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      02-21-2020, 02:09 PM   #30
dtla1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zx10guy View Post
A job I had a long time ago was exploring this very situation in residential settings. The company I worked for had purchased two single family homes in a residential development. These homes were used for various tests which ranged from efficiencies of programmable thermostats to alternative tech HVAC systems. The houses gave various manufacturers the ability to gather test data of their products running in an actual home setting. We simulated human activity with various humidifiers, automated lights and heat sources.

Anyways, one of the engineers set up an experiment which various utilities, EPRI, etc were sponsoring. The focus of the experiment is to see what affects charging an electric vehicle would have in a home garage. We had various types of electric vehicles which we would drive around to empty out the batteries and then run them through a charge cycle. The worst one was a Ford Econoline passenger van. That thing weighed in at 4 tons empty. Most of the weight was due to the battery packs. We didn't even get to completely charge the batteries before the sensors in the garage reported the hydrogen levels approaching the LEL (lower explosive limit). Had to abort the test and air out the garage. To say I was nervous during the time we needed to shut down the experiment was an understatement.
Interesting. Where was the hydrogen being emitted from? And who/why did someone have the foresight to measure the hydrogen levels?

From someone who doesn't know shit all about this, but does have a technical background, I'll spew some random theory for you to read and laugh at.

The Hydrogen was being drawn out of the atmosphere as a result of the ionization of the air around the transformer caused by the magnetic fields emitted by said transformer.

And I'm assuming the houses were setup with sniffers through out to find CO, NOX, etc, and hydrogen just happened to be something the system could detect. Not sure if anyone actually was actively looking for hydrogen concentrations.
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