Have you gotten yours yet? If so, what are the results? I found that the only issue in my house is that the bedroom can get to quite high levels of CO2 if the door and windows are shut. Opening a window solves the problem, but makes the room cold. However, it’s more comfortable to sleep with extra blankets in a cold room, than with fewer blankets in a stuffy room. It improves sleep quality.
It would be interesting to experiment in the office with having a window open, even during winter. However, I worry that being cold would create problems.
My feeling is that “figure out how to crack a window if the room feels stuffy” is the actionable advice here. Unless $150 is chump change to you, I’m not sure it’s really worth keeping a device around to monitor the air quality.
PM2.5 started off crazy high for me before I got the Alen. Using the Alen brings it to near zero.
VO2 and PM2.5 accumulates rather easily when I cook, although I do have a gas stove. Also random other things like the dishwasher cause it to go up. The Alen brings it back down in ~30 minutes maybe.
CO2 usually hovers around a 3⁄5 on the Awair if I don’t have a window open. I’m finding it tricky to deal with this, because opening a window makes it cold. I’m pretty sure my apartment’s HVAC system just recycles the current air rather than bringing in new air. I’m hoping to buy a house soon so I think ventilation is something I’m going to look for.
For me I don’t actually notice the CO2 without the Awair telling me. I don’t think I’d do a good job of remembering to crack a window or something without it.
I wonder if your house has better ventilation than mine if you’re not getting issues with PM2.5. Could be if it’s an older house or if your HVAC system does ventilation.
I see what you’re saying about how the actual actions you should take seem pretty much the same regardless of whether you have the Awair or not. I agree that it’s close, but I think that small differences do exist, and that those small differences will add up to a massively large ROI over time.
1) If it prompts you to crack a window before you would otherwise notice/remember to do so.
2) If something new is causing issues. For me I noticed that my humidifier was jacking up the PM2.5 levels and realized I need to get a new one. I also noticed that the dishwasher jacks it up so now I know to not be around while it’s running. I would imagine that over time new things like this will pop up, eg. using a new cleaning product or candle.
3) Moving to a new home, remodeling or buying eg. new furniture could cause differences.
4) Unknown unknowns that could cause issues.
Suppose you value time spent in better air quality at $1/hr and that the product lasts 25 years. To break even, you’d need it to get you an extra six hours of good air quality each year. That’s just two afternoons of my example #1, where you were sitting around and forgot to crack a window or something when the Awair would have sent you a push notification to do so. $1/hr seems low and I’d expect it to give a good amount more than six extra hours per year, so my impression is that the ROI would be really good.
I get the same effects of spiking VOCs and PM2.5 running the stove and microwave. In my case, the spikes seem to last only as long as the appliance is running. This makes sense, since the higher the concentration, the faster it will diffuse out of the house. A rule to turn on the stove vent or crack a window while cooking could help, but it’s not obvious to me that a few minutes per day of high VOC is something to worry about over the long term.
I note in this paper that “The chemical diversity of the VOC group is reflected in the diversity of the health effects that individual VOCs can cause, ranging from no known health effects of relatively inert VOCs to highly toxic effects of reactive VOCs.” How do I know that the Awair is testing for the more toxic end of the spectrum? There are no serious guidelines for VOCs in general. How do I know that the Awair’s “guidelines” are meaningful?
My bedroom has poor ventilation. Cracking a window seems to improve my sleep quality, which seems like the most important effect of all in the long run.
It sounds like the effect of CO2 itself on cognitive performance is questionable. However, bioeffluents—the carbonyls, alkyl alcohols, aromatic alcohols, ammonia, and mercaptans we breathe out—do seem to have an effect on cognition when the air’s really poorly ventilated. But the levels in my house didn’t even approach the levels at which researchers have found statistically significant cognitive effects. I’m wondering if the better sleep quality is due to the cooler air rather than the better ventilation.
I really doubt that the Awair will last 25 years. I’d guess more like 5. I can set a reminder on my phone to crack a window each night and morning if necessary, and maybe write a little note to tape next to the stove if I feel like it. If that doesn’t do it in any particular instance, then I doubt that lack of a push notification is the root of the problem.
Hm, let’s see how those assumptions you’re using affect the numbers. If it lasts 5 years instead of 25 the breakeven would become 30 hours/year instead of 6. And if we say that the value of better air quality is $0.20/hr instead of $1/hr due to the uncertainty in the research you mention, we multiply by 5 again and get 150 hours/year. With those assumptions, it seems like it’s probably not worth it. And more generally, after talking it through, I no longer see it as an obvious +ROI.
(Interesting how helpful it is to “put a number on it”. I think I should do this a lot more than I currently do.)
However, for myself I still feel really good about the purchases. I put a higher value on the $/hr because I value health, mood and productivity more than others probably do, and because I’m fortunate enough to be doing well financially. I also really enjoy the peace of mind. Knowing what I know now, if I didn’t have my Awair I would be worried about things screwing up my air quality without me knowing.
I posted an update in the OP. When we initially talked about this I was pretty strongly on the side of pro-Awair+Alen. Now I lean moderately against Alen for most people and slightly against Awair, but slightly in favor of Awair for me personally.
Have you gotten yours yet? If so, what are the results? I found that the only issue in my house is that the bedroom can get to quite high levels of CO2 if the door and windows are shut. Opening a window solves the problem, but makes the room cold. However, it’s more comfortable to sleep with extra blankets in a cold room, than with fewer blankets in a stuffy room. It improves sleep quality.
It would be interesting to experiment in the office with having a window open, even during winter. However, I worry that being cold would create problems.
My feeling is that “figure out how to crack a window if the room feels stuffy” is the actionable advice here. Unless $150 is chump change to you, I’m not sure it’s really worth keeping a device around to monitor the air quality.
Yup I got it both the Awair and the Alen.
PM2.5 started off crazy high for me before I got the Alen. Using the Alen brings it to near zero.
VO2 and PM2.5 accumulates rather easily when I cook, although I do have a gas stove. Also random other things like the dishwasher cause it to go up. The Alen brings it back down in ~30 minutes maybe.
CO2 usually hovers around a 3⁄5 on the Awair if I don’t have a window open. I’m finding it tricky to deal with this, because opening a window makes it cold. I’m pretty sure my apartment’s HVAC system just recycles the current air rather than bringing in new air. I’m hoping to buy a house soon so I think ventilation is something I’m going to look for.
For me I don’t actually notice the CO2 without the Awair telling me. I don’t think I’d do a good job of remembering to crack a window or something without it.
I wonder if your house has better ventilation than mine if you’re not getting issues with PM2.5. Could be if it’s an older house or if your HVAC system does ventilation.
I see what you’re saying about how the actual actions you should take seem pretty much the same regardless of whether you have the Awair or not. I agree that it’s close, but I think that small differences do exist, and that those small differences will add up to a massively large ROI over time.
1) If it prompts you to crack a window before you would otherwise notice/remember to do so.
2) If something new is causing issues. For me I noticed that my humidifier was jacking up the PM2.5 levels and realized I need to get a new one. I also noticed that the dishwasher jacks it up so now I know to not be around while it’s running. I would imagine that over time new things like this will pop up, eg. using a new cleaning product or candle.
3) Moving to a new home, remodeling or buying eg. new furniture could cause differences.
4) Unknown unknowns that could cause issues.
Suppose you value time spent in better air quality at $1/hr and that the product lasts 25 years. To break even, you’d need it to get you an extra six hours of good air quality each year. That’s just two afternoons of my example #1, where you were sitting around and forgot to crack a window or something when the Awair would have sent you a push notification to do so. $1/hr seems low and I’d expect it to give a good amount more than six extra hours per year, so my impression is that the ROI would be really good.
I do live in an old house.
I get the same effects of spiking VOCs and PM2.5 running the stove and microwave. In my case, the spikes seem to last only as long as the appliance is running. This makes sense, since the higher the concentration, the faster it will diffuse out of the house. A rule to turn on the stove vent or crack a window while cooking could help, but it’s not obvious to me that a few minutes per day of high VOC is something to worry about over the long term.
I note in this paper that “The chemical diversity of the VOC group is reflected in the diversity of the health effects that individual VOCs can cause, ranging from no known health effects of relatively inert VOCs to highly toxic effects of reactive VOCs.” How do I know that the Awair is testing for the more toxic end of the spectrum? There are no serious guidelines for VOCs in general. How do I know that the Awair’s “guidelines” are meaningful?
My bedroom has poor ventilation. Cracking a window seems to improve my sleep quality, which seems like the most important effect of all in the long run.
It sounds like the effect of CO2 itself on cognitive performance is questionable. However, bioeffluents—the carbonyls, alkyl alcohols, aromatic alcohols, ammonia, and mercaptans we breathe out—do seem to have an effect on cognition when the air’s really poorly ventilated. But the levels in my house didn’t even approach the levels at which researchers have found statistically significant cognitive effects. I’m wondering if the better sleep quality is due to the cooler air rather than the better ventilation.
I really doubt that the Awair will last 25 years. I’d guess more like 5. I can set a reminder on my phone to crack a window each night and morning if necessary, and maybe write a little note to tape next to the stove if I feel like it. If that doesn’t do it in any particular instance, then I doubt that lack of a push notification is the root of the problem.
Hm, let’s see how those assumptions you’re using affect the numbers. If it lasts 5 years instead of 25 the breakeven would become 30 hours/year instead of 6. And if we say that the value of better air quality is $0.20/hr instead of $1/hr due to the uncertainty in the research you mention, we multiply by 5 again and get 150 hours/year. With those assumptions, it seems like it’s probably not worth it. And more generally, after talking it through, I no longer see it as an obvious +ROI.
(Interesting how helpful it is to “put a number on it”. I think I should do this a lot more than I currently do.)
However, for myself I still feel really good about the purchases. I put a higher value on the $/hr because I value health, mood and productivity more than others probably do, and because I’m fortunate enough to be doing well financially. I also really enjoy the peace of mind. Knowing what I know now, if I didn’t have my Awair I would be worried about things screwing up my air quality without me knowing.
I posted an update in the OP. When we initially talked about this I was pretty strongly on the side of pro-Awair+Alen. Now I lean moderately against Alen for most people and slightly against Awair, but slightly in favor of Awair for me personally.