Radon Mitigation systems

[olehippy]

Do you have one? Live in an area where they are required?

We will need one in our home in Ky., but have never encountered one in Florida.

Anything we should know about the different systems?

[JHinCA]

We had one in Michigan 15 or more years ago. It was paid for by the seller of the house, I think it was around $2000. It involved some large PVC pipe and a fan. It quit working very shortly after the warrantee had run out and we never got it repaired. Sorry I don't remember much about it.

Jean

[Deb862]

Radon (and radon mitigating systems) are common here in some areas of NY state. I don't know much about them or how they operate, etc., but we have turned down purchasing homes that either need one or have one. We just don't feel comfortable with it. If one is in a basement and not functioning I would definitely get it repaired, as radon is odorless and to my thinking if an inspector said it needed to be there then the radon levels were high enough to warrant it. It can cause health concerns with exposure over time. Sorry I can't offer more info....

[SolarGary]

Hi,
We have one.

The first thing to do is test for Radon in the house.
You can buy the test kits at the hardware -- not too expensive.
Basically you open up the tape on the test kit in the area of the house that people use and is most likely to have Radon (e.g. a basement bedroom).
After waiting a couple months, you send the test kit in, and they mail back how the test comes out. If its high, then take a look at doing a Radon mitigation system.

Ours came back a bit high, so I put a system in. The cost of materials was about $200. Basically I broke a hole in the basement slab, ran a 3 inch PVC pipe from the hole up to the attic, then put an inline Radon fan in the attic, and then took the output from the fan up through the roof using a standard plumbing vent. Then seal the hole where the 3 inch PVC leaves the slab.

After you put the system in, you should do another test. Mine went down from about 4 or 5 to less than 1.

One thing to watch out for is that the Radon fans can use a lot of electricity.
They are on 24/7 and some of them use more than 100 watts. This can approach 1000 KWH a year. So, it may be worth trying a passive system first, and then if a fan is needed, try a small one.

Gary

[greenmulberry]

We have one, it was paid for by the seller of our house, because when we had our radon inspection done it was at 16(I forget the units).

It took the installer about 3 or 4 hours to put in. There is a little gauge that we can check to make sure there is still negative pressure in the pipe. They test after it is installed and should guarantee to get the radon down to below the "safe" level, I forget what that is, but ours went down to below 1.

They drilled a hole in the slab of the basement, put a pipe down there that runs up into the drop ceiling of the basement, and over and out the exterior wall. There is a fan that sucks air out from under your slab, to suck out the radon and vent it out.

If you have high levels of radon, I recommend getting it remediated.

Here in Iowa, sometimes people find out they have high levels of radon after they come down with lung cancer despite never smoking or having other risk factors, the University hospital here will refer you to someone who comes and tests. If you ARE a smoker, your risk of lung cancer really goes up if you also have radon in your home.

[tiogacounty]

Originally Posted by SolarGary

Hi,
We have one.

The first thing to do is test for Radon in the house.
You can buy the test kits at the hardware -- not too expensive.
Basically you open up the tape on the test kit in the area of the house that people use and is most likely to have Radon (e.g. a basement bedroom).
After waiting a couple months, you send the test kit in, and they mail back how the test comes out. If its high, then take a look at doing a Radon mitigation system.

Ours came back a bit high, so I put a system in. The cost of materials was about $200. Basically I broke a hole in the basement slab, ran a 3 inch PVC pipe from the hole up to the attic, then put an inline Radon fan in the attic, and then took the output from the fan up through the roof using a standard plumbing vent. Then seal the hole where the 3 inch PVC leaves the slab.

After you put the system in, you should do another test. Mine went down from about 4 or 5 to less than 1.

One thing to watch out for is that the Radon fans can use a lot of electricity.
They are on 24/7 and some of them use more than 100 watts. This can approach 1000 KWH a year. So, it may be worth trying a passive system first, and then if a fan is needed, try a small one.

Gary

A few points to ponder here. The local lab here get $15 for a test kit, and the exposure time is a week, not months. A reading of 4-5 pc/l is low to start with, and IMHO, not worth mitigating. Last, one popular fan, a Fantech 175 draws 44 watts or rough $.09 per day of power in these parts. Like you said, a passive system is best way to start. When I build new homes, I rough in a full passive system, with the ability to add a fan with little effort and cost. It's a responsible, and inexpensive, proactive move, and it avoids the ugly look of an exposed fan and piping, if testing shows an issue.

[SolarGary]

Originally Posted by tiogacounty

A few points to ponder here. The local lab here get $15 for a test kit, and the exposure time is a week, not months. A reading of 4-5 pc/l is low to start with, and IMHO, not worth mitigating. Last, one popular fan, a Fantech 175 draws 44 watts or rough $.09 per day of power in these parts. Like you said, a passive system is best way to start. When I build new homes, I rough in a full passive system, with the ability to add a fan with little effort and cost. It's a responsible, and inexpensive, proactive move, and it avoids the ugly look of an exposed fan and piping, if testing shows an issue.

Probably all true.
The kits our hardware sells say no less than 2 months, and that the longer time period gives better results, but I know that some of the local home inspectors use a 48 hour version.

The Radon fans range all over the place -- the one we put in is also about 40 watts, but there are definitely ones out there that are over a hundred watts:
http://www.wscdirect.net/servlet/the-RADON/Categories
and, to a busy Radon guy, there is (I think) a temptation to put a large one in to make sure it tests OK and avoid a callback. Even the 40 watt ones are $40 a year of electricity.

I probably would have passed on doing the mitigation for our reading of 5, but I'm not the one with a vote on such issues The EPA does say there is really not "safe" level.

Gary

[tiogacounty]

Originally Posted by SolarGary

I probably would have passed on doing the mitigation for our reading of 5, but I'm not the one with a vote on such issues The EPA does say there is really not "safe" level.

Gary

I wouldn't trust the EPA to tell me what day it is. After the discovery of Radon is Southeastern PA. the EPA set the threshold at 4, based on long term exposure experiences of Uranium miners.. Since this issue had been dealt with in Europe for many years prior to it being an issue here, they already had their own standards in place. I heard a scientist from (IIRC)Sweden discussing the EPAs guidlines. He was less than impressed by the methodology used, and stated that they use 16pc/l as an acceptable threshold.

[myminifarm]

I'm in NY, when I bought my house almost 2 years ago I had a radon test done during the inspection, think the test was for around 4-5 days. Reading was over 9 so the seller paid for the radon mitigation unit at closing. It was around $1200.00 I use my basement a lot so I opted to get the system. Haven't had any problems with it yet. Only took a few hours for the installation.

[Cindy in PA]

We live only a few miles from the Limerick Power Plant worker who set of the radiation sensors and started the craze in 1990. Everybody got tested free from the state of PA around here back then and we were just over the limit, my neighbors just under. The state sent free mitigation plans out and after my DH failed to do anything I called the above pp worker who by then did remediation and got a system put in for $1000. The materials would have probably cost $200-400 back then. A few years later our fan went and we never replaced it, based on the theory that radon follows the path of least resistance and the pipes are still in place a both ends of the basement and all the other cracks are sealed. Our neighbors never did anything. I have always meant to test again, but never have. It is a simple do it yourself job if you are motivated.