Breath Alcohol Tester
Erinn Hickel
When you drink alcohol, it goes into your stomach and small intestine. It gets absorbed into your blood, which carries it through your body and into your brain and lungs. You exhale it when you breathe.
A breath alcohol test measures how much alcohol is in the air you breathe out. The device uses that measurement to estimate how much alcohol is in your blood. That number is known as your BAC, or blood alcohol content.
The most common manual test includes a balloon and a glass tube filled with yellow crystals. You blow into the balloon and release the air into the tube. The bands of crystals in the tube change color from yellow to green depending on how much alcohol is in your system.
If you had a drink 15 minutes before the test, trace amounts of alcohol in your mouth could lead to an inaccurate result. Smoking can also affect results. So can products that contain alcohol, like mouthwash and breath fresheners.
The breath alcohol test measures the amount of alcohol in the blood by testing exhaled air. The test is performed by blowing into a breath machine 15 minutes after alcohol consumption. The test determines how much alcohol it takes to raise the blood-alcohol level to a dangerous level.
One common tester is the balloon type. You blow up the balloon with one breath until it is full. You then release the air into a glass tube. The tube is filled with bands of yellow crystals. The bands in the tube change colors (from yellow to green), depending on the alcohol content. Carefully read the instructions before using the test to make sure you get an accurate result.
Driving and operating machinery when you're "high" or drunk (intoxicated) is dangerous. A person with an alcohol level of 0.08% and above is considered legally drunk in most states. (Some states have lower levels than others.)
The test does not measure the driving abilities of a person. Driving abilities vary among people with the same blood-alcohol level. Some people with a level below 0.05% may not be able to safely drive. For people who only drink sometimes, judgment problems occur at a level of just 0.02%.
The breath alcohol test helps you to know how much alcohol it takes to raise the blood-alcohol level to a dangerous level. Each person's response to alcohol varies. The test may help you make better decisions about driving after drinking.
The Breath Alcohol Technician (BAT) and/or Screening Test Technician (STT) is a person who instructs and assists employees in the alcohol testing process and operates an evidential breath testing or alcohol screening device, respectively.
The BAT and STT play a vital role in the success of the DOT alcohol testing program. The STT and BAT directly interact with the employee and instantaneously provide the employee with an alcohol test result. As such, the BAT and/or STT must be knowledgeable and proficient in the testing procedures.
The testing procedures for breath or saliva specimens as outlined in 49 CFR Part 40 are very specific and must be followed whenever a DOT-required alcohol test is requested by the employer. These procedures, including the use of the Federal Alcohol Testing Form (ATF), apply only to DOT-required testing.
Intoximeters manufactures quality desktop, portable, and handheld breath alcohol testing instruments. Our evidential breath testers are known for their reliability and accuracy, and are trusted in over 90 countries throughout the globe for law enforcement alcohol testing, industry and occupational health breath alcohol testing, and many other applications.
New Instrument pricing can be obtained by contacting Intoximeters Sales (800.451.8639), contacting your Local Representative, or by Requesting a Quote Online. All Intoximeters breath alcohol testers are made in the U.S.A.
Our portable breath alcohol testing instruments are battery operated, and easily transportable. Used in law enforcement and workplace testing environments, portable breath alcohol test systems are lightweight and ideal for evidential testing applications, printing results, and in many cases mobile data collection.
Intoximeters is the only supplier of evidential breath alcohol testers to offer a full range of desktop style instruments to meet your program needs. Our Intox EC/IR II, Intox EC/IR II.t, Intox DMT and Alcomonitor CC instruments are used by some of the most sophisticated programs around the world.
While this class of desktop instruments is traditionally used in stationary applications (i.e. inside an office or police station), we offer a range of instruments capable of meeting the needs of transportable applications (i.e. mobile vans, carrying into a hospital). In addition, most of these products can be configured with advanced communication and data entry accessories to meet the data collection/reporting needs of your breath alcohol test program.
This self study and half day in-classroom course certifies students as Breath Alcohol Technicians according to 49 CFR Part 40 regulations published by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This is Intoximeters standard method of training BATs and is appropriate for customers conducting DOT alcohol tests AND non-DOT testing.
Once the student has successfully completed the online self-study components then a time will be scheduled for an Intoximeters Corporate Trainer to monitor the student performing 7 error-free mock alcohol collections to complete the Instrument Proficiency component of the BAT training. For this portion of the class you must have a working EBT instrument with printer and a valid (not expired) dry gas tank.
What is the process? Once the student has successfully completed the online self-study components then a date and time will be confirmed for an Intoximeters Corporate Trainer to monitor the student performing 7 error-free mock alcohol tests to complete the Instrument Proficiency component of the BAT training. For this portion of the class you must have a working EBT instrument with printer and a valid (not expired) dry gas tank. After the completion of the 7 error-free mocks, the BAT Instructor training will commence on.
The class covers automatic sampling, insufficient breath, manual sampling and mouth alcohol effects. Additional discussions of calibration theory and the procedures for accuracy checks and calibrations will also be presented.
The maximum level of alcohol that may be accurately detected by evidential breath testers is 220 μg/100 ml air. The whole process takes 10 to 15 minutes with the fuel cell based instrument, and up to 5 minutes with the purely infrared based ones.
Five breath screening devices are currently approved for police use in Britain. They work on the principle that in the presence of a catalyst, oxygen in a sample of expired air converts any alcohol present into acetic acid and then to water and carbon dioxide. A fuel cell converts the chemical energy released when oxidation occurs into a detectable electrical voltage. The higher the voltage, the more alcohol is present in the sample
The CheckPoint Breath Alcohol Test .02 is an easy-to-use, disposable breath alcohol test that gives instant results. The CheckPoint is an ideal alcohol screening device where zero tolerance alcohol programs need to be enforced.
The CheckPoint breath alcohol test comes in a variety of cut-off levels to meet the specific needs of workplace, corrections, military, substance abuse and other areas where safety and compliance are important and where individuals must be monitored for alcohol use. Available cut-off levels include 0.02%, 0.04%, and 0.08% BrAC.
CMI, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of breath alcohol testing instruments in the U.S., Canada and around the world. CMI manufactures the Intoxilyzer brand of evidential and preliminary breath alcohol testing instruments CMI, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MPD, Inc., also located in Owensboro, Kentucky. MPD, Inc. is 100% employee owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, (ESOP).
CMI is the industry leader in alcohol breath testing with the Intoxilyzer line of evidential infrared spectrometry breath alcohol instruments. CMI is known for developing the best instruments for accuracy, reliability and courtroom evidence.
EV30 operating software is designed expressly for workplace breath alcohol testing. Integrated features such as automatic air blanks, calibration reminders and user controlled lock-out features facilitate DOT compliance by making testing easier and more foolproof than on any other instrument. Three testing modes give you complete control even in tricky testing situations such as with uncooperative subjects or shy-lung.
Consuming alcohol can be an enjoyable activity for some people. However, many people may not realize how quickly alcohol can affect them and how much it can impair their ability to perform routine tasks. Drinking and driving is a dangerous combination. Evidence notes that in the United States, it is responsible for roughly 28 deaths a day, which costs the U.S. approximately $44 billion each year.
The use of breathalyzers can help reduce the number of motor vehicle accidents that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This device calculates the concentration of alcohol in the breath to determine whether a person has consumed too much alcohol to drive safely.
LifeGuard Personal Breath Alcohol Tester combines precision fuel cell technology, ease of use and reliability into a consumer breathalyzer that stands above all others in personal use and in testing those you care about.
There is no more accurate personal alcohol tester available than the LifeGuard. Wherever and whenever there is the need for personal breath alcohol content (BAC) measurement, LifeGuard is the one to trust.
Breath alcohol analyzers are used to detect ethanol in motorists and others suspected of public intoxication. One concern is their ability to detect interfering substances that may falsely increase the ethanol reading. A 47-year-old-man was found in a public park, acting intoxicated. A breath analyzer test (Intoxilyzer 5000EN) measured 0.288 g/210 L breath ethanol, without an interferent noted. In the emergency department, the patient admitted to drinking HEET Gas-Line antifreeze, which contains 99% methanol. Two to three hours after ingestion, serum and urine toxicology screen results were negative for ethanol and multiple other substances. His serum methanol concentration was 589 mg/dL, serum osmolality 503 mOsm/kg, osmolar gap 193 mOsm/kg, and anion gap 17 mmol/L. The patient was treated with intravenous ethanol, fomepizole, and hemodialysis without complication. This is a unique clinical case of a breath alcohol analyzer reporting methanol as ethanol. Intoxilyzer devices have been shown to indicate some substances (acetone) as interferents in humans but not methanol. Increased serum concentrations of methanol can be reported as ethanol by a commonly used breath alcohol analyzer, which can result in a delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis and subsequent methanol toxicity if antidotal treatment is not administered in a timely manner.
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