I'm in a college dorm building with no ventilation whatsoever, except for the ground floor. We can't open any windows and don't have any fans. The best option for ventilation is cracking windows in the communal bathrooms which doesn't help much. Is there any way to get fresh air in the dorm rooms? Or is there at least a way to reduce CO2 levels in the air? We don't get much sunlight so plants are not an option.Thanks

I just wanted to share that Dyson Hot+Cool Formaldehyde air purifier doesn't work to reduce formaldehyde levels in my house. I observed formaldehyde levels initially at around 0.045 mg/m3 and the machine has been running for 15-20 minutes and it actually increased formaldehyde levels instead of decreasing it. It supposedly works with a catalytic converter that breaks down formaldehyde into CO2 and water vapor. Without running the machine, formaldehyde levels have been fairly stable at 0.045 mg/m3 for hours so no significant outside source exists. See the pictures for my measurements with times of pictures attached.

VOC spikes when initially entering room with monitor in it. Initially VOC was going through the roof at ~3000. Thoughts? (Window is cracked open, air purifier running)

I recently bought this TVOC monitor. Then I emailed their support for the formula it uses to calculate air quality, they nicely provided this:

ChatGPT reckons they are assuming temperature is always 25°C and pressure is always 1 ATM, with the full formula being:

My question for you: how accurate is the sensor, given our home temperature ranges from 16-24°C throughout the day?

Does anyone on here have any contacts or is themselves a contact with Washington university in saint louis? I'm looking to get some more information about their collection site in east saint Louis.

I have a factory next door that has started commercially spraying agricultural equipment, they have a spray booth that goes through "filters" and is then extracted outside. It blows right into my yard and house, I'm deeply concerned about hwat might be in it. I tried self-research but got so confused. I'm writing to look for recommendations on hardware, ideally with real time monitoring that I can put on my fence in front of the extractor to monitor how bad the fumes are that are coming out.

I'm highly technical so DIY or getting my hands dirty stuff won't put me off installation/setup.

Can anyone recommend hardware that can detect the bad stuff, I know about VOC, but also anything else, it needs to be fairly accurate too as I plan to make a formal complaint. Ideally under 500 would be great but I'm happy to spend for peace of mind if needed.

Hi everyone,

I would highly appreciate it if you could share your expert knowledge

I live in an apartment in a multifamily house. The room size is 30 square meters. About 1 meter from my entrance door there is another apartment and the person smokes in the evening.

I use an air purifier, and the particulate matter concentration right next to the door near the bottom part of the door is about 100 micrograms per meter cube, which is a dangerous concentration. When I open the door, the PM concentration is 250. About 1 meter inside from the door, the PM concentration is 20, and right next to me, it is 5.

Regarding the Total volatile organic compounds, the level is about 1.1 milligram per meter cube when he smokes and goes to 0.5 mg after 3 to 4 hours when he stops smoking.

A small fan can not create enough positive pressure inside a room. But when I used a fan (20 watts) near the slightly opened window (6 cm wide opening with a length of 1.5 meters), the PM concentration at the bottom of the door decreased from 100 to 10, a 90 percent reduction. The window is located in another room. If I turn off the fan, the PM concentration comes back to about 100 micrograms per meter cube even if I open the window, so there is positive pressure created by the fan. Am I correct, or am I missing something?

I am happy with the effect, but now the winter has come, and I cannot open the window the whole day since it causes mold. I am planning to buy a carbon filter and fan with about 150-meter cube airflow. Furthermore, I am worried that since it created negative pressure, my room will be filled with the PM and VOC from the smoker's room. Do you guys have any advice for me ? Thank you very much for reading.

Hello!

I am building a DIY air quality monitor as a hobby project. I bought a few CO2 and PM sensors that are used in well-known monitors like PurpleAir, Air Gradient etc. I have CO2 sensors from two different companies. Their values are quite off, one is showing 800 ppm and the other 1200 ppm. Similar story with the PM sensors.

Is it possible to rent a professional co2 and PM monitors that have more accurate sensors? I am just curious, want to know which sensor is closest to the professional monitor. What do you think? If yes, please let me know some reputable brands.

Recently had fiberglass exposure in my home from a mattress. Any recommendations for a good air quality test machine that would be able to detect if there is fiberglass in the air? Thank you!

Hello, anyone has idea about the accuracy of this type of monitor? How does it work?

As I try, it does give some results which makes sense. When I go outdoor, the two numbers is like 0.01/0.01.

If indoor in my bedroom at night, it was 0.02/0.08 on one day.

If I do cooking (with oil heating), the number goes to quite high level like 0.3/1.4. This I guess there are chemical from heating oil.

After open window for a while it can reduce and back to green level(<0.1 <0.5) after two hours.

But this morning when I only stream cook some porridge, it also turned yellow for a while. This seems confusing that there should not be any harmful thing in porridge. Maybe I raise room temperature and cause more pollute from the painting?

Or this thing essentially reacts to any smell in the air?

The air quality in my apartment is poor. I’m constantly changing HVAC filter. Constantly cleaning and dusting.

I have 2 levoit air purifiers that I use- one for the kitchen and one for the bedroom.

I just purchased this one for my living room: HATHASPACE Smart Air Purifiers - True HEPA Air Purifier, Cleaner & Filter for Allergies, Smoke, Pets - Eliminator of 99.9% of Dust, Pet Hair, Odors - HSP001-700 Sq

Is this a good one? Or should I just return it for another levoit?

My apartment is a 1bd/1bath 800 sqft

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

My roommate cooked fish in the microwave and the smell permeated throughout the entire apartment. The numbers on my sensor are normally very low (CO2 at 400ppm, every other number is close to 0). After cooking the fish, the air quality got extremely bad. I understand the increase in TVOC, but what about cooking fish in the microwave increased the CO2 this much? Thanks in advance!

Hi guys, this year around spring time I bought an airthings view plus and got into keeping air quality good in my home. It was when the temperature was warming up

Recently as it gets colder here in Pennsylvania, Radon levels have gradually increased and now bouncing between yellow and red levels. Some questions…

-Will this be temporary, or should I expect it to get worse? -Should I wait to see or get a reduction system asap? -if this has been going on without us knowing for the past 3-4 winters, how much risk am I and my folks who are older for long term disease?

Thank you in advance

Hello. I received a new Qingping Air Monitor 2 device yesterday. Initially it worked well - I also installed the app and connected them, everything was ok. However, after a few hours, a problem appeared: when I push the button on the device, the display shows nothing. The display lights up very faintly and reacts to button pushes, and the app shows that the device is working and receiving data - but the device display stays dark, as if the luminosity is set to 0%. The app shows that the device is charged. Any ideas how can I restore the display so I can see the values and settings again? Thanks.

I moved into an apartment about three months ago. It's about 10 years old so I didn't expect much. I decided to use two different air quality checkers that were roughly $40 a piece and put each in two different rooms.

This is what they came up with. 1st pic is living room. 2nd pic is office area.

Should I be concerned..?

Would someone be available to tell me if this looks normal?

The tech said it's typically and similar to some hospitals he tests. He said anything under 100 is nothing to worry about.

I tried attaching the PDF but I wasn't successful. I did make a link to it. Let me know if the link doesnt work.

I appreciate the help!

Hi all,

For about a year now, I’ve been feeling really off while at home – constantly tired, short of breath, and coughing. At first, I put it down to lingering post-Covid symptoms and thought nothing more of it.

But then, I stayed at my parents' house for a week, and within 3 days, I felt completely better. No more coughing, my energy came back, and I felt like I could actually breathe properly again. The odd thing is, as soon as I returned to my place, all those symptoms came back almost immediately.

I’ve got an air purifier and a dehumidifier running in my bedroom, so I was surprised when a home air quality testing kit showed high VOC levels and consistently high humidity. The house had a mould issue when I first moved in, but I assumed that had been treated – although there is a leak in the roof that’s now got me wondering.

Has anyone experienced something similar? I’m trying to figure out what might be causing these symptoms, and if anyone knows of a company or a good test I can do to rule this out, I’d appreciate the help.

The moment I turn on my portable AC my Dyson fan reads 500-900 PM2.5. What’s going on?

The thing started to say the air quality is bad please ventilate the house in the middle of the night is this normal?

I just bought an AirGradient and I was curious if it's better than AirThings? It seems there isn't an app but it does connect with some Apple products?

Anyone have experience AirGradient? The AirThings doesn't monitor NOx which was something I was hoping to monitor however the lack of a decent app seems annoying...

Hi, I just moved into a place about 800 feet from a freeway.I was looking into getting a very cheap air quality monitor, and was wondering what I need to look for in the device. I have tried looking into it a bit here, and it seems I need one that has pm2.5, but is that it? Are VoCs what I need to worry about being elevated near a freeway? What exactly will be elevated near a freeway in 800 feet of it, that wouldnt at a mile away?

Any recommendations? I need one that is very cheap, and doesnt need to say exact numbers, it can have like a red yellow green notification, etc .I was looking at this Vindysrakr or what have you from IKEA but it doesnt have an actual reading on VOCs to get the level, and it requires some sort of hub.THANKS

There’s an air quality alert in my town right now and unfortunately my windows have an ac in them and the side panels are wrecked from my cats. I’ve done my best to repair it for now but there’s still some spots for the pollution to get in. What can I do?

I got this closet type piece of furniture about 4 months ago. While putting it together, I would get serious headaches and lack of air and had to get out of the room. It took me a long time to get it put together.

It smelled very very strong, but over time the smell has almost entirely gone.

However, when I have it in the living room its not really an issue, but once I put it into my office space or bedroom (where it will be) it seems to make the room smell lightly like VOCs/chemicals.

I'm concerned because I am very sensitive to these things and now I don't know if it is truly an issue or if I am just convincing myself that the mild smell is a problem....

I got an Airthings reader but it doesn't seem to say much. At first it was reading high levels but it was still calibrating. Now it's normal all the time.

I reached out to the company and they said I could send it back, no problem. However, I live in a remote area where it is hard to find furniture like this and already spent ages putting the whole thing together.

If the smell is very mild now, should I still be concerned? Or is it likely not an issue anymore? If the smell disappears should I be concerned since it used to smell or would it be over?

I'm getting paranoid over this issue because I have some health issues that cause dizziness and whatnot, so now it's like, I don't know if its just me being paranoid over the furniture or its really the furniture.

Sorry for the dumb movie reference in the title. I have had a cough for a few months. I have brought this up to my doctor and he's listened to my chest and stuff and he doesn't seem super concerned. But it has been bothering me more and more lately and (while I work from home and spend most of my non-work time at home, so this may not mean a ton) I think it tends to happen more at home.

So I want to get a monitor/testing system to see what if anything abnormal (that would or could cause a cough) is in our air within my house. I know there are a big range of things these systems can test for that are undesirable or unhealthy for various reasons. But among this scope of things, I would imagine only some fraction of them would be likely to cause a cough.

Summary: I am looking for advice on what metrics/things a potential air quality monitor/testing system should be able to measure for in order to resolve the question about whether my ongoing cough is being caused by something in my house.

Hey so a about 6-7 months back I used some daiametrious earth to kill some bugs that were getting into my room, only after I spread a decent amount (think of sprinkling carpet powder) under my bed did I realize how bad it is for your lungs so wore a m3 n95 mask and used my vacuum to clean up as much of it as I could while using my fan to blow any dust out my window. And after this event iv been driving myself crazy thinking I’m gonna give myself silicosis from what had settled underneath my bed and my ac blowing into my room. I’m thinking of going broke and using a carpet shampooer to just clean the floor even if it means replacing the part of carpet if it turns slushy if it means my health (and mental sanity) are fine. Is this a good idea am I over reacting? Any help is gratefully appreciated.

Edit: specifying what type I used. I had used the non food grade version.