Month: September 2021

Review: AirAssure an Indoor AQ Monitor by TSI

Sotirios PapathanasiouLeave a comment

Someone may ask what more they can offer to an already saturated market of air quality monitors. The answer is simple: Experience! TSI Incorporated is a USA-based company with more than 60 years of experience and knowledge thanks to the 1000 researchers and engineers that work for the company worldwide. They hold more than 50 patents.

Recently, TSI released the AirAssure which is an IoT-enabled Indoor Air Quality Monitor (AQM) designed specifically for buildings that really need to have an in-depth and accurate view of the indoor air quality. The monitor comes in two versions the 4-gas and 6-gas variation. I am going to review the 4-gas AirAssure IAQM that comes with a Formaldehyde, Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, and Total Volatile Organic Compounds sensors. Apart from the 4 or 6 gas sensors configurations, all versions come with a particulate matter sensor and a temperature/humidity/barometric pressure sensor. Also, a new CO2 and VOC model will be released this autumn.

Technical Specs 4-Gas AirAssure

  • Formaldehyde (CH₂O)
  • Carbon Monoxide (CO)
  • Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
  • Total Volatile Organic Compounds (tVOC)
  • Particulate matter (PM)
  • Temperature, Relative humidity and Barometric pressure
  • Universal USB-A Power Adapter
  • USB-A to USB-C Cable
  • USB-C port
  • Included 32GB Removable micro-SD
  • 24 VAC Terminal Connector
  • Colour LED Lights
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WHO 2021 Air Quality Guidelines – My Take!

Sotirios Papathanasiou2 Comments

On 22nd September 2021, the World Health Organization released the so long-awaited update of the Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs). They are bold and ambitious but will governments adopt them?

Let’s see how the updated AQGs compare to the old ones, which were released in 2005. The classical pollutants (Particulate Matter PM2.5/10, and NO2) have been reduced significantly. They have introduced additional AQG levels, such as for peak season Ozone (O3), 24-hour averaging time for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), and Carbon Monoxide (CO). On the contrary, they have increased the Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) levels from 20 μg/m3 to 40 μg/m3.

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Nasal hair and Air Pollution: Does nasal hair offer a filtration function?

Sotirios Papathanasiou1 Comment

It is unfortunate true the fact that I have encountered a lot of people who think that nasal hair will stop all air pollutants from being inhaled and reach the lungs, or as we now know, the heart and brain. They feel completely sure that they are safe irrelevant the concentration of the pollution.

people nose

The human nose is an extraordinary human organ that offers us so much, many times we don’t even appreciate its function until we lose it. It can warn us that something isn’t right, for example, food has gone bad, or the presence of toxic gases in a close/open environment but it can also offer us a pleasant sensation when we smell a rose or lavender flowers.

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Report: Air Quality Results from my 4000 km Road Trip – I was surprised by the PM2.5 concentrations

Sotirios PapathanasiouLeave a comment

In August 2021 (summer in Northern Hemisphere), I travelled from Spain to Greece in order to visit my parents as I hadn’t see them for a long time due to the pandemic. I visited 10 countries and I evaluated the air quality with a portable air quality monitor (Atmotube PRO) but as well as the behavior of the people in these countries as they tend to have different customs when it comes to cooking or transporting around the cities.

This evaluation is very narrow because of the fact that I didn’t stay longer than a day or two in each city so take it with a pinch of salt. Also, the climatological conditions were entangled to the summer month of August and high temperatures were expected in the Mediterranean coastline. Wildfires are more likely to occur during the dry month of August and indeed I witnessed a few in the Balkans.

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Back Indoors – Indoor Air Quality is still a thing, here is why!

Sotirios Papathanasiou6 Comments

Autumn and Winter are almost here for the Northern Hemisphere which means a vast majority of the population is going to leave terraces and other open outdoor spaces for indoor spaces (offices, classrooms, homes, indoor restaurants, etc). Covid-19 is still present, but most importantly, we are going to breathe lots of indoor air. We need to take control of the air we breathe as indoors is much easier to diminish the quantity of pollutants we inhale than been outside.

Covid-19 has ruined the lives of many people, personally, I believe that it is very easy to combat the spread of the virus in enclosed spaces, but we need to follow the rules of proper ventilation and purification combined. Scientists have developed various kinds of technologies that can capture pollutants and pathogens. I don’t want to focus very much on the pandemic rather than how important is to breathe clean and fresh air indoors for so many other reasons.

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