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The biggest missing feature is a radon monitor. Currently only Airthings offers it.

by KRAKRISMOTT 2y ago

poulpy123 2y ago
I had a look at radon sensors recently and they look quite expensive, difficult to add in a 150-200€ monitor
- defrost 2y ago
  Radon sensors might be dedicated and expensive, or they might just count clicks in the gamma spectrum. If you have a basement | enclosed space in a granite rich area then you'll probably get radon gas pooling in that space unless it's sealed and|or vented. You're unlikely to have an unspecified gamma source (lump of uranium, limp of potassium, lump of thorium) in your basement so ... A generic geiger counter (click counter) should give a reading (low) outside your space in the open air, and another reading (higher) inside that space .. that can vary with time (as gas is expressed, pools, vented). That generic click difference is almost entirely radon .. you'll be taking readings within 20 feet, one inside, anothe outside. So you can easily get away with a cheap geiger counter to indicate if there's an issue .. if there is, you'll need to either: * minise time spent inside space, and|or * vent the space (fan blower, + pipe to outside) * accept a cancer risk ~ a pack a day smoking if you use space as an office. Source: a couple of decades geophysical surveying making radiometric maps of entire countries.
  - poulpy123 2y ago
    > they might just count clicks in the gamma spectrum. but radon is emitting alpha particles ?
    - defrost 2y ago
      and gamma rays (several energy peaks) and decaying into polonium, bismuth and lead. These are all indicators. Identifying radon is either a stochastic puzzle or a job for a mass spectrometer. If you're concerned about radon the best bet is to either move or to mitigate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon#Testing_and_mitigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon#Testing_and_mitigation it's a heavy gas that "oozes" out of granites and settles in low areas .. valleys until a breeze comes through or basements until pumped out ( floor level extractor fan | gas sump ).

The biggest missing feature is a radon monitor. Currently only Airthings offers it.

poulpy123 2y ago

I had a look at radon sensors recently and they look quite expensive, difficult to add in a 150-200€ monitor

defrost 2y ago
Radon sensors might be dedicated and expensive, or they might just count clicks in the gamma spectrum. If you have a basement | enclosed space in a granite rich area then you'll probably get radon gas pooling in that space unless it's sealed and|or vented. You're unlikely to have an unspecified gamma source (lump of uranium, limp of potassium, lump of thorium) in your basement so ... A generic geiger counter (click counter) should give a reading (low) outside your space in the open air, and another reading (higher) inside that space .. that can vary with time (as gas is expressed, pools, vented). That generic click difference is almost entirely radon .. you'll be taking readings within 20 feet, one inside, anothe outside. So you can easily get away with a cheap geiger counter to indicate if there's an issue .. if there is, you'll need to either: * minise time spent inside space, and|or * vent the space (fan blower, + pipe to outside) * accept a cancer risk ~ a pack a day smoking if you use space as an office. Source: a couple of decades geophysical surveying making radiometric maps of entire countries.
- poulpy123 2y ago
  > they might just count clicks in the gamma spectrum. but radon is emitting alpha particles ?
  - defrost 2y ago
    and gamma rays (several energy peaks) and decaying into polonium, bismuth and lead. These are all indicators. Identifying radon is either a stochastic puzzle or a job for a mass spectrometer. If you're concerned about radon the best bet is to either move or to mitigate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon#Testing_and_mitigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon#Testing_and_mitigation it's a heavy gas that "oozes" out of granites and settles in low areas .. valleys until a breeze comes through or basements until pumped out ( floor level extractor fan | gas sump ).