, maximum 500 ppm, and a high level, maximum 30,000 ppm, is
recommended.

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 What level do we detect?

We want to detect leaks as early as possible while complying with legislation and guidelines. Normal
industry practise has resulted in typical detection ranges for different purposes. We summarise these below
with an appropriate sensor type and typical alarm relay set points. Requirements may vary by country.

The monitor can be set to alarm at any value within the range.

Range ppm Purpose Sensor type Set Points(ppm)

low high
Ammonia:
0‐100 occupational exposure Electrochemical 25 35
0‐1,000 gas detection Electrochemical 500 900
0‐10,000 gas detection‐ high level Semiconductor 5,000 9,000
0‐30,000 gas detection ‐ high level Catalytic 3,000 28,000

Carbon Dioxide
0‐10,000 occupational exposure / gas detection Infrared 5,000 9,000

Halocarbons
0‐1,000 occupational exposure / gas detection Semiconductor 500 900

Hydrocarbons
0‐50% LEL gas detection Catalytic 20% LEL 40% LEL
0‐5,000 ppm occupational exposure / gas detection Semiconductor 1000 2000
refridgeration applications

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