How to Detect Gasoline Fumes in a Garage

Gasoline fumes are made up of volatile compounds. On initial exposure, they can irritate the nose, lungs, skin and eyes. Over longer time periods, there is a risk of cancer and brain damage. Gasoline fumes may even lead to aggressive behavior. Unfortunately, spending long hours working on your car in your garage is likely to desensitize you to the smell of gasoline. To avoid being exposed to gasoline fumes, it is possible to install detectors, most of which are made for boats.

Things You'll Need

• 12-volt battery
• Gasoline fume detector
• Sensor
• Display
• Sensor wires
• Power wires
• Screwdriver

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Instructions

• 1

  Buy a gasoline fume sensor. They are easiest to find at boating supply stores, as many boat owners install them to detect fuel leaks inside their hulls.

• 2

  Place the sensor of the detector close to the area of your garage in which you most commonly work.

• 3

  Connect the sensor to the detector display using the included wire. Most sensors have enough wire to place the sensor and display 15 feet apart; this means that you can place the display outside the garage to check before you enter the space.

• 4

  Connect the wires on the sensor display to the terminals of a 12-volt battery (black wire to negative terminal and red to positive). This is the closest thing you can have in the home to the 12-volt power supply on a boat for which these detectors are designed. Some batteries will have simple spring terminals, while some have thicker screws. In either case, use a conductive alligator clip to hold the wire to the contact.

• 5

  Check the detector display screen before entering the garage. If there are gasoline fumes present, it will alert you. Read your detector's manual for guidelines on how to interpret its display. Most of them are quite simple, showing either green (good) or red (bad). If there are gas fumes present, open your garage door and turn on a fan to remove the fumes before getting to work.