Air Quality Indoor / Outdoor meters and Air Filters
Anyone living in an area that has bad air quality outside near airport or construction like us? This has led us to monitor our air and use better filters. We have a Qingping indoor Air monitor that measures and shows when air is bad. Measures Co2,PM2.5, PM10, Ground level ozone and TV0C's. I'm surprised to see that our Co2 goes in the red once a day, as filters do not remove C02, just need to open the doors for a few minutes to get it into the green. We use Accuweather (free) on Laptop for outside air readings. Using Merv 15 filters for our Hvac and 2 other air cleaning systems.
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@donrealtesting
Do you have an air intake directly from outside into your heating system? Our home is very tight, and on low air quality days we keep it closed up. At times I would get headaches if I stayed inside all day. We added a 4" intake vent & pipe that end directly above our furnace, and next to our gas hot water heater. Much better CO2 levels than before, and we don't even have to think about it. Our friends with a larger home have 6" intake pipes.
Also adding house plants to your main living area can help. We have about 10-15 in our open kitchen/living/dining area (about 600sf) and more in the lower level family & work room area.
Sue
Hi Sue, Yes our home is about 5 years old Florida so its tight they mud =
it inside and out concrete block as well. There is a intake 6=E2=80=9D =
on roof. We have added a few house plant that has helped. Might get a =
few more. I set the ac omode to circulate, instead of auto that seemed =
to help a bit. Just opening front and back for 5 minutes does the =
trick. Yes Ive had the headaches too. Is why i=E2=80=99m concerned in =
this. We will talk to our AC guys to see if they can increase airflow as =
well. Thanks for your help.=20
> On Mar 23, 2023, at 10:18 AM, Mayo Clinic Connect =
wrote:
>=20
>
Hi Sue, thanks for your work here. I wonder if you take into account that houseplants have soil that often harbors mold? I have wondered about the benefit of houseplants vs the mold issue, as I am very allergic to mold. I do have and love houseplants. What is your opinion? Thanks!
Lori
I do keep an eye on it. Most of my soils are covered by coconut coir (fiber) or pebbles. The biggest cause of mold on houseplant soil is overwatering. After 60 years of raising them, I do not rely on my finger or a schedule for watering. I still use a moisture probe to test each pot and only give it water according to the plant's needs. In winter, many of my larger plants only get a drink every 2-3 weeks.
Another thing I do is (masked and gloved) remove the top inch or 2 of soil in each pot & replace with sterile potting soil each Fall (when the big pots come inside from the patio) or repot as needed - again sterile potting soil.
Since I learned not to overwater, I haven't had issues.
Sue
My wife can walk down the aisles of plants at the nursery and plants start dying then lol. When she comes home with one , I just say how many days will it take lol
The only way to increase your airflow is by changing out the blower motor and hamster wheel in your air handler. Cheapest way is to shut the vents off in the rooms you don’t use….David ( live in Florida as well )
Thank you for those great tips!
Many plants don't like water on their leaves either. Lots of humidity here so I won't worry about water for a week, then won't saturate it either. The new iPhones have a plant identifier on them, we've been using it tons. Press the info button i.. after taking pic. If you don't have a new iPhone download Seek Inaturals it's free. Works pretty good. We hit a botanical garden today, surprised a two foot black snake at the garden.
I like my $9 moisture meters from the garden store - I have several in the house, garden and garden shed. Along with a good weeder, they are a frequent gift to new gardeners.
We just were chatting about snakes at coffee this morning. We have a lot of Texas Indigo snakes who love to hang out here.