How to choose a breathalyzer - for yourself (personal use at home), businesses
Many of us have had to blow into a breathalyzer or special tubes to determine the level of alcohol in the blood. However, one should not think that they are used only by traffic police inspectors to identify drivers who drive while intoxicated.
These useful and functional devices are used in many enterprises to prevent drunkenness in the workplace, parents can thus control their grown children, different types of breathalyzers are also used in medicine.
Breathalyzer can be purchased for personal use. Many of us know that drunk driving is dangerous not only for life, but also for the wallet. We have already written a lot on our portal Vodi.su about what punishments await lovers of alcohol according to the Administrative Code and traffic rules, and what happens for driving while intoxicated.
That is why drivers buy breathalyzers to find out if alcohol has disappeared from the blood after yesterday's meeting with friends and whether it is possible to drive.
Questions immediately arise - how to choose a breathalyzer, what types of them are there, which one is the best?
Types
Conventionally, all types of breathalyzers can be divided into three large groups:
- professional;
- special;
- personal.
The first type is highly accurate - up to +/- 10 percent.
Manufacturers include: Envitec Alcoquant (Germany), Alkont (Belarus), AlcoHunter (Russia), Alcoscan (South Korea).
The cost of such a device is quite high - from 12-15 thousand for Belarusian Alkonts, up to 25-30 thousand for South Korean ones. But the most important thing is that they can be used at a professional level, which is confirmed by numerous certificates.
Such a breathalyzer can come with a printer, which immediately prints the results of the analysis.
It also has a liquid crystal display, and memory can be built in, such as in the German sample, for 9999 tests. They can work quite intensively. They are used by both traffic police instructors and the administration of nightclubs to keep tipsy hooligans out, and so on.
Special breathalyzers are also distinguished by high accuracy and range.
They display results from zero to lethal dose - 5-6 ppm. The accuracy may be slightly lower - by 10-15 percent. But the most important difference is that they cannot be used in a very intensive mode, that is, they are ideal for a transport company for conducting a pre-trip check of drivers, for a night patrol that catches citizens in a state of intoxication, for bars, restaurants, cafes, schools .
The cost of such devices is not the lowest - from 4 to 40 thousand.
Well, personal breathalyzers are characterized by low efficiency and high measurement errors - 20-30 percent.
But their most important advantage is affordable cost - from 400-500 rubles. Such models are not designed for frequent use and are just right for personal use, so that a person can determine in the morning whether he should drive after yesterday or still not take risks and go on business by public transport.
Such personal devices are available both in the form of small key fobs and in the form of smartphones with a liquid crystal screen that displays the results of the analysis.
Thus, you need to choose a breathalyzer based on your own needs. If it's purely for yourself, then personal is enough. It is inexpensive, the results, although not very accurate, are more or less reliable.
If you are one of those people who like, as they say, “hang out” - relax in clubs and attract everyone's attention, then it is advisable to purchase at least such a model, because even if it seems to us that there is no smell and we already we can safely drive, the breathalyzer will confirm to us that there is still alcohol in the blood.
It is also worth noting that the readings of non-professional instruments cannot be officially confirmed.
That is, if you need a device to monitor the condition of employees in an enterprise, then you need to buy professional models, the measurement accuracy of which is confirmed by certificates. In addition, a personal device allows you to make only a few samples per day, and from more frequent use it will simply fail.
Principle of operation
To use the breathalyzer, you need to blow into the tube for a few seconds. Then a click is heard, indicating that enough material has been collected for analysis. After about 30 seconds, the result appears on the screen or printed on the printer. The indication method, by the way, can also be very different - from simple arrows indicating the value on the scale, to sound signals and readings on the LCD screen.
Depending on the principle of operation, the following types are distinguished:
- semiconductor;
- photometric;
- electrochemical.
The difference between them is how the percentage of alcohol in the exhaled air is determined.
- In semiconductor air is heated and the amount of alcohol vapor in it is measured;
- Special reagents are involved in electrochemical processes;
- In photometric vapors are absorbed by ultraviolet radiation.
It must be said that all these types are equally effective in their task and indicate the exact alcohol content.
Semiconductor devices are the cheapest and it is this system that is used in non-professional models, although there are professional semiconductor breathalyzers.
Well, regarding the choice of a particular model, we advise you to analyze your goals - why do you need a device. Do not forget also that the sensor of the device is designed for a certain number of tests per day.
We also recommend: find out if there are service centers in your city, where, in which case, they can make high-quality repairs with a guarantee.
See how alcohol meters work.
In this video you will see how you can fool the breathalyzer.
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