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Household Smoke MonitoringThis 'how-to' guide reflects the methodology used by Practical Action (formerly ITDG) in its current work, 'Smoke, Health and Household Energy'... but it is only a start. If you are working on smoke monitoring, please add alternative methods so that we can discuss them. This guide is an output from a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the DFID1. Community participation is essential from the start. Representative households should be identified by the community themselves - various criteria can be required - eg children under 5; enthusiastic to work with the project. Community meetings promote participation  2. Questionnaires can be used to identify aspects of people's lives which impact on their use of household energy. This image shows a cook in Gatlang, Nepal. A copy of both questionnaire and manual are attached as WORD documents. Another data sheet and manual were supplied for the person supervising the field team. Please email me liz.bates@... for these documents. Since 2001, Practical Action has worked in three countries, Kenya, Nepal and Sudan, using a participatory approach to find acceptable ways to alleviate smoke, and researching ways to overcome the constraints preventing people from accessing effective technologies. The three sets of questionnaires represent three rounds of monitoring.
These questionnaires are similar to those used in the first study, but also seek to look at costs and benefits in greater detail for a larger number of people. The third round household questionnaire was specifically designed for Kenya, based on what we had learnt about the interventions they intended to adopt so the interventions mentioned are specific to that country.
3. Particulate sampling equipment: Sampling equipment can use a pump drawing air past a cyclone which throws off the larger particles and sends the respirable particles through a filter. Practical Action uses:
This one shows signs of living in a smoky environment  Newer versions can record the levels of particulates every minute throughout the day http://www.apbuck.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=15 4. Calibrating the particulate equipment: The buck pump is calibrated to ensure that it is drawing the correct volume of air through the filter paper at the correct speed using a mini-buck calibrator  5. Bubble calibrator: The bubble calibrator is primed with detergent and a bubble is drawn along the tube. The rate it travels indicates the volume of air being drawn through the chamber.  5A Other ways to monitor particulates: There are now (2007) new electronic particulate monitoring devices (UCB monitor) which can be used in many situations being developed by University College, Berkeley. http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/hem/page.asp?id=27 These devices mean that the filters etc. do not have to be weighed, so the process is simpler, but the filter paper can be used to demonstrate the levels of pollution to the community. Thus there are advantages to both approaches. 6. Equipment for measuring carbon monoxide
 7. Filter preparation: Filters are dried in an oven and dessicator, and weighed before and after monitoring using a 'five point' balance. The difference in weight gives the weight of deposited particulates. They are then fitted into a cassette and cyclone.  8. Monitoring within the household: CO monitor and cyclone (attached to pump) is set up 1.3m vertically and 1.3m horizontally away from the stove. Where possible the equipment is away from walls and draughts. However, in some households this is not possible and the best compromise must be reached on a case by case basis. Particulate filters are changed after 12 hours and monitoring continues for 24 hours. In this image from Sudan it can be seen that all the electrical equipment is housed in locked 'cages' to prevent children from tampering with it.  9. The cook is asked to wear a monitor round her neck during monitoring: The monitor was attached round her neck with a locally-made bag. Many people thought the participants were wearing mobile phones  10. & 11. Data from the CO monitor is downloaded, using a T-82 datalogger for both room and woman. The similarities show that the woman inhales most smoke when the fire is alight. It can also be seen that she was inhaling some smoke around 4.00pm in the afternoon - perhaps she had a visitor who was smoking  12. Data analysis - Practical Action uses the statistical package SPSS to look at:
 13. Effect of interventions: Practical Action's project is looking at the effects of interventions on the levels of pollutants - so the impacts of those interventions on IAP can be measured and the effects of confounding included. This smoke hood in Kenya has proved very effective and can be used with all sorts of stoves and fires  Photos - for Practical Action: Nigel Bruce; Topkanta Parajuli; Vincent Okello; Liz Bates [top] [end]Related topics
[top] [end]ContributorsUser: Liz Bates - May 2007 | |
Page created:
17 November 2003; Last edited:
05 September 2007; Version: 11 | |
Pagename: HouseholdSmokeMonitoring @HEDON: RHAA | |
Interviewer_datasheet.doc (288 KB)
here (85 KB)