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I'm curious to hear from anyone who runs air quality monitors at home: how has knowledge of the quality of the air in your house affected your behaviour? My ho

I'm curious to hear from anyone who runs air quality monitors at home: how has knowledge of the quality of the air in your house affected your behaviour? My house is 56 years old. I'm guessing the kitchen upgrade is at least 5 years old. The carpet is probably at least a 5 years old. There isn't much fresh paint in here. Am I about right to assume I probably don't have much in the way off off-gassing from anything in here, or does carpet / furniture / melamine continually off-gas for it's entire life? Anyway, I've got some idea that CO2 buildup is a thing, and humidity, and off-gassing, so... I tend to ventilate the house frequently even during winter. Even when it's -5 outside, I'll occasionally open one or more windows / doors and turn the kitchen exhaust fan on in order to draw fresh air in and across the house. I'll also occasionally open multiple doors / windows for 10 minutes or so in an effort to replace the majority of the air in the house. I tend to eschew yet-another-device that needs maintenance / power / charging / monitoring / fiddling because I tend to do a lot of that at work and would rather just come home and not-have-to-maintain-another-97-machines. So I'm interested in the on average / sort of good enough / sometimes over-shoot-the-mark behavioural changes that would result if I did have air quality monitors.

hadlock 8y ago
Most air quality measurement involves particulate matter, specifically PM 2.5. This is primarily wood smoke, car exhaust and a couple of other combustion-related. When the news talks about air quality, most commonly they are referring to PM 2.5. If you are looking for out-gassing (paints, carpets, furniture etc) you probably need to invest in formaldehyde and other gas sensors. In your case you ought to look at your furniture and electronics as they will produce the most out-gassing. This is different from the above particulate matter.
msisk6 8y ago
We have a new house--about a year old now--here in Texas with all the efficiency and insulation stuff. I noticed after working in my office with the door and windows closed I didn't feel so good after awhile. I got one of those trendy Awair monitors and stuck it on my desk and hooked up the iPhone app. And sure enough, when I started not feeling well it was because the CO2 was over 1500 ppm. I don't know about the accuracy of the actual CO2 measurement, but I figure the delta is at least good enough to spot trends. And yeah, those times I don't feel well is always associated with a rise of CO2. I "fix" it by either opening the door and/or window or running the fan of the central air system. Our system also has a "bleed air" adjustment for outside air. I turned that up a bit, too. The Awair also does "chemicals" and PM2.5. I'm surprised our new house doesn't an issues with those, but I do see PM2.5 go up when the window in my office is open and "chemicals" fluctuates throughout the day but at a low level. I'm not exactly sure what "chemicals" means in this context; I haven't really looked into it yet. You might consider the Awair; I've been happy with it. I have several thousand systems that need tending at work and, same as you, I don't need to come home and do more. My wife's Windows gaming rig needs enough of that as it is...

hadlock 8y ago

Most air quality measurement involves particulate matter, specifically PM 2.5. This is primarily wood smoke, car exhaust and a couple of other combustion-related. When the news talks about air quality, most commonly they are referring to PM 2.5. If you are looking for out-gassing (paints, carpets, furniture etc) you probably need to invest in formaldehyde and other gas sensors. In your case you ought to look at your furniture and electronics as they will produce the most out-gassing. This is different from the above particulate matter.

msisk6 8y ago

We have a new house--about a year old now--here in Texas with all the efficiency and insulation stuff. I noticed after working in my office with the door and windows closed I didn't feel so good after awhile. I got one of those trendy Awair monitors and stuck it on my desk and hooked up the iPhone app. And sure enough, when I started not feeling well it was because the CO2 was over 1500 ppm. I don't know about the accuracy of the actual CO2 measurement, but I figure the delta is at least good enough to spot trends. And yeah, those times I don't feel well is always associated with a rise of CO2. I "fix" it by either opening the door and/or window or running the fan of the central air system. Our system also has a "bleed air" adjustment for outside air. I turned that up a bit, too. The Awair also does "chemicals" and PM2.5. I'm surprised our new house doesn't an issues with those, but I do see PM2.5 go up when the window in my office is open and "chemicals" fluctuates throughout the day but at a low level. I'm not exactly sure what "chemicals" means in this context; I haven't really looked into it yet. You might consider the Awair; I've been happy with it. I have several thousand systems that need tending at work and, same as you, I don't need to come home and do more. My wife's Windows gaming rig needs enough of that as it is...