Monitor and improve indoor air quality - brittag/maintenance GitHub Wiki

Aspect	Info
Context	Residence, small commercial space
Date started	N/A
Date finished	N/A
Status	Still working on some aspects
Summary of outcome	Improved

Background

Wildfire smoke, COVID, road dust, combustion byproducts from cooking with gas... there are lots of reasons to monitor and improve indoor air quality.

Problem

Ran into this particularly when there was a lot of wildfire smoke outside, while the inside of the home was uncomfortably hot and muggy. How to figure out how to balance ventilation and air purification? We needed to be able to measure and modify air quality.

Approach

HEPA air filter: Coway Airmega AP-1512HH ($163) for smaller rooms, along with Coway AP-2015F Airmega 400 ($350) for larger rooms. The knockoff replacement filters from Cabiclean are fine.

Keeping an eye on indoor temperature and humidity: ThermoPro TP49 ($17 for two, $8.50 each).

Portable CO2 monitoring, along with temperature and humidity, also useful for travel: Aranet4 ($168, sometimes goes on sale).

Powerful dehumidification for damp areas, such as a finished basement: Frigidaire 50 Pint Dehumidifier ($248).

Personal wearable air purifiers (aka respirators): 3M Aura N95 9205+. Mostly for outside the home, but occasionally useful inside if doing something dusty.

Outcome

These things have helped!

Next steps

Have not yet validated a good inexpensive option for monitoring indoor particulates, VOCs, etc., but this guide suggests IKEA VINDSTYRKA ($50).