Carbon monoxide diffusion through porous walls: A critical review of literature and incidents

It has been reported recently that in laboratory conditions carbon monoxide (CO) diffuses through gypsum board at a surprisingly high rate (Hampson, et al., 2013). Because CO is poisonous and a by-product of systems typically present in residential housing, like boilers, generators, furnaces and automobile engines, this finding could have a significant impact on the life safety standards published by NFPA. This report is the result of a literature review project on CO diffusion through walls. This project report includes detailed analysis of the data from the recent experiments with a mass transfer model and confirms the validity of the...