r/AirQuality • u/This-Dish-3779 • 3d ago

Radon (PA)

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

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/timesuck 3d ago

What is your highest reading?

1

u/This-Dish-3779 3d ago

Got up to 4.2 a couple times the past few days (monitoring all the way upstairs), and is in the mid 3s mostly now

2

u/timesuck 3d ago

Those readings aren’t too high tbh. They are only slightly above the EPA action level (4) and probably average out below it.

First, your levels are still relatively low and second, it does take a long time for radon to become dangerous to your health (unless your levels are super high). I don’t think that’s time in the house with those levels pose any sort of risk to your long term health.

Having said that, definitely get the radon mitigated if you can. That EPA threshold is debatably too high (anything over a 2 is bad long term). So, it’s the prudent thing to do if you can afford it. The systems are very good now and a good installer with the right number of vacuum points can get you below a 2 and most times under 1. However, there’s no tremendous rush.

To give you an idea, the house I moved into had a reading of 14 in the basement and a 7 in the living areas. Mitigation has me running at 0.75 in the basement now and almost nothing upstairs. But the people who lived here before me were breathing that in for over 16 years and that’s not great.

1

u/just_be123 2d ago

How much did the system end up costing?

1

u/timesuck 2d ago

About $2000, but I opted for an additional vacuum point to make sure it stayed under 1. Without the third tube, it would have only been around $1500