Similar here, got the Airthings Wave Plus when we bought our current house 3 years ago, radon levels were always higher than 100 Bq/m3, and would often peak above 200 Bq/m3 (in Canada we don't measure in pCi/L, but that's about 2.7 average and 5.5 peaks). The mitigation I made myself, I got a radon fan and a smart plug, and I'm starting the fan when levels go above 80 Bq/m3 through Home Assistant. Total including the PVC tubing was around $400 CAD and a few days of setting everything up ... results are an average of 60 Bq/m3 with peaks at 110 Bq/m3, and I sleep better knowing the house is safer! 😁 There are other products, I personally went with the Airthings device because I knew it could be integrated in Home Assistant with IFTTT behaviour in case I needed to install a fan (I didn't want the fan running all the time if it wasn't necessary).
I live in Vermont. As far as I know Radon testing is usually a regular part of the house buying process. It's done for the buyer. However, it hasn't always been that way. When I bought my house, it wasn't done to my knowledge, but when I sold the house, it had to be done and it turned out I had to install a mitigation system.
We had ours checked a few years ago. Came in at 24pCi/l (yes, twenty-four). After mitigation it’s at 0.5. I highly recommend checking for it if you live in an area where it occurs. Get it mitigated if you do.
6-8pCi/L? DAMN. We live in a new build (2019) home in MA, where we also have high-radon geology. The builder put in 'passive mitigation' - which is basically a PVC pipe that runs from under the basement slab up through the roof. With this we still have elevated levels, in the 4-6pCi/L range, IIRC. We did the home tests that you send to a lab after we moved in. After those results we had our 'passive' system turned 'active' - installing an extraction fan in the existing pipe. This dropped the randon to acceptable levels. Note that radon is basically *everywhere*. It is naturally occurring and it is something everyone should check for, especially in basements, or in the first floor of slab construction. It is even more of a problem in modern homes which are highly energy efficient - which translates into being more air tight, which traps the radon gas and builds the concentration. As you showed on the map, some areas of the country have higher concentrations than others, but you can get significant local variation too. A while back I became aware of the Airthings sensors and installed a View Radon in our basement to keep track of the levels, rather than periodically doing the lab tests. That way we can ensure the mitigation remains effective. Having real-time monitoring and alerting also means we'll know right away if the mitigation fails, such as the fan dying. Otherwise we have to remember to check the little U-tube of blue fluid on the pipe in the basement, showing the pressure gradient. The sensor will easily pay for itself by eliminating those lab tests. More recently, thanks to InfoSec Twitter, I started to wonder about the CO2 levels in our energy efficient home. Everything was taped, foamed, and otherwise sealed during construction. Which is great for energy efficiency, but bad for ventilation. Since we're in New England it is too cold for several months and too hot & humid for another few months to regularly open windows. And in the mild months we have pollen and such which sets off allergies. Which all means our house stays sealed most of the time. So I picked up a couple of Airthings Wave Plus sensors - one for my office and one for our bedroom. The nice thing about the View Radon we already had is that it acts as a hub for the Wave sensors, so we didn't need another hub - and there was no need for the higher cost of the View Plus. Unfortunately, what it revealed is that we do indeed have high CO2 levels. There are periods when my office has hit 1600ppm after a few long work days. Both my office and the bedroom spend a lot of time in the 'Fair' CO2 range, and not 'Good'. So now I'm waiting on an estimate for a whole-home ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilation) system to vent the stale air and pull in outside air through our HVAC system. The joys of home ownership.
OK, bumping you up to "ALL ALERTS". Been watching your content on occasion from HAK5. But this time I had a scare feeling like I almost didn't wake up due to air quality issues in my space. Thank you for these great videos so I can start to dive into this subject and sort out which monitoring solution will be best for me. Thank you for being your nerdy self, and diving into this stuff already! haha, cheers!
Thanks so much for this video. I have the same issue in my home in MN and am going to be doing mitigation soon. Glad to know that I can track the levels before and after!
Radon mitigation is a must in many areas. I live in Tenn and my levels were not terrible but still high, I had the a mitigation setup installed and not my levels are almost zero.
Welp. I know what I'm getting next. Haha. We have radon mitigation in our home I believe but it'll be nice to have sensors to check for it and log it among particulates and humidity.
drafty homes are safe homes. why having your ventilator fan on and windows open is healthier, and why people get colds/sick during winter months when houses are shut in. In winters the fans for sumps/radon will super cool your basement floor concrete increasing energy use, the air you suck out has to be replaced somehow., either from your house, or from outside air.
Worked for about 1.5 years. First the green halo LED broke - now the thing is broken altogther (yes, I've checked/changed batteries and done whatever I could to resurrect it - it wont turn on). Overpriced piece of junk.
@@ShannonMorse That's how it should be and here's a positive update: it somehow came back to life last night. Tried a fourth pair of batteries (non rehargable) and voila. The hand swipe halo light function does not work anymore but I can access it again via bluetooth.
I had a first gen wave become unreachable (it still worked, the halo indicated correctly but it wasn't possible to connect to it anymore to collect data) after about four years. They replaced it with a second gen at no cost.
Yikes! 😬 As if the US wasn't scary enough with it's backward gun laws. If the the regular mass shootings don't kill you, the radon will I guess! 😂 It's like Fallout didn't even need the mass nuclear event to trigger the US dystopia.
Similar here, got the Airthings Wave Plus when we bought our current house 3 years ago, radon levels were always higher than 100 Bq/m3, and would often peak above 200 Bq/m3 (in Canada we don't measure in pCi/L, but that's about 2.7 average and 5.5 peaks).
The mitigation I made myself, I got a radon fan and a smart plug, and I'm starting the fan when levels go above 80 Bq/m3 through Home Assistant. Total including the PVC tubing was around $400 CAD and a few days of setting everything up ... results are an average of 60 Bq/m3 with peaks at 110 Bq/m3, and I sleep better knowing the house is safer! 😁
There are other products, I personally went with the Airthings device because I knew it could be integrated in Home Assistant with IFTTT behaviour in case I needed to install a fan (I didn't want the fan running all the time if it wasn't necessary).
Thats a pretty awesome way to do it.
nice to hear that your were able to set on up yourself, do you have a pic of the mitigation system you setup?
I live in Vermont. As far as I know Radon testing is usually a regular part of the house buying process. It's done for the buyer. However, it hasn't always been that way. When I bought my house, it wasn't done to my knowledge, but when I sold the house, it had to be done and it turned out I had to install a mitigation system.
We had ours checked a few years ago. Came in at 24pCi/l (yes, twenty-four). After mitigation it’s at 0.5. I highly recommend checking for it if you live in an area where it occurs. Get it mitigated if you do.
Holy crap!
same here, 22 on the 1939 house we bought... it hadn't been sold since the 80s so no one ever had it tested until we came along 😬
6-8pCi/L? DAMN. We live in a new build (2019) home in MA, where we also have high-radon geology. The builder put in 'passive mitigation' - which is basically a PVC pipe that runs from under the basement slab up through the roof. With this we still have elevated levels, in the 4-6pCi/L range, IIRC. We did the home tests that you send to a lab after we moved in. After those results we had our 'passive' system turned 'active' - installing an extraction fan in the existing pipe. This dropped the randon to acceptable levels.
Note that radon is basically *everywhere*. It is naturally occurring and it is something everyone should check for, especially in basements, or in the first floor of slab construction. It is even more of a problem in modern homes which are highly energy efficient - which translates into being more air tight, which traps the radon gas and builds the concentration. As you showed on the map, some areas of the country have higher concentrations than others, but you can get significant local variation too.
A while back I became aware of the Airthings sensors and installed a View Radon in our basement to keep track of the levels, rather than periodically doing the lab tests. That way we can ensure the mitigation remains effective. Having real-time monitoring and alerting also means we'll know right away if the mitigation fails, such as the fan dying. Otherwise we have to remember to check the little U-tube of blue fluid on the pipe in the basement, showing the pressure gradient. The sensor will easily pay for itself by eliminating those lab tests.
More recently, thanks to InfoSec Twitter, I started to wonder about the CO2 levels in our energy efficient home. Everything was taped, foamed, and otherwise sealed during construction. Which is great for energy efficiency, but bad for ventilation. Since we're in New England it is too cold for several months and too hot & humid for another few months to regularly open windows. And in the mild months we have pollen and such which sets off allergies. Which all means our house stays sealed most of the time.
So I picked up a couple of Airthings Wave Plus sensors - one for my office and one for our bedroom. The nice thing about the View Radon we already had is that it acts as a hub for the Wave sensors, so we didn't need another hub - and there was no need for the higher cost of the View Plus.
Unfortunately, what it revealed is that we do indeed have high CO2 levels. There are periods when my office has hit 1600ppm after a few long work days. Both my office and the bedroom spend a lot of time in the 'Fair' CO2 range, and not 'Good'. So now I'm waiting on an estimate for a whole-home ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilation) system to vent the stale air and pull in outside air through our HVAC system. The joys of home ownership.
OK, bumping you up to "ALL ALERTS". Been watching your content on occasion from HAK5. But this time I had a scare feeling like I almost didn't wake up due to air quality issues in my space. Thank you for these great videos so I can start to dive into this subject and sort out which monitoring solution will be best for me. Thank you for being your nerdy self, and diving into this stuff already! haha, cheers!
In Norway we actually have to measure radon before beeing allowed to rent out a house or apartment
Thanks so much for this video. I have the same issue in my home in MN and am going to be doing mitigation soon.
Glad to know that I can track the levels before and after!
Really interesting! Thanks Shannon I had no idea this was a thing
Interestingly awesome! Thanks Shannon
Radon mitigation is a must in many areas. I live in Tenn and my levels were not terrible but still high, I had the a mitigation setup installed and not my levels are almost zero.
Geez, I knew of Radon, but not of the potential health impact, very informative video thanks!
Love that studio!
Thanks for sharing. I appreciate the knowledge. Blessings on your day.
Nice!
Very Smart.
Thanks for the update video :)
Welp. I know what I'm getting next. Haha. We have radon mitigation in our home I believe but it'll be nice to have sensors to check for it and log it among particulates and humidity.
Wait til you see the upgraded one 👀
@@ShannonMorse Oh man. I'll have to check that out too!
Good job 🙂😉
Thanks, just got one. Am not in a radon risk area but would like the additional information
Yes, I really enjoy being able to track all the data, not just radon!
My device is due in Thursday or Friday, can’t wait. Thank you
Hmmmm nice I did one of the single use kits when my house was built makes me wonder if if stayed good levels or not
drafty homes are safe homes. why having your ventilator fan on and windows open is healthier, and why people get colds/sick during winter months when houses are shut in.
In winters the fans for sumps/radon will super cool your basement floor concrete increasing energy use, the air you suck out has to be replaced somehow., either from your house, or from outside air.
I'd love to see what's up
Super madam
Worked for about 1.5 years. First the green halo LED broke - now the thing is broken altogther (yes, I've checked/changed batteries and done whatever I could to resurrect it - it wont turn on). Overpriced piece of junk.
Sorry to hear that! Mine is still working. Had it installed since summer 2020. th-cam.com/video/MYWDZcX-ug0/w-d-xo.html
@@ShannonMorse That's how it should be and here's a positive update: it somehow came back to life last night. Tried a fourth pair of batteries (non rehargable) and voila. The hand swipe halo light function does not work anymore but I can access it again via bluetooth.
I had a first gen wave become unreachable (it still worked, the halo indicated correctly but it wasn't possible to connect to it anymore to collect data) after about four years. They replaced it with a second gen at no cost.
Yikes! 😬 As if the US wasn't scary enough with it's backward gun laws. If the the regular mass shootings don't kill you, the radon will I guess! 😂 It's like Fallout didn't even need the mass nuclear event to trigger the US dystopia.
Radon is worldwide.