4 ms·

I have tested quite a few against calibrated commercial hardware at this point and they’re not as poorly calibrated for CO2 as you would think. The particulate

I have tested quite a few against calibrated commercial hardware at this point and they’re not as poorly calibrated for CO2 as you would think. The particulate counts and VOCs are usually only good for comparative measurements from the same device in my experience, and even then the drift is quite large.

JohnJamesRambo 5y ago
All my CO2 meters read about the same as the one in my grow room that controls the CO2. I don’t think that is a big problem.
mdp2021 5y ago
I am desperately looking for one for the car, do you have anything to suggest? Also, I am finding products that seem to require an Android or iOS device to work: no. They must be independent. If they had a webserver, nice idea, but all connections should be unrequired and switchable to off.
- CoastalCoder 5y ago
  You might need to specify which kinds of gasses or particles you need to measure. I would have assumed CO2 from the context, but since you mentioned cars I'm wondering if you mean CO, VOCs, and/or PM32.
  - mdp2021 5y ago
    Correctly guessed, mainly CO2 (breathing). I did not know that CO can be relevant in the car. But of course, the more is evalued, the better. In fact, for example, I had similar concerns for CO for the house (free flames).
    - CoastalCoder 5y ago
      My understanding is that in a car, CO is normally a concern only if exhaust gas is somehow leaking into the passenger compartment. Unless your car has the fans off and the windows rolled up for a really long time, I'd be surprised if CO2 was something you need to worry about. Maybe if you're sleeping in it with the windows rolled up? CO in the house is definitely a concern. If you have a fireplace, woodstove, or furnace with a properly functioning chimney, you're unlikely to run into problems AFAIK. But people die every winter because they used a propane grill, or kerosene heater, or gas stove/oven in their house without proper ventilation. Or used a wood stove with ineffective / blocked chimney. So in colder climates having a functioning CO meter seems like a no-brainer.
      - mdp2021 5y ago
        Exactly. In the car, it may happen in winter that you could be working for some time with little ventilation. You may at some point feel dizzy, and realize you would like a meter to get the feedback that can teach you be more aware of the air quality, to regulate the balance between letting the hot air inside escape and letting the fresh air (both senses) in. In the house, similar awareness could be beneficial. But I have not yet found a decent product. It is unacceptable that one is supposed to have a Google account or similar in order to read a ruler or configure a blender.
        CoastalCoder 5y ago
        I'd like to share a thought on this, which you may find helpful. I apologize if it comes across as presumptuous; I'm not good at finding the right wording for this kind of thing. It's a cautionary tale from my own life that may or may not resonate with you. Sometimes I've had similar lines of questioning. Where it occurs to me that something might be a risk worth addressing, and so I'd better gather data until I'm confident everything is okay or that I'll have a way to notice when the risk becomes real. Every(?) time I've gone down that route, I later concluded that the concern really wasn't that big a deal, and that I'd just be hyper-focused on it because of anxiety or A.D.D. I.e., in the overall scheme of things, the true risks that deserve priority are pretty evident: good sleep and body weight, exercise, not smoking, keeping my finances in order, etc. I have a tendency to forget those primary issues when I start focusing on something that could, potentially, under some circumstances become a problem. When I go down those rabbit trails, I end up reading a lot of articles, buying some unnecessary stuff from Amazon, planning for a project that realistically I'd never complete, and just worrying a lot. If there's any takeaway from all this (for me, at least), it's "don't sweat the (probably) small stuff".
CoastalCoder 5y ago
Any chance you could share some of your findings? They'd be super helpful to some of us.

JohnJamesRambo 5y ago

All my CO2 meters read about the same as the one in my grow room that controls the CO2. I don’t think that is a big problem.

mdp2021 5y ago

I am desperately looking for one for the car, do you have anything to suggest? Also, I am finding products that seem to require an Android or iOS device to work: no. They must be independent. If they had a webserver, nice idea, but all connections should be unrequired and switchable to off.

CoastalCoder 5y ago
You might need to specify which kinds of gasses or particles you need to measure. I would have assumed CO2 from the context, but since you mentioned cars I'm wondering if you mean CO, VOCs, and/or PM32.
- mdp2021 5y ago
  Correctly guessed, mainly CO2 (breathing). I did not know that CO can be relevant in the car. But of course, the more is evalued, the better. In fact, for example, I had similar concerns for CO for the house (free flames).
  - CoastalCoder 5y ago
    My understanding is that in a car, CO is normally a concern only if exhaust gas is somehow leaking into the passenger compartment. Unless your car has the fans off and the windows rolled up for a really long time, I'd be surprised if CO2 was something you need to worry about. Maybe if you're sleeping in it with the windows rolled up? CO in the house is definitely a concern. If you have a fireplace, woodstove, or furnace with a properly functioning chimney, you're unlikely to run into problems AFAIK. But people die every winter because they used a propane grill, or kerosene heater, or gas stove/oven in their house without proper ventilation. Or used a wood stove with ineffective / blocked chimney. So in colder climates having a functioning CO meter seems like a no-brainer.
    - mdp2021 5y ago
      Exactly. In the car, it may happen in winter that you could be working for some time with little ventilation. You may at some point feel dizzy, and realize you would like a meter to get the feedback that can teach you be more aware of the air quality, to regulate the balance between letting the hot air inside escape and letting the fresh air (both senses) in. In the house, similar awareness could be beneficial. But I have not yet found a decent product. It is unacceptable that one is supposed to have a Google account or similar in order to read a ruler or configure a blender.
      - CoastalCoder 5y ago
        I'd like to share a thought on this, which you may find helpful. I apologize if it comes across as presumptuous; I'm not good at finding the right wording for this kind of thing. It's a cautionary tale from my own life that may or may not resonate with you. Sometimes I've had similar lines of questioning. Where it occurs to me that something might be a risk worth addressing, and so I'd better gather data until I'm confident everything is okay or that I'll have a way to notice when the risk becomes real. Every(?) time I've gone down that route, I later concluded that the concern really wasn't that big a deal, and that I'd just be hyper-focused on it because of anxiety or A.D.D. I.e., in the overall scheme of things, the true risks that deserve priority are pretty evident: good sleep and body weight, exercise, not smoking, keeping my finances in order, etc. I have a tendency to forget those primary issues when I start focusing on something that could, potentially, under some circumstances become a problem. When I go down those rabbit trails, I end up reading a lot of articles, buying some unnecessary stuff from Amazon, planning for a project that realistically I'd never complete, and just worrying a lot. If there's any takeaway from all this (for me, at least), it's "don't sweat the (probably) small stuff".

CoastalCoder 5y ago

Any chance you could share some of your findings? They'd be super helpful to some of us.