We have RADON in our ICF house!!! Will our ERV mitigate and fix our problem?
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- Опубликовано: 7 июн 2024
- Episode 50: John and Leslie discover their ICF lake house has a high level of radon gas in the lower level. They discuss how to test for radon gas and how to mitigate radon gas using their ERV system. It is critical to have positive pressure using the ERV in order to dilute and mitigate radon gas using fresh air from ERV. They also discuss the need for ICF homes to test for and prepare for radon mitigation on the front end of building an ICF home.
Products from Amazon featured in this episode:
1) Airthings Corentium Home Radon Detector 223
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2) First Alert Radon Gas Test Kit
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0:00 Introduction
0:56 How to test for radon gas
2:02 EPA recommendations
2:37 Airthings Radon Gas Detector
3:57 Using ERV to mitigate for radon
6:29 What if ERV isn't enough?
7:07 Radon mitigation fan
Disclaimer: We are not radon mitigation experts and have no experience beyond what this video showcases in mitigating radon gas. This video is for entertainment purposes and is not meant to suggest radon mitigation methods. Viewers should contact licensed radon mitigation experts in their area for advice. 
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I messed around and waited 4 months after I saw this video to test my house. Positive. 5.0 I'll be mitigating it soon.
Better to know late though than not at all. So glad our video helped!
I think the smart way to build a foundation is to spend a bit more on a few parts to protect from everything.
First one is Form-a-Drain. I don't think this makes a great water drain but as the form on the interior of your footer it makes a perfect Radon vent and less forms to strip.
Second is a good French drain installed below the level of your footer with cloth wrap to prevent clogging with dirt and clean gravel surrounding the drain to ensure great flow in to the drain instead of under the foundation.
Third for me is I'm thinking of having compost, recycling and trash chutes but I don't want those smells wafting up in to the house so I'm thinking of a vent stack for that so a chimney effect will create a negative pressure in the vent to seal the interior flappers and I will duct my Form-a-Drain in to that vent stack to create a negative pressure under the slab too.
Looked at separately the French Drain is a necessity because Form-a-Drain isn't enough on it's own but the Form-a-Drain makes a radon vent but without fans that doesn't work but a vent stack chimney effect would work and allow me to do my chutes so I won't have to deal with trash in the house so much. The combination of the three is what makes preemptive radon mitigation sensible for a slab foundation home without a basement. I'll have an ERV or HRV too which should let me maintain a slight positive pressure and work as a fart fan too.
Everything double or triple duty. The problem with expensive houses is that everything is separate so you pay full price on every system instead of paying a little more on systems that do multiple things.
Thank you for sharing that information. What a awesome system you have installed for your house.
Awesome information, thank you. Has me thinking about radon where I never even gave it a thought.
Wow! Thank you very much for so much information!
You guys have my favorite channel I get so excited to see new videos! Good job thinking ahead. Love the house and the design, those tiles look sharp. Can’t wait to see more about the design and how it’s coming along. 😃
Thank you so much! That makes us feel wonderful! We definitely need to do another walk through and show all the progress. We have so much completed now! I will put it on my video list.
This information is so valuable to homeowners. Thank you!
After two years, we are still managing the radon with the ERV. So far, so good!
Interesting about Radon in typical low testing areas; in Florida there was a highrise on the water where every countertop in the kitchens and bathrooms were granite - they were gassing off Radon, so the building condo assoc. had to pay to install and retrofit an ERV.
We are required to rough in radon mitigation below slab in all our new basements in Alberta homeowners if they get positive tests just need to connect the to the rough in pipe and connect the exhaust system and run it out the rim joist. Its saves the customers from having to dig up their slab.
Yes. So smart! I wish more builders did that here.
@@LakeLotBuild what's the rough in pipe? I don't understand what they're sayin here.
@@CaddyBlues
I’m from Alberta.
It’s a pipe that comes up through the basement slab/concrete and is capped. We have basements here too. So you can put an inline fan on it and vent it to the outside. He shows it at 7:30.
Thanks for sharing, I have an Airthings on each level of my home to see how the average changes thought out the home. The current 7 day average of 0.6 in the basement, and 0.8 on the 2nd floor. Thankful that it has been low on average.
Thank you for watching! We are looking forward to being able to continuously monitor the radon situation in our home too.
Many thanks for this info 🙏 . I have been thinking about using a erv to mitigate radon rather than using a radon fan, not sure if it works with cracks in the slab
I had no idea that Radon was a thing. I have commented on your ERV system before and its helpful to know, the radon numbers reduced by the ERV. We are building a tight concrete home in The Philippines and because of your video, I checked the levels in The Philippines, and it can be very high. I'm emailing my architect, right now. Thanks!!
Wonderful! The ERV has continued to keep our levels below 2. It is working great!
Hi John, the end of your video shows the TPV (temperature & pressure valve) on your water heater with a pipe straight off the top. You should terminate the pipe 2” to 6” off the floor (or to a floor drain) as you would not want 160 degree water shooting out that pipe if there is a problem with your water heater.
Thank you, Bert! We will definitely do that.
Very informative - thank you! I am looking at dehumidifying ERV for our Florida ICF home design. Absolutely brilliant observation regarding ERV's exhaust and intake ratio! Instead of the utility room, why wouldn't one install the radon mitigation pipe outside?
The pipe has to be under the slab, so ours came up in the utility room and then we would vent it outside. I suppose you could pipe under the slab and have the pipe exit on the outside the building and then have the fan and exhaust pipe. They may do it that way in areas with high radon rates where they know house will need mitigation. All the diagrams I see online though have the pipe in the house and then terminating in the vent pipe outside.
HVAC guy here. Alberta, Canada. HRV’s and ERV’s rarely get balanced on residential. They should be.
Most people don’t even know to clean/change the filters on them.
Such an important point. We change our filter around every 3 months. They are expensive but it shows every time we clean it that it's time to do it.
Did you put a vapor barrier under the slab and seal it around all penetrations, including the pipe you installed for radon removal?
Because you had a pipe already installed (for a radon vac pump), dosn't local building code allow for a gastight membrane under slab and foundation?
Really good video.
I also have a building made in ICF.
Have you considered the contribution of plasterboard/drywall to the overall amount of Radon in your house?
Never thought of that. I didn't know that contributed.
I think I would turn down the Erv speed and turn up the duration keeping the intake speed higher
Great job! As an radon contractor, the main problem is most homeowners are usually lax on maintenance and replacing filters in the HRV/ERV. The system balancing becomes very irregular.
I believe that completing the sub-slab depressurization system in most cases will offer stable results long-term. You can expect 90%+ reduction if you finish those connections. As long as there is a nice gravel substraight you can use a smaller motor such as the RadonAway RP145 Or Fantech RN1. The ERV will then reduce the remaining radon by half and you can rebalance the system.
The sub-slab radon system usually also reduces the RH in the building as an added benefit, the dehumidifier should run less. It would be interesting to see this data if you were to create another video.
This is great information. Thank you! You make a really good point about the dehumidifier too. We may go ahead and hook up the system
ICF is insulated concrete form. ERV is energy recovery ventilator.
I did an at-home test I bought with charcoal and this is my result. 2.0 pCi/L Is this bad?
what video shows you installing your era ducting ?
The ERV video is this one ruclips.net/video/IrZF0z8hhLY/видео.html
The one with ducting might be our "Putting up Drywall" video if its not completely covered in the ERV video. Thanks for watching!
check and test the ground before you build thats all simple solutions
Airthings monitor works well when radon level is more than 4. It generally reads higher than actual when radon level is bellow 4. I trust the old fashioned charcoal test than the non calibrated monitor.
I have read this in reviews as well. I do like the AirThings nearly instant readings though so we can see if our efforts with the ERV are working and how adjusting the balance in the unit changes the radon level almost immediately. It would take weeks of testing and many charcoal tests to find out how to set the ERV. I will add this unit is on the official National Radon Safety Board's list of approved monitors.
Did add the radon mitigation fan to that pipe? Why wouldn't you do it just to be safe?
We are going to this year.
What if you open your windows on nice days and depresurize your house? Shouldn't you play it safe and complete the radon mitigation system?
Opening windows is great and we do that as often as Leslie's allergies will allow. We have been watching the radon meter for over a year now. Most of the time it is at 1.0 or lower. The days it gets above that are actually on rainy, stormy day. Since our average stays so low, we think the ERV is doing its job. And we can finish the radon mitigation if we start to see the average rise.
What is the name of the ERV unit that you used to mitigate Radon?
It is a Panasonic
my longterm radon reading is 9.02 in my bedroom with this device. Ive slept in this bedroom 37 years. Should I be worried?
The EPA suggests mitigation for any level over 4. While there is no "safe" level of radon, they suggest taking action if numbers are consistently over 4. When we started, we were at 8. Now we average 1-2.
Yes be worried. Period. The level of 4 as stated in this video, is bad. But, a level of two is where you should definitely be getting it mitigated. Every known chart clearly recommends "seeking mitigation" at the "2" levels. It's even on the sticker they show in this video. In fact, to say 4 and above is the point of getting it done is frankly, inaccurate. That's more of a "get it done now" rating. Believe me...if you read my comment on this very well made video, you'll understand why & how I know.
whoa! I would think that would never be a problem with this type of massive insulation all the way around
I don't know a lot about raydon, but as a gas it can go through porus rock and concrete pretty easily.
This all sounded good until I did some research on positive or negative pressure on a home. Sounds like it can do more damage via condensation, mold, etc. Why are you assuming positive pressure will be fine?
We did a bunch of research too. That's how we landed the ERV solution. It's been 1.5 years and so far so good. Everyone has to make the best decision they can with the information at hand. We did the same. www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/question/erv-hrv-for-radon-mitigation-in-old-house
@@LakeLotBuild yeah - just pointing out the notes I found on positive pressure potentially causing problems. Glad to hear its working fine for you.
What brand is the ERV?
Panasonic
Why'd you delete my comment about building the backbone for these systems into homes from the outset?
I didn't know it did. I agree with you! 💯
It's coming to my house.😢
If you know your levels are twice the action level, why not just pay a qualified mitigation contractor to take care of the problem the correct way? Why cheap out on something like this?
If you research how to treat radon in your home, one of the ways is with an erv. We are DIYers, so we tryto do as much work ourselves as we can. Thanks for watching!