RS Korea — FIX800 Five-Gas and O₂ Detector Addition with Online IoT Monitoring, Pohang Water Reclamation Center

RS Korea returned to the Pohang Water Reclamation Center — a site first serviced over two years ago in October 2023, where a CO detector had been installed for fire detection in the sludge storage warehouse and a three-gas (O2/H2S/EX) detector for confined-space asphyxiation prevention at the sludge unloading dock — to add three new fixed detectors and build an integrated IoT monitoring system.

Regarding "confined space" classification: although the unloading dock appears open, its shutter remains closed except during unloading operations. Under Appendix 18 of Article 618 of Korea's Occupational Safety and Health Standards, a space qualifies as confined not only by its physical enclosure but also by whether hazardous gas is present or likely to accumulate faster than ventilation can clear it.

In other words, even an apparently open space can be legally classified as confined if the rate at which hazardous gas can accumulate outpaces the space's ventilation.

Regulatory Basis

This project covered two objectives: (1) adding a FIX800 five-gas detector at two locations and a FIX800 single-gas (O2) detector at one additional location, and (2) integrating both new and existing detectors into a unified web-based monitoring system via IoT.

Three new installation points, based on regulatory requirements:

Basement level 1 sludge treatment area
Basement level 2 sludge treatment area
Level 3 fire-suppression agent room

The two basement sludge areas fall under Item 11 of the confined-space regulation, while the level 3 fire-suppression room falls under Article 628-2, Clause 6, which requires oxygen or carbon dioxide detection and alarm equipment in any CO2 fire-suppression protected zone where the distance to the nearest exit exceeds 10 meters, or where 100 or more 45 kg CO2 extinguishing cylinders are stored.

Equipment Installed

The two basement sludge dock areas received the legally required five-gas detector, accounting for the CO2 and CH4 that can be generated during extended sludge dwell time, while the level 3 CO2 agent room received a single O2 detector per regulation.

Next is the FIX800's longtime companion, the dedicated FIX-DS display board. A 10-channel unit was custom-built to simultaneously show readings from both new basement locations.

And the centerpiece of this project: FIX-AP, RS Korea's IoT hardware module for gas monitoring equipment of any kind, enabling both new and existing detectors across all locations to be monitored remotely from an office PC via the web. This was made possible by growing demand for online monitoring and a newly developed 2-channel RS485 slave terminal supporting simultaneous field and office monitoring (see our earlier post on FIX-AP-based multi-point monitoring for further detail).

Installation Work

Elevated work using a rented lift was required to run cabling cleanly across all four points. The on-site manager periodically checked gas concentrations throughout the work — a gas-measurement specialist experiencing a gas incident on its own job site would be the ultimate irony.

Multiple technicians worked in parallel on detector mounting, display board installation, and cable routing. The photo above shows the O2 detector being installed in the CO2 fire-suppression agent room per regulation; it was wired to a 2-way RS485 board feeding signals to both the FIX-DS display and the FIX-AP module, using 6-core shielded cable for power and dual communication lines.

All detectors and display boards are working normally. The reading of 18.8 visible in one of the photos was captured mid-way through the process of resetting the unit back to its normal state after an activation test. Between the various site conditions to work around, cabling and rewiring, and elevated communication-line work across multiple locations, the full installation took three days to complete.

Closing

The project concluded with a live demonstration of server access via web browser from the control room PC. The client specifically noted the convenience of no longer needing to log safety readings manually on a time-by-time basis at the site.

RS Korea continues to develop WANDI products that combine the intuitive on-site displays workers prefer with the remote monitoring convenience site managers need.

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