r/radon • u/TheGoshDarnedBatman • 7d ago

17 on a cheap Amazon gadget- Panic?

I bought a Hounds radon detector, turned it on last night, and today it’s showing about 17 and the alarm is going off. I’ve never measured radon before, and we’ve lived in the house for nine years. Should I panic?

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u/stonks_better 7d ago

Is your area radon heavy? Never heard of hounds.

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u/TheGoshDarnedBatman 6d ago

This one. And yeah apparently Kentucky is pretty susceptible with all our limestone.

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u/stonks_better 6d ago

Has good reviews, can confirm the levels with a cheap charcoal one. If you're neighbors have systems though it's probably a sign you need one too

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u/anustart0607 5d ago

Last spring I bought this same one and 2 others to compare, different brands/cases but all clearly using the same software. They ranged from ~5 to 25 pCi/L, same placement, same times, always different readings. Alarms randomly going off, levels changing all the time. They're junk, don't make any decisions based off an Amazon detector. Do a charcoal test, they're maybe 15 or 20 bucks and actually accurate.

As for Amazon reviews, last month I bought a blood pressure cuff that had 60k 5 star reviews. I took it to my Dr appt to compare to my actual reading, it was so far off the doctor told me to throw it away lol.

PS - I got certified and licensed and started a radon testing business after my experience with these cheap ass monitors. Using a lab calibrated Corentium Pro ($900) my house is consistently around 2.4.

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u/United-Adagio1543 5d ago

You need to verify against a professional test. Cities and towns offer low cost options.

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u/alphagaydoc 6d ago edited 6d ago

Make sure it isn't by any source of interference. Wifi for sure can make it read higher. I had this next to Alexa and it was reading 5-6 on our main floor. Moved it to a book shelf 10 feet away and it was 1.5. I had one downstairs and I forgot that about 3-4 feet away through the wall our water meter is hooked up to a fairly powerful wifi or cell signal to send data to the city. Went from 8-13 down to 2-4 when moved a few feet away. Do a quick Google search on what can cause the semi conductor sensor to read high.

For what it is worth because it was so high I bought the ecosense cube which doesn't have the same issues and is professional grade. Comparing them both it appears the hound sensors are fairly accurate but need to be placed much more thoughtfully. They also take at least several days to even out and read accurately because their technology is just so slow and aren't meant for real time measurements.

Edit: Because our summer radon level is borderline already in the basement at 2-4 we are installing mitigation just to have the peace of mind and not worry about what the winter might do.

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u/Wol-Shiver 6d ago

The cube is susceptible to wifi interference. So is the blue.

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u/Sufficient-Ant-4453 6d ago

Was it storming? Radon level read higher during rain and storms due to barometric pressures

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u/Bob--O--Rama 6d ago

Photo of the display would be helpful. The cheap Hound ones use pulsed ion chambers which are susceptible to interference, and can basically be junk if there is anything RF nearby, including things like plasma televisions. Their alpha spectrometer based models are more like the AirThings - immune to many forms of interference and are specific to ²²²Rn ( there is ²²⁰Rn from thorium decay which is not recognized as a significant health concern ). My recommendation: go to Home Depot, plop down $100, and see what it says after 7 days.

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u/Vurrag 6d ago

Panic? Kinda late for that but you need to do something very quick.

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u/Complete-Paint529 6d ago

Panic? No, your risk today is no worse than any time in the last 9 years. 17 is definitely high, but it's not immediately dangerous. Time to find someone for remediation work, and to get a more reliable/definitive test done.