Further Education

Would you like to know more about breathalysers? Here on our Further Education page are articles relating to everything from which are the best breathalysers to how they work and what to look for.

What is a Breath Alcohol Tester?

August 25, 2021

Are you looking for the latest and most trustworthy breath alcohol…

How Breath Testers are Used

August 25, 2021

Breath testers (sometimes called breathalyzers) have been…

Breathalyzer for Sale by Price Range

August 17, 2021

At the roadside, drivers are first tested for alcohol intoxication…

How a Breathalyzer Test Works

August 9, 2021

You have certainly heard of a breathalyzer test before, right?…

What is the best breathalyser for you?

August 9, 2021

During this day and age of increased self-awareness, a breathalyzer…

Breathalyzer Australia Standards and Guidelines

August 6, 2021

Many of you are looking for drug and alcohol assessment tests…

Breathalyser Buy Guide

August 6, 2021

A breathalyser buy guide is essential in understanding what breathalysers…

What Are the Different Kinds of Alcohol Tester?

April 1, 2021

An alcohol tester calculates the Blood Alcohol Concentration…

When to Buy a Breathalyzer?

April 1, 2021

It is likely you have heard of breathalyzers, or also commonly…

How to trick an Alcohol Breath Analyser:

Alcohol breath analyser, commonly known as breathalysers, have been used by police on Australian roads for decades. Since their introduction, the death toll on our roads from drink driving has dropped dramatically. Despite this, some people still choose to drink and drive. This risks not only their own lives but the lives of others as well.

Today’s alcohol breath analyser is a highly technical device. However, people have been trying to develop ways to trick alcohol analyser for as long as they have been used on our roads.

Sucking on a copper coin

This myth has been doing the rounds for many years. There are two trains of thought on this. Firstly, that the copper in the coin is supposed to “neutralise” the alcohol in your mouth. Secondly, the copper puts a coating on the inside of your mouth that confuses the alcohol analyser. These will both apparently give you a lower BAC reading.

Unfortunately for this myth, the alcohol analyser takes the breath from the lungs, not the mouth. Even if the breath did come from the mouth, the copper would not affect alcohol levels. The metal used in currency does not contain enough actual copper. There is also no “coating” created by putting a coin in your mouth. Also, the police officer would surely notice the coin and require you to spit it out.

Breath freshener or mints

Another common myth is that taking a swig of mouthwash or sucking a mint will confuse the alcohol analyser. The modern alcohol breath analyser is not affected in any way by minty fresh breath. In fact, as some mouthwash contains alcohol, it may increase your reading. The only thing that gum, mouthwash, or mints will do is mask the smell of alcohol on your breath.

Mouthwash and some medicines can, in some instances, give false positives in people who have not been drinking. This Is usually at a very low level. However, this will generally not affect your driving.

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Food to fool an alcohol breath analyser

Eating strong-smelling foods such as garlic to fool alcohol analyser is another myth. All this will do is give you bad breath. Besides, it may make you burp. Burps are gas from your stomach, which may contain alcohol which may increase your breath test results. Eating food will slow down your metabolism of alcohol. This will slow down its absorption in the body. Yet, it will all end up in your bloodstream and will be able to be tested in your breath.

Eating high absorbent items has been touted as a secret weapon against alcohol analysers. Examples include toilet paper, fabric, charcoal pills, and believe it or not faeces. This is a silly thing to do as it will likely make you sick and/or blocked up. It will not work. Filling your stomach with absorbent material may soak up some alcohol. But it will do nothing for the alcohol metabolized into your bloodstream.

Coffee will also not affect your BAC reading. It may make you feel soberer in the short term but will not influence the alcohol analyser.

Smoking

There is a belief that is smoking a cigarette just before a breath test will lower the result. In fact, the opposite is true. This is why a police officer will wait to test you if you have just smoked. When a cigarette burns, the sugars added to the tobacco create a chemical called acetaldehyde. This chemical is what is measured by the newer fuel cell analyser. These devices look for how much ethanol has been oxidised into acetaldehyde by the internal electrode. The chemical released into your lungs by the cigarette will likely make your BAC higher.

This chemical is present in the lungs of smokers at a much higher level than non-smokers. This means that some semi-conductor analyser may be affected by it. Professional grade analyser such as the BACtrack S80 Pro is not influenced by this.

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Holding your breath

This is another myth that will not go your way. Holding your breath inside the lungs that are full of alcohol will only increase the level of alcohol in your breath. This will give you a higher reading on an alcohol analyser. Additionally, studies have shown that holding your breath can actually increase your BAC up to 20%.

Hyperventilating or altering your breathing

This is the one myth that actually has some merit. Different groups have done various studies. The results show that you can decrease your BAC between 10% up to 23% with hyperventilation or heavy exercise. This can be enough to move someone who is just over the limit to just under it. Hyperventilating can work because you are essentially replacing all the air in your lungs with fresh air very quickly. You need to do the breath alcohol analysis quite quickly, however, as this new air will soon pick up the alcohol in your bloodstream and you will have to start over again.

For this system to work, you need to hyperventilate rapidly, then take a deep breath and blow into the Alcohol analyser straight away. The downside of this is that the police officer is bound to notice your irregular breathing, and you will end up feeling very light headed and maybe a bit foolish. The officer will also likely have you do another test without hyperventilating first.

Not blowing a full breath

Another breathing system that is believed of tricking an analyser is not breathing out a proper full breath when tested. As the highest alcohol reading is in the deep lung breath, the theory is that you stop the breath before reaching this air. By ending your breath early, you can trick some analyser into doing an early reading by slowly tapering it off.

Professional Grade analyser such as the BACtrack S80 Pro requires a long steady breath. This means that they will register an incomplete reading if the breath is not strong or deep enough. Additionally, the air pump technology in BACtrack Professional grade analyser provides an accurate reading with only a small amount of breath. Therefore, this makes them virtually impossible to trick in this way. Even in the analyser that can be occasionally tricked by this method, the drop in BAC is only around 0.014%.

How to pass an alcohol breath analyser test

The only way to guarantee that you will pass a breath test every time is not to drink and drive. If you do plan on drinking, make a plan. For example, have a designated driver, book a cab or an Uber, or stay the night if this is possible. Not only will this keep you and your friends and family safe, but it will also prevent you from killing or injuring strangers all for a fun night out.

Further Education

What is a Breath Alcohol Tester?

How Breath Testers are Used

Breathalyzer for Sale by Price Range

How a Breathalyzer Test Works

What is the best breathalyser for you?

Breathalyzer Australia Standards and Guidelines

Breathalyser Buy Guide

What Are the Different Kinds of Alcohol Tester?

When to Buy a Breathalyzer?

How to trick an Alcohol Breath Analyser:

Sucking on a copper coin

Breath freshener or mints

Food to fool an alcohol breath analyser

Smoking

Holding your breath

Hyperventilating or altering your breathing

Not blowing a full breath

How to pass an alcohol breath analyser test

Find the Right BACtrack for You

BACtrack C8 Smartphone

BACtrack Trace Pro Gen2

BACtrack S80 Pro

BACtrack S80 Pro Gen2