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Testing for lead paint is not the same as testing for lead in water. There are test strips for lead testing water, but they're unreliable, unregulated, and not
by zacharycohn 9y ago
Testing for lead paint is not the same as testing for lead in water.
There are test strips for lead testing water, but they're unreliable, unregulated, and not particularly trustworthy. The only great option right now is to call a lab who does water testing and work with them to send in a sample and have it tested via a method like induced plasma mass spectrometry.
Unfortunately many of these labs aren't interested in working with individuals who will only send one or two samples. They prefer to work with companies that will send them hundreds of thousands of samples. Even if you found one willing to work with you, their business processes involve fax machines, invoices, and talking to sales people on the phone.
(Related: That's why I started a company called http://www.testyourwaterforlead.com http://www.testyourwaterforlead.com. We started a company and partnered with a lab, we let you order online, pay with a credit card, and we deal with the lab to help you avoid the hassle.)
- davecap1 9y agoIf you are in NYC you can test your water for free: http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/1266/request-lead-test-kit-for-drinking-water http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/1266/request-lead-...
- zacharycohn 9y agoYup! There are a number of great cities that offer free lead testing services. Unfortunately, it seems to be the exception - not the norm. And often these aren't the places that need it the most. Also, using city provided services can 6-8 weeks to get results. In an experiment I did with one city's free testing service, you had to call them to place your order. I got a voicemail. It took 4 months to get a call back. We provide results in less than 2 weeks from when you ship your water sample off to the lab.
- s0rce 9y agoAnother option: I sent my home water to a labs (http://www.karlabs.com/ http://www.karlabs.com/) they were happy to work with individuals and even have a test kit to facilitate.
- kevinchen 9y agoService looks awesome, but I wish you guys would use HTTPS on the checkout page (or even better, the entire site!). Let's Encrypt can give you a certificate for free: https://letsencrypt.org/getting-started/ https://letsencrypt.org/getting-started/
- zacharycohn 9y agoThanks for the suggestion! Enabling it for the whole site has been on my backlog, but I'll prioritize it.
- pilom 9y agoThis seems amazing but you need to have your order form automatically redirect to https. This is a really big deal. I almost didn't purchase because of this just so you know. Sure I can type the extra 's' in myself but 99% of your customers aren't going to do that. Even if you aren't worried about the security issues because you use stripe, your customers are going to get "don't enter credit card info on sites like this" alerts from most browsers (chrome told me not to buy). Please enable a redirect now.
- zacharycohn 9y agoThanks for the suggestion! It's been on my backlog, but I'll prioritize it.
- AdamJacobMuller 9y agoI've personally been moving to an "everything is on HTTPS" model now for anything new I build. Just do a redirect for everything that comes in over http:// http:// to https:// https://.
- apk-d 9y agoI'm so glad this is rapidly becoming the default. Just a few years ago people would come up with the silliest excuses to avoid migrating to HTTPS.
- amluto 9y agoWhere I live, it's easy. Don't try calling a lab -- call an environmental testing service instead. IIRC the cost was about $40 when I took the sample myself. A cheaper kit would be nice if I wanted to take a bunch of samples to estimate how far from the tap the lead source was, though.