Category: indoor

Experiment: Cooking Pollution

Sotirios Papathanasiou5 Comments

I am sure you all have heard that we spend 90% of our time indoors, as a result we have to create a healthy environment if we want to stay healthy and strong. Although I am very tired of hearing this expression, it is true, most of us spend that 90% indoors but not only inside our house. Inside our houses we spend about 60% of our time, cooking, cleaning, sleeping/resting, having fun with our loved ones and reading.

In this experiment, I want to demonstrate what academic studies have already proved that when we cook we deteriorate the air quality inside our house. Remember we eat at least twice a day and probably we have to cook twice a day as well.

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Tool: HelpMeChoose AQM

Sotirios Papathanasiou5 Comments

Which is the best indoor Air Quality Monitor for me?

I am sure you have asked this question a lot of times, many of them you have contacted me through my blog or social media platforms asking for my help. As a result, I decided to create a web tool to help you choose which one is best for your needs.

It’s super easy, just answer a few simple questions and the right Air Quality Monitor will pop up for you. Click below 👇

https://form.jotformeu.com/seetheair/HelpMeChooseAQM

Review: Laser Egg + CO2

Sotirios Papathanasiou2 Comments

I was given the opportunity to review the brand new Laser Egg + CO2 monitor which is a new addition into the family of Kaiterra domestic air quality monitors.

This product is designed for those who work or stay lots of hours indoors and pay attention to how Carbon Dioxide CO2 can decrease our cognitive ability. The correlation between CO2 and productivity has been studied a lot for over 50 years by many academics.

Interesting facts, surprisingly, the design standard for CO2 levels in most buildings is 1000ppm but the recommended concentration is below 700ppm. In one of the studies, Harvard researchers have found significant negative impact at 930 ppm.

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Indoor IAQ Monitors 2019Q4

Sotirios Papathanasiou7 Comments

Here are all the available IAQ Monitors on the market 2019 Q4. There are so many devices out there but they all lack innovation and they all offer exactly the same technologies. Companies had better hear users feedback!

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Review: Airthings Wave Plus

Sotirios Papathanasiou7 Comments

Finally,  an air quality monitor that focuses on Radon indoor pollution. Many of you have asked me to review an AQM with a radon sensor and the most famous of all the Airthings Wave which comes in various versions (Wave, Wave Plus). In this review, I am featuring the Airthings Wave Plus.

What is Radon?

For those who hear for the first time about Radon, it comes from the radioactive breakdown aka decay of naturally occurring Uranium found in most soils. As a gas in the soil, it enters buildings through small openings in the foundation. Since radon can easily be trapped inside buildings, indoor radon concentrations can increase to many times that of outdoor levels. When radon gas decays, it emits radioactive radiation in the form of an alpha particle/waves and Airthings Wave   can measure those alpha particles/waves. I don’t want to enter into details about the health effects on this post but Radon is found to be the second most common reason for lung cancer (after smoking).

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Review: Djinn Sensor

Sotirios Papathanasiou5 Comments

The ingenuity and the inventiveness led DJINN Sensor — a Belarus company — to build an Air Quality monitor a bit different from the rest in the market.

Software-wise and hardware-wise the device offers some engaging features like solar panel case in order to harvest energy from the Sun and Productivity Current and Index analytics, to name a few. Let’s take a closer look at the AQ Monitor.

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In-Depth: Atmotube Pro

Sotirios Papathanasiou2 Comments

It will please some of you to know that I am going to compare Atmotube Pro with other Particulate Matter sensors and monitors. First with an outdoor monitor and in this case the Luftdaten DIY and second the AirVisual which is more of an indoor monitor.

Before I begin with the comparisons I want to dive a bit deeper and tell you that apart from exporting the .csv from the app directly, you can also access Atmotube’s .csv files (in case you have an iPhone) from the File Sharing service iTunes provides when you connect your phone with your computer (macOS & Win). This way you have more control over which days you upload to your computer.

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Review: Atmotube Pro

Sotirios Papathanasiou9 Comments

Wearable or portable devices are not so often considered important in order to protect yourself from air pollution. Most ads claim that we spend 90% indoors and we need an indoor AQ Monitor which is true but we also move around we go to work or we visit friends and family who don’t have an AQM in their house or simple they are not aware of the problem.

Here comes the new Atmotube PRO a small portable AQM equipped with a laser scattering PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 sensor. It also features a VOC sensor and a complete weather station with humidity, temperature and barometric sensor.

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Review: PurpleAir II

Sotirios Papathanasiou14 Comments

A reader of the blog took the initiative to establish a contact between PurpleAir and me, as a result the PurpleAir II outdoor Particulate Matter monitor is here for a review. Thank you Daniel.

The monitor is very compact and it can be easily distinguished from the rest because it has 2 Particulate Matter sensors. Both of them work together to establish better results and a coefficient of determination (R²).Read More »

Vacuum Cleaners against PM2.5

Sotirios Papathanasiou1 Comment

We all enjoy a clean and cosy house free from dust and pollutants. Unfortunately, sometimes we commit serious mistakes when it comes to the decisions we take and the ways we choose to clean it. One of the most common mistakes is using vacuum cleaners that don’t have a HEPA filter. We already know how dangerous are PM2.5 particles because they can penetrate deeply inside our bodies and affect our lungs, heart and even our brains.

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