Safety Siren Pro Series HS71512 3 Radon Gas Detector
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Safety Siren Pro Series HS71512 3 Radon Gas Detector
Customer Review: Works as expected, but documentation could be better
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this gizmo a few weeks ago to monitor the basement in our new house and see if it is usable as an entertainment/gym area. In the summer when we did the radon test the result came in at 2.4 . When I first turned on this device the result came in at 8.4 !!
That made me freak out a bit, but after re-reading the instruction I realized that placing the detector 2 feet away from the sump hole may not be the right thing to do. So, I moved it closer to the middle of the basement and reset it. After a couple of days the reading came in at 4.6 .
During heavy rains the device showed readings of as high as 5.9 and it went down to 4.2 during dry weather.
Before taking any drastic measures I decided to first do some common sense maintenance tasks on the basement to at least prevent radon from entering the living area upstairs. I taped up all the cracks in the HVAC ductwork that I could find. The radon reading slowly creeped up to 4.6 due to reduced ventilation of the basement, but at least none of it was going upstairs.
I called our house inspector who did the test and he pointed out that when we inspected the house there were storage cabinets over the sump hole and along the walls, covering up the "mother earth." So I placed a piece of rubber tile over the sump hole and the reading when down to 3.2 in a couple of days.
So, what's the moral of this story ? While I can't vouch for precision of this device I learned the following:
- You need to leave it on for at least a month before you get an accurate reading.
- There is no need to freak out over "mildly" high readings. First, the device is not that accurate. Professional continuous testing devices cost thousands. So, don't take what it says as an absolute measure. Trust, but verify. Second, the US EPA requires mitigation at 4.0 -- but based on my research European agencies require mitigation at 7.0 and in some parts of Canada as high as 20.0 .
- If the reading is mildly high, say between 4 and 6 like it was in my case, then common sense maintenance tasks may take care of the problem. For example, covering up the sump hole with a piece of rubber tile helped bring the reading down to under 4.0 for us.
What radon mitigation people don't tell you is that you can cut your radiation exposure in half just by circulating the air in your basement. Moving the air around encourages the plate-out (settlement) of charged daughter particles of radon decay. It doesn't reduce the radon itself, but it encourages the actual dangerous stuff to stick to the walls and furniture instead of your lungs. The decay of the daughter particles is measured in minutes, and not even days. There is a guy who patented a ceiling fan as a means of mitigating radon. So, the point is -- mild increases in radon levels can be mitigated cheaply, if not for free.
To conclude, I find this device useful in general as a tool for measuring earth gases entering the basement. Besides radon there is a lot more harmful stuff that may be seeping in that you need to worry about. Ground water carries all sorts of disgusting stuff and in some areas of the country mildly high radon levels are the least of your worries (think arsenic, mercury, MTBE, etc.) So, if the Safety Siren is telling you you have mildly high radon readings it probably means you have mildly high levels of all sorts of other disgusting crap in your basement. Common sense methods of circulating the air, covering up the exposure to dirt, etc. is enough to control the problem.
UPDATE 3/4/09: I realized that I had the device's power supply right next to it. Moving it away from the unit lowered the radon reading by at least 1.0-2.0 pCi/L . It is now consistently below 4.0 . This is a finicky little gadget. I wouldn't rely on it as the source of all truth about radon. TRUST BUT VERIFY.
Customer Review: Excellent product for short and long term testing
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this device 2 1/2 months ago so that I could have an idea of what my long term readings are and how it changes week to week.
I was hesitant to purchase this product because I have read a number of reviews and comments about this device not being approved for sale in one or two states. However, I saw that this product was tested by a leading consumer magazine which gave this device a good rating. I believe that in order to get a good rating, the readings have to be within 20% of the actual level.
My belief is that my device gives readings somewhat higher than the actual level. Perhaps short term carbon testers give readings lower than the actual level. From what I read from the leading consumer magazine is that short term carbon tests from certain companies give poor readings, up to 40% off from the true level. The carbon tester I used was rated good, within 20%.
I used the carbon tester before the unit arrived to take some measurements. Based on the results, I feel my unit is giving me a reasonable reading (albeit somewhat higher). I also believe that my unit is very consistent in its readings so that the day to day changes are a true reflection of the change in radon levels.
This device measures average radon levels for the past week and also measures average radon levels since it was last reset. Since it provides an average reading over the last 7 days, any change I make to affect the radon level won't be completely accounted for until 7 days have gone by. However, if my readings are slowly dropping, then I think it is safe to assume that radon levels are lower than the current reading and vice versa.
I think the quality of the plastic covering the display could be substantially better. It is very thin, almost like cellophane. I would like to see a thicker piece of plastic. Nevertheless, the display is crisp and very bright (easy to read). It is always lit which I like. The unit comes with a UL listed power supply which is a big plus because I could not find anyone else that mentioned if the power supply was UL listed or not.
I would like to see a battery backup which it does not have. Unplugging it for a very brief period of time does not seem to reset it (a few seconds). However, I had two power surges (they were substantial) that made the device list an error code. Unplugging and re-plugging the device fixed the problem each time but this brought up another issue. The long term readings are probably only as good as the unit gets good power. I don't think I would be able to get a 6 month or 1 year average reading as I don't think my power is that reliable. If I want a 1 year average, I probably would have to purchase a long term test kit, but it would be frustrating to wait a whole year with no feedback. Even though I purchased this for long term testing, I still OK with it because I know what my long term reading is to date and can average it in to whatever it displays if I reset the unit.
Next year in February, I plan to purchase another charcoal kit and test the device. As long as the readings are less than 40% different, I will be happy; otherwise I will send the device back to be re-calibrated which is cheaper than buying a new one.
Despite the drawbacks, I give it 5 stars because it does what it was designed to do and I think it is the only game in town for an affordable electronic radon testing device. It measures down to 0.1 pCi/L.
I do suggest that if you buy this device that you also check it with a carbon device to make sure it is giving a reasonable reading. Please note that the short term carbon testers can be very inaccurate, so purchase one that has results that are within 20% of the real amounts. To find a good carbon testing kit, check with a leading consumer magazine.
Customer Review: Worth considering
Summary: 4 Stars
If you're interested in a radon monitor, I'd give this one a close look. Radon detection does not seem to be an exact science, so I'm not sure any test is 100% reliable.
The Safety Siren Pro 3 is very sensitive to things like stereos and fluorescent lighting, and you don't want it near doors and heating registers, which really narrows down the spots to put it. If you ignore their guidelines in the manual, as I intentionally did at first to get it in the right spot, funny readings or error messages will result. Our first reading was 33 pCi/L. Then came error messages. Then I followed the instructions, found a good spot that met their specs, and since then it has worked fine.
How reliable is it? I have three sets of data from three different methods of radon testing in our house. I do not know which is most reliable, but here are the results. A professional radon test with a continuous monitor, closed house, was done in June. The basic levels were between 2 and 3, but with high levels and a peak of 27 during a thunderstorm. The average was 9. That taught us that averages can be misleading, and made us pay attention to radon in this house. The hourly readings from that professional monitor were much more useful, showing a house that was good in good weather and bad in stormy weather.
Following extensive work in a crawl space that had never had any work, not even a vapor barrier, we tested again, closed house. This time with the Safety Siren Pro. Readings were .3 or .4, very low. Since then we've lived in normal conditions, windows open, etc. Readings have been between .3 and 2.3 in our bedroom.
We did a direct comparison from Sept. 19 to Sept. 23, using a Pro-Lab test kit from the hardware store ($10 plus $30 for lab fee). The two canisters were analyzed as .3 and .1 for that period. The Siren Pro ranged between 1.9 and 2.3 during the same time. Which is correct? Don't know. And it's a big difference -- 1000%. On the other hand, both methods are suggesting low radon levels (for Indiana these are low). The Siren Pro shows an average of 1.0 for the last six weeks. (It has a button to push to see long-term average and short-term average levels.)
Since none of the three tests suggests that the house has high radon in good weather or since the crawl space work, it is not unlikely that the Siren Pro is approximately correct, good enough for our purposes. And since it appears to be the highest of the three tests, conditions taken into consideration, it may be giving us a margin of error in the direction of caution.
We would buy it again. Not saying we know for sure any of these tests are fullproof, but we have done nothing to mitigate radon other than the crawlspace work that had to be done anyway (perimeter drains, vapor barrier, sump pump, and running all downspouts from the roof far away from the house). So the Siren Pro has let us avoid the cost of radon mitigation, plus the annual cost of lost energy by running a continuous fan on a vent pipe in the crawl space.
It's very easy to use, and can be used forever, so in that sense it is easy to recommend it. The EPA sees it as a valid test. For $150 plus $40 plus $119, you can get a professional test, canister test, and the Safety Siren, and that may be $300 well spent if the professional test indicates high radon.
Assuming it's somewhat accurate, the Safety Siren lets you gather all kinds of valuable data while controlling different variables --ventilation in the basement, ventilation in the house, sealing gaps where radon might enter, etc. And you can also note variances in outside temperature and humidity and their effects.
Customer Review: Great product helped me and colleague reduce lifetime lung cancer risk
Summary: 4 Stars
Though the interface is a bit clunky the device really works great!
I would never again bother with those mail-in radon detectors again -- save to validate the machine -- as our device's values were shown to be the same. But, unlike those mail-in cans the results are delivered within the two days (the device needs that amount of time to calculate a moving average) instead of a month.
Thanks to the device I was warned of a 4.5 pico curie level in my basement. After having a radon mitigation system installed, the device showed the level dropping to 1.6.
A friend of mine, more out of curiosity, asked to borrow the device. He put it in his basement expecting nothing much. A few days later he heard a fire-alarm like siren coming from the basement. He'd forgotten about the detector. When he finally realized it was the radon detector he was shocked to find his basement had a radon level of 13! Now, he too has a radon mitigation system and the levels have dropped to around 1.0.
We calculated that we reduced our families' lung cancer mortality rates by multiples -- especially for my son whose lungs are more sensitive.
"...Mortality rate is usually expressed as deaths/100 over a lifetime of exposure (70 years 75% of the time). Does not tell you when the deaths occurred, just an estimate of how many.
4 pci/liter: 3% average mortality (e.g. 3 out of 100 people expected to die of lung cancer)
15 pci/liter: 10% average
20 pci/liter: 15% average mortality
200 pci/liter: 50% average mortality
Houses with upwards of 2000 pci/liter have been measured! Even these can be dangerous in the short term (10 years or less). Although these mortality rates seem very high, they are similar with those for things we accept as part of our everyday lives.
10 pci/liter is roughly equivalent to the risk of smoking 1/2-1 pack of cigarettes/day or having 500 chest x-rays/year.
Can also express risk as a loss of life expectancy. Tells you, how much something shortens the average (not your) life expectancy. Doesn't say when any individual will die. 15 pci/liter lowers the average life expectancy by one year (10% mortality). Smoking a pack a day reduces it by 6 years. Being 25 pounds overweight reduces it by 2 years. Automobile accidents reduce it by 2/3 years. Home and work accidents reduce it by about 100 days...."
-- GEO113 Radon Lecture Notes
Customer Review: Good alternative to consider vs. test kits
Summary: 4 Stars
We have used test kits in the past, including the "snapshot" canister test Realtors use that samples only for a few days, and the longer-term alpha-track test (3- to 6-months sampling). We've noticed that radon increases dramatically if our radon exhaust fan is broken, returns to acceptable levels when it's replaced. This time around, I got this instrument so we can keep an eye on radon for a long time without having to get many kits. It seems to work well, readings are consistent with past tests (albeit years ago) with the exhaust fan in good shape. Radon does vary over time and for many reasons, so I like having both short-term (7-day rolling average) and long-term (cumulative average) readings.
I do wonder about accuracy. I see some reviews where folks have apparently compared it to test kits and found it accurate, which is a good practice and reassuring. However, I see some folks who cheerfully assume that the meter is "more accurate" because it gives them much lower readings than test kits did. Sorry, but as Confucious say, "Man with two wrist-watches not know what time it is." If both conventional kits and the meter agree, I'd feel good, but if they vary a lot as some reviews indicate, there's no way to tell which is correct and the last thing I'd do is cheerfully assume on the happy side, one might be missing a serious problem. But, so far, it seems "in the ball park" that I'd expect for our home. I may get a test kit and challenge it, but I don't think we have a problem so the incentive is low compared to folks who may have a problem and should be more rigorous or cautious.
In summary, I think it's a good alternative and certainly good for monitoring directional changes, but if there was any reason to think there was or might be a radon issue, I'd get a test kit either in addition to or in lieu of this. Also, keep in mind that in many places, to sell your home you need to have a radon test run. I am almost certain that this instrument would not be recognized (whether it should be or not), and it would be bad to assume things were good due to low instrument readings and then find that the Realtor's test shows a problem you have to fix before selling, so as a practical matter, one should get a recognized kit if planning on selling.