[kwlug-disc] Radon in Home Assistant?

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

After many years of postponing the task, I finally got to measuring radon
in the house.

The mail-in detectors are cheap initially, but expensive when you mail them
in. What is worse is that the result can come back 'inconclusive'.
This is based on a friend that did the mail-in test, got an inconclusive,
then bought a proper detector only to find that his levels are too high.

The detector he (and me) bought is the AirThings Corentium Home
<https://www.airthings.com/home>.
At the time I bought it, it was $200 + tax at Home Depot, but cheaper on
eBay from the USA (~ $120 all in). The only difference is the units
(picoCurie / L vs. Becquerel / Cubic meter). Multiply by 37 to convert one
to the other.

The limit by Health Canada is 200 bq/m3.
The USA has a limit of 150.
The WHO says it should be below 100 (so 2.7 pCi/L).

The technology used has to do with Alpha decay, since radon is a gas that
is part of a decay chain that involves uranium and other radioactive
elements. The Alpha particle is identical to a helium nucleus (so two
protons + two neutrons, lacking electrons).

My neighbour who pointed me to the Corentium had higher levels in the 2nd
floor than on the main floor or basement. Opposite of what every online
resource says.

The Corentium is not connected over WiFi or Bluetooth.
There are other detectors by AirThings that are connected, such as one that
does other useful monitoring, such as Volatile Organic Compounds,
Particulate Matter 2.5, and so on. It is more expensive though.

Only thing is, that requires a cloud based service, and so far I managed to
have all the home automation stuff to be cloud-server-fee ...
I may make an exception if it is warranted though ...

So here is the question: anyone using a radon detector with Home Assistant?

-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
Fast Reliable Drupal
Drupal performance optimization, hosting and consulting.
"Sooner or later, this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going
to blow up in our faces." -- Dr. Carl Sagan
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