How to Calibrate Your Breathalyzer

If you purchase a personal breathalyzer, you'll need to calibrate the device. Here's advice on how to calibrate, and when to calibrate your breathalyzer. Remember, personal breathalyzers do not always give accurate readings, even when properly calibrated. Never drink and drive or drink and operate machinery.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. You'll need to calibrate your breathalyzer at least once every six months to a year. You may need to calibrate your unit more frequently, depending on the frequency of use. A good rule is to calibrate your unit every 200 times you use it. Your manufacture may have different guidelines, but they can be found in the manual that came with the unit, or online from the manufacturer's website.

2. If you bought your breathalyzer online from a speciality breathalyzer retailer, the retailer likely offers calibration services. Find the re-calibration shipping form and address on the retailer's website, fill it out, and send the device away to be re-calibrated. This usually costs about $20 and may take from five to ten days.

3. If you bought your unit locally, or from a company that doesn't offer recalibration, you can send the breathalyzer away to a calibration company. Look on Google for "breathalyzer calibration". These services cost around $20 dollars per calibration.

4. If you have a breathalyzer with a replaceable sensor, you can calibrate the unit yourself by replacing the sensor. A new sensor costs $30 at most online retailers. Look online to see if your model has a replaceable sensor.

Tips & Warnings

• You can not calibrate a breathalyzer yourself. Breathalyzer calibration is difficult to perform properly, which is why breathalyzers are sent away to labs to be properly calibrated. A poorly calibrated breathalyzer is useless and dangerous.