5 ms·

Has anyone here managed to? If so, do you have any tips on how (or whether!) to do this I have, basically. The easiest (only?) way to do this is simply

Has anyone here managed to? If so, do you have any tips on how (or whether!) to do this I have, basically. The easiest (only?) way to do this is simply to have a CO2 sensor, and pay attention to it. You'll quickly learn to intuitively correlate what you're seeing on the sensor with what you're experiencing. After a while you'll be able to vaguely approximate the CO2 levels without even looking at the sensor. Of course, you won't be able to pinpoint an exact CO2 level, but you'll be able to tell when it's e.g. > 1000. You've already been doing this your whole life, of course. You've already been distinguishing between "fresh" and "stuffy" air. "Stuffy" air is just our colloquial term for air with undesirably high CO2.

dataflow 4y ago
I've been trying that; I do have a sensor. I can probably guess the CO2 level with decent accuracy, but that's not because I feel any different—but rather because I know how long I've been in the room with closed doors/windows. With respect to "stuffy" vs. "fresh" air, I don't know whether my sense of it is the same as others'. What I would call "stuffy" is probably affected by humidity, dust, odors, plants, etc. and not just CO2.
- JohnBooty 4y ago
  With respect to "stuffy" vs. "fresh" air, I don't know whether my sense of it is the same as others'. What I would call "stuffy" is probably affected by humidity, dust, odors, plants, etc. and not just CO2. That's fair. I'm not sure if I'm really sensing CO2 levels, or if I'm wholly reliant on those proxy factors that you mentioned. I know that when my wife turns on the gas oven downstairs I can definitely feel a difference even if I wasn't aware she was turning it on and the CO2 meter confirms the CO2 spike. But even then, maybe I'm just "sensing" it via proxy factors like smell. In practice it probably doesn't matter all that much. Those proxy factors are really good proxies. It's hard to think of real-world scenarios where they wouldn't be.
lucb1e 4y ago
Don't you think those 'experience correlations' are based on proxy parameters? Temperature being one of the main ones I would expect. I don't experience water as fresh unless it is cold, for example.
- JohnBooty 4y ago
  Don't you think those 'experience correlations' are based on proxy parameters? Oh absolutely, I'm sure that's a huge portion of it. Nonetheless, I'm much more attuned to it now. Situations with high CO2 are usually situations with lots of warm, stagnant, exhaled air in rooms filled with people. Would I be able to detect high CO2 levels in an environment with cool, well-circulated air? I'm not sure. Certainly not as well, and perhaps not at all. In practice, it probably doesn't matter. I don't think there are many of those pathologically counterintuitive CO2 situations. If the air seems stuffy or stagnant then you can be fairly certain it's full of CO2 and/or airborne pathogens.
  - lucb1e 4y ago
    Right. Especially if you own a meter as well, it's probably all good. I also know people that don't own meters who think they're in stale air as soon as it gets a warm in a room and need to see an open window constantly and then turn up the heating some more. But if you have a meter to tell you whether you were right, that argument doesn't work anymore, so I've changed my mind on whether using proxy metrics is necessarily bad!
    - JohnBooty 4y ago
      I also know people that don't own meters who think they're in stale air as soon as it gets a warm in a room and need to see an open window constantly and then turn up the heating some more Oh man, that seems really obnoxious. I don't even use an actual meter that way!
- TylerE 4y ago
  Our brains are incredibly good at sensing CO2, because it’s what drives respiration. The “my lungs are burning and I must breath” signal is actually caused by high co2. We can’t perceive blood oxygen levels at all. This is actually something hospitals have to be aware of. A tiny sliver of the population (1-10000, maybe) have greatly reduced sensation of co2, so can literally stop breathing (while awake!) if placed on high flow 100% oxygen.

dataflow 4y ago

I've been trying that; I do have a sensor. I can probably guess the CO2 level with decent accuracy, but that's not because I feel any different—but rather because I know how long I've been in the room with closed doors/windows. With respect to "stuffy" vs. "fresh" air, I don't know whether my sense of it is the same as others'. What I would call "stuffy" is probably affected by humidity, dust, odors, plants, etc. and not just CO2.

JohnBooty 4y ago
With respect to "stuffy" vs. "fresh" air, I don't know whether my sense of it is the same as others'. What I would call "stuffy" is probably affected by humidity, dust, odors, plants, etc. and not just CO2. That's fair. I'm not sure if I'm really sensing CO2 levels, or if I'm wholly reliant on those proxy factors that you mentioned. I know that when my wife turns on the gas oven downstairs I can definitely feel a difference even if I wasn't aware she was turning it on and the CO2 meter confirms the CO2 spike. But even then, maybe I'm just "sensing" it via proxy factors like smell. In practice it probably doesn't matter all that much. Those proxy factors are really good proxies. It's hard to think of real-world scenarios where they wouldn't be.

lucb1e 4y ago

Don't you think those 'experience correlations' are based on proxy parameters? Temperature being one of the main ones I would expect. I don't experience water as fresh unless it is cold, for example.

JohnBooty 4y ago
Don't you think those 'experience correlations' are based on proxy parameters? Oh absolutely, I'm sure that's a huge portion of it. Nonetheless, I'm much more attuned to it now. Situations with high CO2 are usually situations with lots of warm, stagnant, exhaled air in rooms filled with people. Would I be able to detect high CO2 levels in an environment with cool, well-circulated air? I'm not sure. Certainly not as well, and perhaps not at all. In practice, it probably doesn't matter. I don't think there are many of those pathologically counterintuitive CO2 situations. If the air seems stuffy or stagnant then you can be fairly certain it's full of CO2 and/or airborne pathogens.
- lucb1e 4y ago
  Right. Especially if you own a meter as well, it's probably all good. I also know people that don't own meters who think they're in stale air as soon as it gets a warm in a room and need to see an open window constantly and then turn up the heating some more. But if you have a meter to tell you whether you were right, that argument doesn't work anymore, so I've changed my mind on whether using proxy metrics is necessarily bad!
  - JohnBooty 4y ago
    I also know people that don't own meters who think they're in stale air as soon as it gets a warm in a room and need to see an open window constantly and then turn up the heating some more Oh man, that seems really obnoxious. I don't even use an actual meter that way!
TylerE 4y ago
Our brains are incredibly good at sensing CO2, because it’s what drives respiration. The “my lungs are burning and I must breath” signal is actually caused by high co2. We can’t perceive blood oxygen levels at all. This is actually something hospitals have to be aware of. A tiny sliver of the population (1-10000, maybe) have greatly reduced sensation of co2, so can literally stop breathing (while awake!) if placed on high flow 100% oxygen.