Breathalyser reading

[Phil H]

There are a lot of factors which affect you're Blood Alcohol Level. In a previous life I was an authorised operator of professional analysing equipment. In summary, you can have 5 people drink the same amount of alcohol, however the readings will differ significantly. Some factors affecting this are:
Male or female - females will have a higher reading due to amount of body fat.
If all males - males with a higher amount of body fat will have an immediate higher reading
What have you eaten beforehand- drinking on an empty stomach - you will absorb the alcohol quicker hence you will peak quicker.
Body mass - 110kg male will have a lower reading than a 75kg male - however body fat can confuse things.
When taking readings - be careful of "mouth alcohol" that is alcohol still present in the mouth, as opposed to alcohol in the system. Best way to check - should wait 15 minutes from last drink to take a reading. Can speed things up by rinsing mouth out with water.
Hope this helps out - I am sure there are other factors, however this gives you an idea of the complexity of the issue.

[phillisc]

Blew a gale did it?

Cheers
Craig.

[penguinoid]

It'd also be worth trying getting the same person to do multiple readings and see if they get approximately the same result. Not all of these breathalysers are accurate.

Mind you, all this would show you is that the equipment is consistent. No use if it's consistently wrong...