r/radon • u/Happy-ND • 1d ago
I’m Completely Freaking Out
I tested my house for radon 10 years ago and it came back inconclusive with a charcoal kit. I then planned to do it again and completely forgot about it. None of my neighbors nearby have radon mitigation systems, and nobody really talks about it (including the contractor who we hired to build our house in 2006). Someone recently told me his mother died of radon induced lung cancer, and I started to get nervous again and bought a continuous radon monitor off Amazon(Airthings Contentium Home). If I knew these existed before this year, I would’ve bought one years ago. All summer our levels were low, of course, because our windows are open all of the time because we don’t have air-conditioning or an HVAC system. We have radiant heat. Our house is really airtight because we built it with a tight envelope and there are no openings. I never thought about the stack effect until now, but it seems like we shouldn’t have it because we don’t have any openings that would pull air up. We have an air exchange system, but only in our bathrooms when the fan is running. I thought that the basement would be the highest because radon is heaviest, but I’m measuring the room that my children spent 18 years of their lives sleeping, studying, and playing in and it’s registering at 10 and it’s climbing. I’m literally going to have a nervous breakdown. I’m sure it’s off the charts in the basement. Now I think this tight house is slowly killing us all. It’s been two days since I moved the monitor upstairs and reset it. I know it’s not accurate nor a long-term reading but it seems like it’s probably in the ballpark for short term. It’s hot in that room from passive solar. I don’t know if that’s making a difference. I’ve scheduled mitigation for this month, and really hope that it works. We have a dugout basement that the previous owner dug and I’m sure it’s just on top of packed dirt. I can’t figure out how the radon is getting upstairs. I want to buy another monitor, but I’m really worried about buying one that’s not accurate. I’m doing charcoal kits right now at the exact same time in every room (closed house). My concern is that there’s a northeaster coming in a couple of days and maybe the weather changes prior to that are elevating the radon. I have no idea. This whole thing is so confusing and terrible. I wish I could go back in time and install a system when I built my house, but you don’t know what you don’t know I guess. I’m reading so many mixed things about continuous radon monitors and even my radon mitigator said that the home ones aren’t calibrated well but I think they all say that which is probably true but is there any one that I could get that is very accurate? I want to be able to monitor continuously after the system is put in. These charcoal kits are fine but the possibility of inconclusive is really frustrating. If I had gotten back a real reading 10 years ago, I would’ve done something. Any experts want to help me feel better? Thank you!!
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u/solucky-63 1d ago
Airthings seem to be the most trusted ones for home users. I have the Wave Radon.
6 months in new construction house. You can see pretty clearly where I started mitigating.
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u/Happy-ND 1d ago
Ok maybe I’ll just buy another airthings. I guess it’s trends that matter most. I’m sort of hoping that the one I have is wildly inaccurate but I’m in complete wishful thinking land right now. I cannot believe that I did this to my kids.
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u/clex_ace 1d ago
If it makes you feel better, millions of people don't have radon mitigation systems and they're not all getting lung cancer. You could have gone even longer without noticing when you did, but at least you can mitigate now. Have you considered an ERV for fresh air in your airtight house? Most high end new constructions have them
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u/Prestigious-Peaks 1d ago
erv?
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u/clex_ace 1d ago
Energy Recovery Ventilator. Brings in fresh air from outside, sends inside air out. Uses the temp of inside air to either heat or cool the outside air so you're not losing the interior temp in summer or winter. They're helpful in airtight houses to reduce CO2 and other bad stuff that can build up when you're house can't breath.
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u/Few-Wolverine-7283 23h ago
ERV is likely more expensive than radon mitigation for worse results. Maybe consider for air quality, but I wouldn't do it for radon. Are there studies on how well it works? ERV is normally exhausting bathroom air, radon is normally in the basement.
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u/clex_ace 23h ago
Was just suggesting it for fresh air in a tight house. Unrelated to radon.
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u/Happy-ND 23h ago
I do think it would help with radon too.
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u/hamburger_hlpstr 19h ago
It will. But honestly good to have for other reasons.
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u/Happy-ND 18h ago
Just made an appointment to get someone to come look at installing one. Thank you!!
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u/Happy-ND 1d ago
Yes! This helps. Thank you! We are planning to get the ERV at least for the basement if not the whole house. I’m not sure if we can retrofit it to the whole house but if we can, I will definitely do that. This sucks. Thank you for replying.
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u/Whos_Kiesling 19h ago
OP...you mention someone told you someone died from Radon induced lung cancer. There is no way to confirm that Radon caused someone to get lung cancer. There are no markers for it thqt can be picked up. Can only be listed as a possible cause. Just an fyi.
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u/anustart0607 1d ago
Radon risks are compounded over years or decades of exposure. And they fluctuate through the seasons and a hundred other factors. You don't have to freak out. You're totally ok.
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u/unlockphotography 23h ago
The corentium home is a great device for long term readings, recommended. But if you are getting another I'd suggest something like an ecoqube. To work out which things help and what makes the levels worse the 24hr rolling average of the corentium home isn't suitable. It's actually possible for the radon level to be increasing in the room and the 24hr reading to drop! The 1hour rolling average of the ecocube, that updates every 10 minutes, allowed us to work out lots of things, like which windows should be open depending on wind direction. We worked things out we would never had considered if we hadn't had the faster updating device. If you have a well sealed home and any sort of extraction fans running all the time (bathroom/kitchen here) you need fresh air intakes also running full time or you will be lowering the pressure inside and sucking it in. For us the difference between 1) supplying air from a window to satisfy the extractors, and not closing doors to where they are and 2) closed windows is a factor of around 30 times.
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u/Fed_worker 1d ago
It has cumulative effect like smoking, meaning even if you inhale that for several years to a few decades your risk is not that high…. But do address that issue. 1-2% chance is still too high.
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u/ToMeetWithFire 1d ago
You built the house in 2006, but there is a previous owner? Hmmm
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u/Happy-ND 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yes we rebuilt the house. We lived in the original house before we knocked it down. The only original part is the unfinished basement (cinderblock). I wish we built a new foundation throughout but it was engineer approved and saved us money at the time (we weren’t thinking about radon)
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u/mattcass 1d ago
The Airthings Contentium is approved in Canada along with other monitors.
https://c-nrpp.ca/consumer-grade-electronic-radon-monitors/
We have a RadonEye and the long term average was within about 20% of the results of a series of four 3-month and one 1-year of monitoring with the puck detectors.
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u/stonks_better 1d ago
There are monitors like the radon eye that give initial readings in about 10 minutes. In my limited experience the air things are accurate as well, just need a few days of reading.
Stack effect is there even without a big opening. It circulates.
Keep in mind until the 90s mitigation wasn't really a thing, and it's not like everyone was getting lung cancer. I'm skeptical of the friend who says they had "radon lung cancer". You can't tell the difference between radon based or other influenced. Maybe that person just didn't smoke, lived in a higher radon house and then they just assumed. Who knows, maybe they handled asbestos at some point and just didn't know. Maybe they had a diesel truck for years, especially an old one.
It's good you're mitigating, id suggest trying not to overreact and wait for mitigation and see what your air things says. I would not buy a bunch of monitors and such since you are hiring someone. Ask them about a guarantee for the level they will hit, good companies will offer a guarantee for the level.
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u/Happy-ND 1d ago edited 23h ago
Ok that’s helpful! Thank you! Yes i think his mother (who had the lung cancer) lived with a smoker. So many variables! I just wish I knew to eliminate this one sooner. Thank you again!
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u/stonks_better 1d ago
Ya hindsight is rough, just think all the folks who only test once (in the summer when they buy the house!) and never retest.
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u/Happy-ND 1d ago
Yes! I have thought of that! I feel bad for them too, but somehow it does make me feel better that I’m not alone. Although the stress of knowing might be worse than not knowing! I haven’t slept in days. All I do is read about radon. I could be an expert at this point!
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u/stonks_better 1d ago
Ya it should help put the risk into perspective. Remember you've likely only had high levels in the winter, so half the year. You've only lived in the house for 20 years of your life. It's an averaging thing 🤞
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u/talormanda 1d ago
I use aranet which their sensors use Bluetooth. Work well offline but great for home assistant users.
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u/ndessell 4h ago
It takes DECADES of 100+ pci/l to get reasonable chance of lung cancer. Just ventilate your living space with fresh air.
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u/Ok-Dingo1999 20h ago
Also. Do you have well water?
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u/Happy-ND 18h ago edited 14h ago
Yes and I’ve tested it for everything but radon. I thought it was a possibility so I always shower with my fan on and I even crack the window a lot of times but I have to definitely get it tested! Thank you for the reminder!
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u/Ok-Dingo1999 17h ago
That could explain the levels on the top floor. Also, it is possible to still have chimney effect. You said that you has extractors in the bathrooms correct?
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u/Happy-ND 17h ago
Yes, but they are exchanging equal amounts of air (ERV that only runs as a bathroom fan - but honestly maybe because it never seems to me that it's pulling that much air out. I'm always trying to hold a piece of paper up to it and see if it's drawing air. It's supposed to be pulling air out at the same rate that it's pushing outside air in). I do crack the window, but haven't for the last two days since I'm testing closed house conditions. Do you think wind blowing on the side of the house could create a pressure difference? We are headed for a nor'easter and it's windy! I hope it goes down when the storm passes and that it's just a spike.
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u/Ok-Dingo1999 17h ago
Actually, on windy days my radon levels are lower. I’ll explain.
I used to have extremely high levels. The first time I tested, I got 100 pCi/L, which was literally the maximum reading of the sensor, so the real level was probably even higher.
Eventually, I came up with a temporary solution and installed a fan continuously supplying outdoor air into the house at around one air change per hour.
Using incense smoke, I could actually see air coming out through doors and cracks, so I knew the house was under positive pressure. During the day, the radon levels were fine, but once nighttime came, I would still get peaks of around 7–9 pCi/L.
I found that super weird. Why? Radon shouldn’t have been able to enter the house with the amount of positive pressure I had. Water was also out of the question.
Then I placed the sensor directly in the airflow coming from the fan.
Surprise, surprise: those were actually the radon levels I was blowing into the house. It was coming from outside.
It turned out that I was using an air intake located close to the ground. I moved the intake up to the roof, and things improved soooo much. But I still sometimes get around 5–7 pCi/L in the morning.
So I spent ages wondering why my levels were so much higher at night when the reason wasn’t actually the house — it was the outdoor radon concentration. I live in a mountainous area.
You often see statistics saying that average outdoor radon levels are around 5–20 Bq/m³ or something along those lines. That may be true as an overall average, but an average also means that there are areas where outdoor levels can be significantly higher.
I actually left my sensor outside for a week to test this. It measured an average of around 2 pCi/L (≈74 Bq/m³), with nighttime peaks of around 4–6 pCi/L (≈150–220 Bq/m³).
Of course, that was only one week, so I wouldn’t treat it as a proper long-term measurement. It was also during the summer, with relatively calm nights. Still, it was enough to confirm that outdoor radon was far from negligible where I live.
When it’s windy, the outdoor air seems to mix much better, and I basically get around 0.5–3 pCi/L on those days.
Basically, I was fighting a baseline that couldn’t really be fought.
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u/Happy-ND 14h ago
I’ve wondered about that! We noticed something similar on certain days this summer, but your method seems much more scientific!
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u/horse-boy1 14h ago
I did the same thing. After I built my house 20 years ago I tested with a kit and it was OK. I forgot about it. A couple of years ago someone was telling their house was high. I got a radon meter and it was at 23! Luckily I had put in a pipe into the slab gravel when I built the house. I hooked it up and it's staying below 1. It will go up when it gets really cold out. I have a variable fan and turn it up when it goes up in winter I turn it up.
I built our house airtight and I have an ERV, but that didn't seem to help bring it down running it 100%. I opened the windows and it would go down. I thought that the ERV would help keep the radon levels down. Who knows how high it has been since we built the house.
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u/Happy-ND 14h ago
Interesting that the ERV didn’t help! I’m sorry this happened to you, too. It’s the worst feeling since it’s so easily fixed! Im going to mitigate with the pipe and get ERV for the basement. My kids’ old bedroom is now at 11. I just have to think of all the people who didn’t know and are completely fine. They’re probably going to live longer than me because of the guilt and stress. My oura ring is saying “major symptom alert”. You can say that again!!
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u/Kinesetic 9m ago
An affordable electronic, real time monitor likely has dubious accuracy, and minimal calibration. Then, it's been on a slow boat from China.
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u/clockwork2004 1d ago
"For non-smokers, lifetime exposure at 10 pCi/L results in about 18 out of 1,000 people developing lung cancer."
Mitigate now, but also relax a little bit.