1,452 ppm

[mellowtigger]

I'm a member of an organization in Minnesota called MN350. It takes its name from the carbon dioxide parts-per-million that we wish we had. We passed 350 ppm long ago. We should aspire to having numbers that low again in our future. This year, I can't remember if I've seen any measurement in my house (even with windows open) below 500. The longer that humans burn fossil fuels, the higher that number will go.

I mention it now, because a few minutes ago I took additional measurements on 2 floors of my house. I was so tired again today, and I spent about 2 hours trying and failing to get some needed sleep just now. I thought maybe the sleep apnea was a lot worse (which might also be true), but I used the app on my smartphone to check the readings on the AirThings device (mentioned last year too), and the CO2 level was not great. I grabbed the even more portable Aranet and placed it next to the bed. It immediately switched over to the "red zone" alert level. That's not good.

• ground floor: 1,250ppm CO2
• upstairs bedroom: 1,452ppm CO2

Okay. So... I need to stop talking about how tired I always am and actually do something about the air quality indoors. I need to finally schedule that sleep test, so I can also get a new sleep apnea solution, since I didn't use the old machine when it gave my face a rash everywhere that it touched my face.

I'm tired of being tired. The potential causes are measurable. I just need to overcome inertia and rationally do something about these issues.

Comments

[mellowtigger]

I turned on the overhead fan in the upstairs bathroom. The CO2 reading came down about 100ppm each hour. It reached a low in the 500s last night, and it was in the 600s when I woke up this morning. That's much better. Now, I need to arrange a way to actively expel stale air 24x7.

[brian_bogue]

If I remember correctly, (chemistery class was a very long time ago,) CO2 is denser than normal air, so a passive exit near floor level on lowest floor, and a passive intake at the highest level of the living space should help. Of course this doesn't take into account things like heat in the winter months which would cause an increase in power costs