“Breathalyzer Buying Guide: 9 Things You Should Know About Personal Breathalyzers”
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BreathKey Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my BreathKey appear to be giving me
inaccurate readings?
BreathKey Inaccurate Readings
With all breathalyzers, you must wait at least 20 minutes after eating, drinking or smoking before performing a breath alcohol test.
It’s not uncommon that alcohol residue still in the mouth can be blown into the unit and cause an abnormally high reading. It takes time for alcohol in the mouth to be absorbed into your system through the stomach and intestines, before it gets released into your breath deep within your lungs.
Also note that common household products like mouthwash or breath spray often contain alcohol that may cause a high reading on a breathalyzer.
These are the most common causes of faulty readings.
Note that your BAC (blood alcohol content) can vary widely depending on your weight, sex, body fat, the amount of food consumed and even your metabolic rate. It’s often true that you can “feel drunk” with a low BAC, or “feel sober” with a high BAC.
Also note that the BreathKey is a personal breathalyzer, and is not meant to be shared among individuals. Sharing the BreathKey with different users, or otherwise taking multiple readings one after the other, can result in less accurate readings.
Over time the breathalyzer alcohol sensor can lose accuracy. All breathalyzers, including the BreathKey, must be recalibrated periodically so that they will maintain their accuracy. The BreathKey should be calibrated every six months to one year, or whenever you think that you are getting inaccurate results.
See the calibration section of our support page for more about the calibration fee and the shipping address.
If the BreathKey is maintained properly and calibrated on a regular basis, its accuracy will be ±.010% BAC at .080% BAC. This means that on average the BAC reading from the BreathKey will be within .010% of your true BAC level, if your true BAC level is .080%.
