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should I be concerned about this Radon issue?

  • 26-09-2017 11:14pm
    #1
    Andy From Sligo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,710 ✭✭✭✭


    i was dabbling outside our house today (only been in it 9 months) and I came across this pipe with a lid on top and it said Easi Sump radon connection point. and then I done some research on the Internet and came across this site.

    This part made me particularly sit up and listen: " It is intended for use where a post-construction radon test indicates high levels" (so does that mean they done a test and there is high levels of RADON detected in this house/area?)

    And the second thing "Easi-Sump can be activated, if necessary, by adding an in-line extractor fan" - well ours is just blocked off with a cover saying connection point. - if its blanked off like that with a cover , then if there is RADON gas underneath the house, its not going to escape into the outside air is it?

    Reading more on Radon it says about how it can cause lung cancer. - so, what I am thinking is that fair enough if it was a compulsory requirement in the planning at the time house was built (2008) that the system be put in, but that there wasnt any high level detected so its blanked off then fair enough

    anybody on here clued right up on the RADON issue be able to advise if it should be blocked with a plate/cover or should it go into a pipe (maybe reach above the house) and exit out there .. and likely to need this inline extractor they mention?

    http://www.necoflex.ie/products/radon-barrier/accessories/easi-sump.aspx

    Tagged:


Comments

  • #2
    fritzelly
    Registered Users Posts: 17,230 ✭✭✭✭fritzelly


    It's a building regulation to have something (in your case the sump) - have the levels checked in your house.

    http://www.properteco.co.uk/radon-reduction/


  • #3
    Metric Tensor
    Registered Users Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭Metric Tensor


    You can order a radon test kit for your house from the EPA - I can't remember the cost but it's pretty small. (Like €40 or so). You put a detector in your kitchen and your bedroom and leave them there for six months, then send them back and get the results.

    It has been mandatory for quite some time to put a radon collection system underneath all new houses as a "just in case" measure. This collection system is coupled with a radon proof membrane that must also be installed. It is standard practice to cap the extract pipe in the footpath (you don't want the system filling with water - although in theory it should probably drain out if it fills!) New houses should be tested for radon after a few months of a bedding in period. I'm not sure how many actually are tested!

    If the test comes back showing high levels of radon gas then you will have to install a less "passive" measure such as the extract fan or similar and then redo the six month test after allowing sufficient time for the house to settle into its new state.

    The treatment of radon gas issues is a specialist field and there are quite a few different ways of addressing it depending on your specific circumstances - but it's getting way ahead of the game to be discussing that. Just get the test done and be happy in the knowledge that if it fails you have the first step of a system to treat the problem already in place.


  • #4
    Andy From Sligo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,710 ✭✭✭✭Andy From Sligo


    Metric Tensor wrote: »
    You can order a radon test kit for your house from the EPA - I can't remember the cost but it's pretty small. (Like €40 or so). You put a detector in your kitchen and your bedroom and leave them there for six months, then send them back and get the results.

    It has been mandatory for quite some time to put a radon collection system underneath all new houses as a "just in case" measure. This collection system is coupled with a radon proof membrane that must also be installed. It is standard practice to cap the extract pipe in the footpath (you don't want the system filling with water - although in theory it should probably drain out if it fills!) New houses should be tested for radon after a few months of a bedding in period. I'm not sure how many actually are tested!

    If the test comes back showing high levels of radon gas then you will have to install a less "passive" measure such as the extract fan or similar and then redo the six month test after allowing sufficient time for the house to settle into its new state.

    The treatment of radon gas issues is a specialist field and there are quite a few different ways of addressing it depending on your specific circumstances - but it's getting way ahead of the game to be discussing that. Just get the test done and be happy in the knowledge that if it fails you have the first step of a system to treat the problem already in place.

    Thank you very much, very informative. - would it be too OTT to just get a length or couple of lengths of 4" soil pipe and just insert it into the inspection point and terminate it at roof level (with a vent in the top) anyway just as a just in case? - what a long time to do the test is it really 6 months?! - I know already I am worrying about it and "what if we have been breathing in radon gas for the last 9 months" - that I think it will play on my mind if I have to wait another 6 months for the outcome


  • #5
    Lumen
    Registered Users Posts: 31,008 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    It takes a long time because the amounts of radon ate tiny.

    http://www.epa.ie/mobile/radon/


  • #6
    Poor Uncle Tom
    Registered Users Posts: 14,542 ✭✭✭✭Poor Uncle Tom


    Andy From Sligo wrote: »
    Thank you very much, very informative. - would it be too OTT to just get a length or couple of lengths of 4" soil pipe and just insert it into the inspection point and terminate it at roof level (with a vent in the top) anyway just as a just in case? - what a long time to do the test is it really 6 months?! - I know already I am worrying about it and "what if we have been breathing in radon gas for the last 9 months" - that I think it will play on my mind if I have to wait another 6 months for the outcome

    Radon gas is much heavier than air, so just adding the pipes won't have any discernible effect without the fan. There's not much point incurring a continuous bill (electric fan running costs) unless it's necessary, to check whether it's necessary or not you will need to do the test.


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  • #7
    Metric Tensor
    Registered Users Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭Metric Tensor


    Anything you do in advance of the test will also skew the results.

    Order the test kit now and just get going at it.

    Also - remember you lived in other houses with less radon protection all your life! In all probability the last nine months you've had more protection from radon than in your life to that point!!


  • #8
    CJhaughey
    Registered Users Posts: 14,906 ✭✭✭✭CJhaughey


    Radon is funny stuff, in some areas its thought to be beneficial in low doses.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2477705/


  • #9
    Andy From Sligo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,710 ✭✭✭✭Andy From Sligo


    I just put my address into the EPA Radon Map and it said we are in a high radon area - does that mean that long term tests have already been done in this area , so in that case then I wonder if I still need to do the tests even though Radon is high in this area?

    22008049_10213296039649356_5922815525704962636_n.jpg?oh=bbdac93f899a2aca12467f826477aa5c&oe=5A39DFA4


  • #10
    Metric Tensor
    Registered Users Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭Metric Tensor


    Just do the test!

    If you were that worried about it you should have ordered it today.

    Unless you were given the results you may as well assume there was no test done before. As far as I know there is no national database of completed tests.


  • #11
    Andy From Sligo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,710 ✭✭✭✭Andy From Sligo


    Metric Tensor wrote: »
    Just do the test!

    If you were that worried about it you should have ordered it today.

    Unless you were given the results you may as well assume there was no test done before. As far as I know there is no national database of completed tests.

    i'm feeling a little bit stressed less today now, especially as someone said earlier on in this thread it takes 6 months to check because the concentration of Radon is so low


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  • #12
    Andy From Sligo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,710 ✭✭✭✭Andy From Sligo


    Metric Tensor wrote: »
    Anything you do in advance of the test will also skew the results.

    Order the test kit now and just get going at it.

    Also - remember you lived in other houses with less radon protection all your life! In all probability the last nine months you've had more protection from radon than in your life to that point!!

    very good and valid point that icon14.png


  • #13
    Metric Tensor
    Registered Users Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭Metric Tensor


    Andy From Sligo wrote: »
    very good and valid point that icon14.png

    I said that to reassure you regarding the six month wait.

    You should still do the test. God forbid a member of your family gets sick in future you do not want to wonder was it because you didn't pay the small amount for a test now. I'd recommend it to everyone moving into a house (new or old).


  • #14
    AugieMarch
    Registered Users Posts: 11 ✭AugieMarch


    Just do the test and don't be fretting about current exposure, Andy. If you're from Co. Sligo then you've very probably been exposed to a lot of radon all your life anyway - as mentioned already, the house you're in now is probably better protected, even without the extractor fan, than any house, workplace, school you've been in before.

    The underlying geology of a region is a fair indicator of the risk of radon, along with tests that have been conducted previously, but those radon maps can't give you a precise indication of whether your specific house is highly exposed, only a test in the house can do that.

    Lots of into about it online, such as on the EPA website: http://www.epa.ie/radiation/radon/awareness/awarenesscampaigns/sligo/


  • #15
    Andy From Sligo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,710 ✭✭✭✭Andy From Sligo


    AugieMarch wrote: »
    Just do the test and don't be fretting about current exposure, Andy. If you're from Co. Sligo then you've very probably been exposed to a lot of radon all your life anyway - as mentioned already, the house you're in now is probably better protected, even without the extractor fan, than any house, workplace, school you've been in before.

    The underlying geology of a region is a fair indicator of the risk of radon, along with tests that have been conducted previously, but those radon maps can't give you a precise indication of whether your specific house is highly exposed, only a test in the house can do that.

    Lots of into about it online, such as on the EPA website: http://www.epa.ie/radiation/radon/awareness/awarenesscampaigns/sligo/

    oh no, thank you for that sobering thought!! :eek:


  • #16
    Andy From Sligo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,710 ✭✭✭✭Andy From Sligo


    Just another query - if radon gas is heavier than air then why dont it just stay on/in the ground? - why does it rise up into the air we breath?


  • #17
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 40,944 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    Andy From Sligo wrote: »
    Just another query - if radon gas is heavier than air then why dont it just stay on/in the ground? - why does it rise up into the air we breath?
    Radon is a heavy gas, eight times heavier than air, why does it not settle to the floor in the room?

    This crosses the minds of most people concerned with radon. Radon is an inert gas found in very trace
    quantities mass wise, even at high radon concentrations of several hundreds of pCi/L, gravimetric properties do
    not play any roll is the first quick answer. Radon quickly diffuses from high concentration area to low
    concentration area and density of gas has no role. Such diffusion is controlled only by concentration gradient.
    This is the reason radon escape easily through windows open to outside or to passages that have low radon
    concentration. This is also the reason that the sensor areas of the radon monitors rapidly equilibrate with room
    air, representing the room air concentration all the time, tracking real time radon concentration, thanks to diffusion.

    https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b255/0d66a527cd4349e8839c323813e80ba341c1.pdf


  • #18
    Andy From Sligo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,710 ✭✭✭✭Andy From Sligo


    sydthebeat wrote: »
    https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b255/0d66a527cd4349e8839c323813e80ba341c1.pdf

    thanks for that - i'm none the wiser though. I need it explained in Dummy, Layman terms why it doesnt just stay in the ground if its heavier than air.


  • #19
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 40,944 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    Andy From Sligo wrote: »
    thanks for that - i'm none the wiser though. I need it explained in Dummy, Layman terms why it doesnt just stay in the ground if its heavier than air.

    because gravity is not the only force which effects gas moving around.
    pressure, energy flux, etc also cause molecules to move.

    im no physicist, but a laymans definition of diffusion is that a substance will move from areas of high concentration to low concentration.

    Basically natures wants everything to be one homogeneous soup.


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