Full-Scale Measurement and Numerical Analysis of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Water Heaters with Ventilation Factors in Balcony

This study carried out full-scale gas water heater combustion experiments and adopted FDS (fire dynamics simulator) to simulate three scenarios—different balcony environments when using water heater, such as airtight balcony, indoor door with openings and force ventilation to compare with full-scale combustion experiments. According to FDS simulation results, O2, CO and CO2 simulation concentration value correspond with full-scale experimental results. When the indoor O2 concentration was lower than 15%, which causes incomplete combustion, the CO concentration would rise rapidly and even reached above 1,500 ppm, causing death in short time. In addition, when the force ventilation model supplied the water heater with enough air to burn, the indoor CO concentration will keep low and harmless to humans. The study also adopted diverse variables, such as the opening area of window, outdoor wind speed and water heater types, to analyze deeply user's safety regarding gas water heater. In a result, while balcony area is larger than 14 m 2 , the volume of water heater is below 16 L (33.1 kW), and the indoor window, connecting balcony with room, is closed, if the opening on the outdoor window of the balcony is larger than 0.2 m 2 , this can ensure the personal security of the indoor space.