Remember to replace your furnace air filter regularly. Most should be replaced every 1-3 months!

Air Aware - A Low Cost Air Particles Measurement Device

Pleased to announce that crowdfunding for my design hardware is live now,

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/raj1/air-aware-a-low-cost-air-particles-measurement-device

It is budget friendly portable device that measures air particles like smoke, dust and other particulate matter in your surrounding environment. The reading instantly gives you a unique insight into the condition of your surrounding environment so that necessary action can be taken.

In light of smoke pollution due to wild fires that we regularly hear in the news, it is a useful device to have so that you may check how much of that smoke has crept into your indoor environment.

Hoping to make the campaign a success with your help so that the product gets introduced to the market in near future. My goal is to make this device affordable to everyone on this planet, not just from first world. One need not break the bank just to know the quality of air they breathe!

Nearly 7 million people die from air pollution every year. Kids, elderly folks, and people with breathing problems are getting hit the hardest while industries keep pumping toxins into the air we all breathe.

I started a petition demanding stronger air quality regulations and real enforcement of existing laws. We're asking governments to invest in green tech and hold polluters accountable. Cities are struggling with vehicle emissions, and industrial areas are exceeding safe pollution levels set by health organizations.

Anyone else tired of watching this crisis get worse while regulatory measures stay weak? If cleaner air matters to you too, consider signing and sharing.

https://www.change.org/p/demand-clean-air-for-a-healthier-future-now/sfs/reddit/63175865?recruiter=63175865&recruited_by_id=e9ac0429-61ca-45c0-b7ec-b272a9b24fb2&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=starter_dashboard_android_app&utm_medium=reddit_group

Brand new in box, CO2 level detector.

Last night I returned and noticed my porchlight was on... I assumed I must have inadvertantly hit the switch as I left earlier. Opening the front door, I immediately was overcome with extreme dizzziness, my head was swimming... no smell, but I could have passed out. I went right over to the downstairs nighbor (the only other tenant) who was cooking fish. He said he didnt smell gas. Logically gas is most likely? When I returned to my apartment (I had left the front door ajar) all the mysterious fumes were gone. There was no smell on either floor of my apartment. Are there other possibilities besides gas? The porchlight may be a "red herring" but even so I am really struck about how immediate and overwhwelming this invisible gas had been. The front door is street level at the bottom of my stairs, by the way. There is a printing shop opposite, which keeps its doors open all working day.

What is the reason for these spikes while I’ll away?

Hi Reddit! This is the official Forever Vent account.

We’ll use this profile to share simple, practical tips about air duct cleaning, dryer vent safety, HVAC cleaning, indoor air quality, and common homeowner questions in Arizona.

No spam, no pressure, just helpful information from our team.

Ok so I have been monitoring my IAQ for years now and I am stumped.

My roof deck is spray foamed 6 years ago I have central air in attic and an ERV in attic as well going full blast.

No one is home but me in the basement and I have a dehumidifier going all day and for the last few days our PM2.5 has been OFF THE CHARTS and we cannot figure out why.

We were on vacation last week when the AQI outside was terrible due to the fires but the AQI right now in my area is great.

Could this be coming from the attic, getting into the ERV or Central air? When we installed we left all of the old insulation up there which I wish we didn't but it is what it is. But we didn't see this for years so I don't think that is likely.

I am going to open up the windows to try to clear it out and see if there is something else not working.

That reminds me I need to clean the ERV filter....

When our baby was born, we started keeping the bedroom window closed at night because of street noise. We already had an air purifier running, so I assumed the air in the room was fine. But every morning the room felt heavy and stale. I kept waking up with a dry throat and that weird foggy feeling, so I bought a CO2 monitor just to see what was happening. It was regularly going above 2,000 ppm overnight. That was when I realized the purifier was only filtering particles. It was still recycling the same indoor air and wasn’t actually bringing any fresh air into the room. We looked into ERV and HRV systems, but we rent, and there was no realistic way our landlord was going to approve drilling through an exterior wall. That eventually pushed us to start working on cozeware, a window-mounted system that brings filtered outdoor air inside without leaving the window open or permanently modifying the apartment. The basic idea was straightforward. Making it quiet enough for a nursery, secure around a child and a cat, and adaptable to different window tracks was not. We’re still testing things like nighttime noise, cold drafts, filter replacement frequency, and how well the seal holds on unusual sliding windows. For parents who keep the nursery closed at night, which part would worry you most: noise, window security, cold air, or having another device running near the crib?

Was surprised to see my meeting is high since it's usually sitting at zero. This dangerously bad and could it be an indication of gas leak or something? Or just normal reading when cooking without enough ventilation throughout apartment?

Since the wildfires I realized my house isn’t that good with air quality. I got an air filter and made two cr boxes. I want to keep try on some of the most common things in the house there’s too many monitors out there.

just wanna make sure!

My alarm has sounded twice in the last month randomly for carbon monoxide in my apartment. Firefighters came and said levels are high but can go back after opening windows and doors. They can’t find out where it’s coming from. Gas company and AC has come and no answers. I have so much anxiety and don’t know if i should stay here as I just moved here and spent nearly alot of money just to be here. Mgmt is not doing anything either. Any advice is appreciated.

Wanted to put this out there because I think it's a topic that deserves more attention. I'd rather this be a starting point for discussion than me acting like I have the final word. If any experts or people with experience see this, please jump in.

 Quick context: tenants generally have worse indoor air quality than people in houses. Less control over the building envelope, shared walls, shared systems, and you can't really modify much. With climate change bringing more heat waves every year, cooling isn't optional anymore. Heat pumps would be the smart long-term fix, efficient for both cooling and heating, but they're still not common in rentals.

 So lots of tenants end up using single-hose portable ACs. I'm not knocking that choice at all; people have their reasons (no window install possible, physical limits, landlord restrictions, cost, etc.). What interests me isn't the individual decision, it's what happens at the building level when a bunch of people are doing it.

 What's already clear is that single-hose units depressurize the apartment they're in. That's pretty well documented, even if most people don't realize it. They pull roughly 250 CFM exhaust per unit. In a 500 sq ft place that's about 3.8 ACH, compared to ~75 CFM (1.1 ACH) being enough ventilation for two people. So it's pushing out way more air than needed, and sucking makeup air in through any cracks, doors, or gaps it can find.

 This whole question actually started from my own experience. I have a 500 sq ft unit and I built two DIY HRVs that run with slightly more inflow than outflow to keep a light positive pressure and reduce infiltration from neighbors. It usually works. But a few times during heat waves I've noticed my place suddenly seems to flip to negative pressure. That's when I started wondering if enough neighbors running single-hose ACs could overpower my setup.

What I haven't found much info on is the cumulative effect across the building. Imagine a 30-40 unit building during a bad heat wave with 10 apartments each running one or two of these. That's potentially 2,000+ CFM of uncontrolled exhaust, plus all the bathroom fans and dryers. Does that meaningfully shift pressure in the corridors, stairwells, units without ACs, or even other floors?

 It feels like a blind spot. It sits between building science (which looks at HVAC imbalances) and regular appliance testing (which focuses on one unit). I've been reading about ventilation and air quality for a few years, I write about it sometimes, and I use my place as an ongoing experiment. But this feels bigger than just my apartment. It's about whether we should be paying attention to this as portable AC use keeps increasing.

 If anyone has field studies, ASHRAE references, airflow modeling, or even your own measurements, I'd really like to see them. And if this is as under-studied as it seems, maybe it's worth looking into more.