Calibration - the act of adjusting the accuracy of a measuring instrument by comparison with a known standard. Calibration refers to an instrument's measuring accuracy relative to a known concentration of gas. Gas detectors measure the concentration of a gas in an air sample by comparing the sensor's response to the response generated by a calibration gas of a known concentration. The instrument's response to the calibration gas serves as the measurement scale or reference point.

EnviroMed offers only high-quality, certified, NIST-Traceable calibration gas. In order to meet the standard, the gas is mixed, tested with NIST-traceable instruments, set aside for a specified time period and retested.

Why calibrate?


Causes of Calibration Drift


  • Chronic or acute exposure of catalytic hot-bead LEL sensors to poisons and inhibitors. These include: various volatile organic vapours, silicones, hydride gases, halogenated hydrocarbons, and sulfide gases.


What is the value in a regular calibration schedule?

Gas detectors are designed for the detection and measurement of potentially life threatening atmospheric conditions. Hazards such as oxygen deficiencies, explosive atmospheres, and toxic gases and vapors regularly kill as many as three-hundred workers per year in the United Sates, many of them during confined space entry procedures. The atmospheric conditions which lead to these accidents and fatalities are usually invisible to the workers who are involved. The only way to insure conditions are safe is to use an accurate atmospheric monitor. The only way to know that the readings are accurate is to expose the instrument to known concentration test gas; in other words, to check the accuracy of the instrument on a regular basis.

Secondly, regular calibration provides a means by which maximum sensor life expectancy can be reached. The cost of replacing a spent sensor due to lack of maintenance far exceeds the cost of maintaining it.