VOC stands for volatile organic compounds and are airborne gaseous or vaporous substances of organic origin. They may be produced naturally or synthetically. Common VOCs include hydrocarbons, alcohols and aldehydes. Many household, commercial and industrial products can produce VOCs such as paint, solvents, cleaning agents, cosmetics and cigarette smoke. VOCs are a serious problem in workplaces, especially in wet confined spaces. They can cause asphyxiation from lack of oxygen, explosion from ignition and poisoning from long-term exposure. A growing number of confined space entry monitors are being offered with VOC sensors to detect the presence of these toxic gases.

What does VOC mean on a gas meter?

VOC sensors require a period of time to get used to the environment they are placed in. They will eventually return readings that are up to 10% higher or lower than the true values. This is because the sensor is comparing its current measurement to clean, fresh air that it has not seen in a week or so. A Voc meter with a baseline calibration feature corrects for this by continuously adjusting the 450 ppm baseline (outside air) to eliminate sensor drift.

This allows the meter to measure low parts-per-billion ranges all the way up to high ppm toxic levels. GrayWolf’s plug-and-play Photo Ionization Detectors (PID) are capable of logging these low to high ppm ranges, while simultaneously detecting multiple other gases including combustible gas, carbon monoxide and relative humidity. These meters are compact, rugged, and can be wall mounted or attached to a portable tripod. They also come with powerful data logging software for downloading and analyzing readings.