Formaldehyde Gas Detection & Testing Procedures & Strategies:

How to measure for formaldehyde outgassing or gas exposure hazards indoors. Formaldehyde Gas (Formalin Gas) Exposure Screening Test Devices, Instruments, Chambers are Described.

Page to photo, the author's GasTech™ pump using a colorimetric gas detection tube in a private home.

HCHO Formaldehyde Outgassing Testing Methods

A variety of testing methods are used to screen for indoor formaldehyde levels.

Watch out: before hiring a consultant or ordering a formaldehyde test kit

see WHEN SHOULD YOU TEST for FORMALDEHYDE

At FORMALDEHYDE GAS TEST KITS, METERS we give details about different kits, tools, or instruments such as formaldehyde gas detection instruments used for testing for formaldehyde gas and we list sources of various formaldehyde test tools, badges, home test kits etc. including the Dräger Bio-Check Formaldehyde Test Kit shown at page top.

Watch out: no gas exposure test will accurately describe the actual human exposure levels in a building if the test is not properly conducted. The risks are of both Type 1 Errors (a false positive result) and Type 2 Errors (a false negative result).

That is to say that depending on how it was conducted, your test may indicate a costly, actionable problem where in fact there is not one (a false positive) or your formaldehyde (or any other) test may indicate that there is no hazard or no problem when in truth there is one (a false negative result).

With that warning stressed, formaldehyde testing in buildings is available in these categories:

• Assay type formaldehyde gas test kits - typically several chemicals used following a sampling and processing procedure to detect formaldehyde
• Badge type formaldehyde exposure test kits - a badge is un-sealed, exposed to building air for 24-48 hours, then sent to a qualified lab for analysis. This is probably most appropriate formaldehyde test method for home use, with the warning that among over-the-counter formaldehyde test kits you will find variations in both precision and accuracy not just cost.
• Formaldehyde gas sampling pump & colorimetric gas detection tubes: accurate, precise, lower cost than electronic instruments. This approach uses a hand pump and a simple gas detector tube as a quick, low-cost means of obtaining very accurate (and precise) formaldehyde levels in a building. Example: Draeger Formaldehyde 0.2/a gas detector tube test
• Formaldehyde gas detection instruments: ranging in accuracy and widely ranging in cost, including detectors, gas monitors, gas level loggers. Formaldehyde detection instruments vary significantly in price, measurement speed, accuracy, reliability, from a low of under $100. for a tool aimed at consumers to a thousand dollars or more for professional equipment such as the RKI Instruments' FP-30 formaldehyde detector. We didn't find it easy to find a price for the GrayWolf FM-801 HCHO meter.
  
  OPINION: a web search for formaldehyde gas detectors will return a plethora of instruments. We found many companies and websites selling formaldehyde detectors, most listing the instrument specifications and few willing to list a price. If the instrument price is not readily-displayed by the vendor you can pretty-much guess it's expensive.
• Forensic & environmental testing laboratories offering flooring & other material sample testing for formaldehyde outgassing, either by processing field-collected test kits or by actually processing a sample of the material, typically using a chamber test and possibly following CARB's "deconstructive" testing method.


• Small-chamber testing of material samples to measure formaldehyde levels: In the U.S. and some other countries test laboratories follow ASTM Standard ASTM D6007-14, "Standard Test Method for Determining Formaldehyde Concentrations in Air from Wood Products Using a Small-Scale Chamber" atReferences or Citations and excerpted just below. In California, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Special Analysis SOP SAS20, Rev 1. (2013) for sampling and analysis of formaldehyde emissions (also cited at REFERENCES) is based on this ASTM SOP.
  • Significance and Use
  • 4.1 Upper limits for the formaldehyde emission rates have been established for wood panel building products made with urea-formaldehyde adhesives and permanently installed in homes or used as components in kitchen cabinets and similar industrial products. This test method is intended for use in conjunction with the test method referenced by HUD 24 for manufactured housing and by Minnesota Statutes for housing units and building materials. This method may also be used for monitoring products for compliance to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulation for composite wood products. This test method provides a means of testing smaller samples and reduces the time required for testing.
  • 4.2 Formaldehyde concentration levels obtained by this small-scale method may differ from expected in full-scale indoor environments. Variations in product loading, temperature, relative humidity, and air exchange will affect formaldehyde emission rates and thus likely indoor air formaldehyde concentrations.
  • 4.3 This test method requires the use of a chamber of 0.02 to 1 m3 in volume to evaluate the formaldehyde concentration in air using the following controlled conditions:
  • 4.3.1 Conditioning of specimens prior to testing,
  • 4.3.2 Exposed surface area of the specimens in the test chamber,
  • 4.3.3 Test chamber temperature and relative humidity,
  • 4.3.4 The Q/A ratio, and
  • 4.3.5 Air circulation within the chamber.
• CARB Comments in the California formaldehyde testing SOP that
  
  This method specifies procedures for measuring formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products (CWPs). CWP samples are loaded into a small testing chamber using procedures based on ASTM D6007-02: “Standard test method for determining formaldehyde concentrations in air from wood products using a small-scale chamber”.
  
  The chamber air is sampled using 2,4- dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) silica gel cartridges to capture the formaldehyde. Cartridges are eluted with acetonitrile and the DNPH-derivative sample is measured using high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV).
  
  The procedure is based on ASTM D5197-03: “Standard test method for determination of formaldehyde and other carbonyl compounds in air (active sampler methodology)”.
  This analytical method may achieve a detection limit of 0.6 ppb and an estimated quantitation limit (EQL) of 3 ppb for formaldehyde.
• Large-Chamber testing of material samples for formaldehyde levels: as above, but using a larger chamber, in the U.S. and some other countries, test laboratories may follow ASTM Standard ASTM E1333-14, "Standard Test Method for Determining Formaldehyde Concentrations in Air and Emission Rates from Wood Products Using a Large Chamber". Excerpt:
  • Significance and Use
  • 4.1 Significance and Use:
  • 4.1.1 Limitations on formaldehyde concentrations in air have been established for some building products permanently installed in manufactured and conventional homes. This test method provides a standard means of testing typical product sizes, such as 1.2 by 2.4 m (4 by 8 ft) sheets, at product loadings consistent with product end use.
  • 4.2 Summary of Test Method:
  • 4.2.1 This test method incorporates a chamber of 22 m3 (800 ft3) minimum size to evaluate formaldehyde concentrations in air and emission rates from building products over a specified duration of time. This test method employs a single set of environmental conditions but different product loading ratios to assess formaldehyde concentrations in air and emission rates from certain wood products. Conditions controlled in the procedure are as follows:
  • 4.2.1.1 Conditioning of specimens prior to testing,
  • 4.2.1.2 Exposed surface area of the specimens in the test chamber,
  • 4.2.1.3 Test chamber temperature and relative humidity,
  • 4.2.1.4 Number of air changes per hour, and
  • 4.2.1.5 Air circulation within the chamber.
  • 4.2.1.6 At the end of a 16 to 20-h period in the test chamber, the air is sampled and the concentration of formaldehyde in air and emission rate are determined.
  • NOTE 3: Care must be exercised in the extension of the results to formaldehyde concentrations in air and emission rates from products under different conditions of air change rate or loading ratio, or both.

SeeReferences or Citations for details about these formaldehyde testing standards.

Watch out: while chamber testing is the most precise and in some regards most accurate approach to measuring the actual or possible formaldehyde off-gassing of a material sample, the measurements obtained by this method may not accurately reflect the actual formaldehyde off-gassing that will occur from the finished-product when installed n a home where the product properties are different (laminated in layers, for example and with only one side exposed to air) and where environmental conditions are both different and variable (temperature, humidity, air movement, level of fresh-air ventilation and other factors).

• Smell or odor complaints as an indicator of formaldehyde hazards?  

  Watch out: Do not rely on "formaldehyde smell" or odor to decide if there is a formaldehyde hazard indoors. Health hazards could be present below the threshold of people's ability to smell it. The average odor threshold for formaldehyde is 0.83 ppm, with few people being able to detect formaldehyde at levels lower than 0.5 ppm. (DeVany 2007).
  

Formaldehyde exposure limits & Standards: Australia, Canada, the E.U., U.S. Federal and State Level, New Zealand & Other Countries

Formaldehyde gas (HCHO or Formalin) exposure limits & standards are given in detail

at FORMALDEHYDE GAS EXPOSURE LIMITS

See MOLD / ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERT, HIRE ? for help in deciding if it is probably appropriate to hire an expert to help sort out the question of a building-related illness.

Watch out: beware of self-styled experts who are going to just stop by and perform a test. Without a careful client interview, a taking of the building's history, an observation of its site, construction, materials, history, and other related factors, an environmental test performed alone may give disappointing and expensive results that are not useful: even if a test indicates there is a problem you may have to hire someone over again to perform much the same work in order to find the problem source and to recommend appropriate corrective measures.

See WHEN SHOULD YOU TEST for FORMALDEHYDE

Consumer or DIY Formaldehyde Testing

See FORMALDEHYDE GAS TESTS by HOMEOWNERS

 

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Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

Question: report on inadequate indoor gas testing, deaths, illnesse, worries about competent gas testing

My wife and I were exposed to carbon monoxide (and I'm assuming other combustible gases) for well over a year without knowing. We lived on a ground floor of an apartment and holes were drilled through the floor for plumbing and elec. but were never covered. They insurance company had Pinchin Engineering do a test on the place. and we were shown a basic 1 page sheet of CO and CO2 levels both in and around the house.

The readings from our detector that we finally bought a year later were at times almost 300. there readings were 20.

however the CO2 levels were 859.

Does this mean that combustion was happening because of both the readings and if so wouldn't tests be done for other combustible gases that may be present?

We lost a baby, dog died 2 years later, heart and kidney failure. wife has heart and joint issues. and I have a list as well. They settled out of court for $300Gs but I feel like we didn't receive ALL the disclosure from the air quality test. - Matt 11/30/11

Reply:

Matt,

Of course we are so sorry about the tragic losses you described, and I understand the tragedy of losing a child. When we suffer a tragic loss it is so difficult to endure that the look for a cause and blame is understandable, though sometimes we can be led astray in such a search.

In attempting to relate an illness or fatality to a building or environmental condition, a good place to start is with the physicians involved - ask about possible relationships between the illness or death and environmental factors.

About varying gas levels in buildings, our field experience confirms that small changes in a building (a window open or shut, or a door, or a bird building a nest in a chimney, or seasonal sooting in an oil fired appliance) and similar events can make an enormous difference in the measured result of indoor gases, airborne mold, other contaminants. For that reason, it is no surprise that a year later an individual measurement of gases indoors might find a very different level.

Only if the source of an indoor hazard can be clearly traced to a condition that was present, recogniziable by general home inspection standards and procedures, and visible at the time of the original inspection would one suspect the original inspector or test company of negligence.

• For CO₂ (carbon dioxide) typical indoor levels see TYPICAL CO₂ LEVELS.
• For CO (carbon monoxide) information see CARBON MONOXIDE - CO
• For examples of the sorts of conditions that an inspector should be able to observe and report
  see CARBON MONOXIDE INSPECTION
• Lastly, when considering a report from any building investigator, make certain that s/he is financially and ethicallyi completely independent from the person or company recommending or arranging for that service or inspection. Conflicts of interest in such matters are intolerable and even dangerous. And of course, provding more than one version of any building investigation report, say different versions to different parties, smells bad to me too.

...

Continue reading at FORMALDEHYDE GAS TEST KITS, METERS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see this

Formaldehyde Article Series Contents

• FORMALDEHYDE HAZARDS - home
• FORMALDEHYDE GAS EXPOSURE LIMITS
• FORMALDEHYDE GAS HAZARD REDUCTION
• FORMALDEHYDE GAS SOURCES in BUILDINGS
• FORMALDEHYDE GAS SOURCES & HAZARDS RESEARCH
• FORMALDEHYDE GAS TEST KITS, METERS
• FORMALDEHYDE GAS TEST METHODS, PROCEDURES
• FORMALDEHYDE in LAMINATE FLOORING
  • Lumber Liquidators LAMINATE FLOORING FORMALDEHYDE CONCERNS?
  • FORMALDEHYDE OUTGASSING RATES
  • FORMALDEHYDE-RELATED ILLNESS SIGNS
  • FORMALDEHYDE TESTS for FLOORING
    • FORMALDEHYDE TESTING STRATEGY
    • WHEN SHOULD YOU TEST for FORMALDEHYDE
  • STOP LAMINATE FLOORING OUTGASSING
• UREA FORMALDEHYDE FOAM INSULATION, UFFI

Suggested citation for this web page

FORMALDEHYDE GAS TEST METHODS, PROCEDURES at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to GAS HAZARDS in BUILDINGS

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Citations & References

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.

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