Permissible Exposure Limit for ethanol

[Max Action]

There was a recent thread in the Equipment section about ethanol detectors that got me thinking about this. Monitoring vapor levels for explosion/fire hazard has been in my plans from the beginning, but now I'm realizing I should be monitoring for health hazards as well. OSHA's Permissible Exposure Limit for ethanol is 1000 ppm (much less than explosion limit).

Is anyone else monitoring air quality at these levels? For the sites that do both barrel aging and production in the same facility, what sort of levels are you seeing? Do you need to employ additional ventilation to maintain levels?

[Max Action]

Hmm, a week later with 100+ views and no replies. Perhaps I should rephrase the question...

Does anyone here even think about OSHA exposure limits?

[Denver Distiller]

Unless you have a pretty big detached rick house, you have nothing to worry about.

By this I mean that if your stills and fermenters are in the same building as your barrels and your ventilation is so poor that you're accumulating ethanol in the air, you'll die from too much co2 coming off your fermenters long before ethanol vapor accumulation will be a concern. Ventilate for co2 levels and your ethanol worries will disappear.

And OSHA will look at your CO2 levels long before they mess with your ethanol vapor.... for the exact reason I just mentioned.

[PeteB]

Ethanol odour limit 10 ppm , exposure limit before poisoning is 1,000 ppm, lower explosive limit 33,000 ppm if my research is correct.

I imagine that 100 times the minimum odour limit would be pretty harsh on the nostrils