INSTRUCTIONS FOR OPERATING LBL FORMALDEHYDE SAMPLER

The LBL formaldehyde sampler consists of two parts: 1) a pump box and 2) a small refrigerator housing sampling bubblers. The pump box contains two pumps, a timer, a flow controller, an electrical cord, and a ten-foot piece of tubing to connect the refrigerator to the pump box. The small refrigerator contains four columns of bubbler sampling trains attached to a metal plate. Two sampling trains each are plumbed in parallel to two sampling ports on the back of the refrigerator. The two sampling lines supplied are to be attached to these ports to allow two locations to be sampled at once (usually one indoor and one outdoor). The refrigerator also contains a rack for holding bubbler tubes. In the sampling process, air is drawn through a sampling line attached to the fitting at the back of the refrigerator and into a prlmary bubbler containing a trapping solution. This trapping solution can be distilled water or an aqueous solution of some compound that reacts with formaldehyde. From this bubbler the air goes through a second bubbler containing the same trapping solution as the first bubbler. (To maintain sample integrity, all parts that the air sample contacts are made of Teflon, polypropylene, and stainless steel.) The air then goes into the third bubbler, which contains no liquid. This bubbler contains a hypodermic needle that serves as a flow-control orifice. The hypodermic needle, in conjunction with the flow controller in the pump box, ensures a constant a flow rate. The refrigerator contains four columns of these sets of three bubblers. After samples have been collected, the bubbler bottoms are detached and the contents of the first and second bubblers in each column are poured together, capped, and labeled. The use of a refrigerated primary and secondary bubbler whose contents are combined at the end of a sampling period ensures 95% collection efficiency. After the bubbler tubes are capped and labeled, they are stored either in the rack supplied in the refrigerator or in one of the styrofoam shipping boxes with some frozen blue ice. LBL has found that formaldehyde samples collected in water degrade significantly in a matter of hours if they are not kept cool, whereas refrigerated samples remain stable for as long as a month. Directions are provided for unpacking the apparatus, setting up sampling trains, performing the sampling, procedures after sampling, and shipping samples