AirGradient Forum

Can the AirGradient Outdoor detect the presence of wood-combustion smoke?

#1

Hi everyone,

I am searching for a means of detecting wood-combustion smoke outside my house (smoke coming from neighbors occasionally using wood stoves for heating). Smoke tends to stagnate, and gets sucked in by my house’s mechanized ventilation. I’d like to automatically throttle my ventilation when there’s smoke.

Would an AirGradient Outdoor be able to detect the presence of smoke? I don’t think that PM2.5 can be a reliable vector, because there is significant PM2.5 coming from non-wood sources. Would VOC (or particles of other sizes) help detecting smoke?

I have an AirGradient One that I installed in my bedroom. So far, I have not been able to identify a significant correlation between the VOC (or PM) data of the sensor and the presence of a smoke smell inside the house, unfortunately. The smell is a lot weaker inside the house than outside, of course.

Many thanks!

#2

PM2.5 and VOC in an outdoor sensor will correlate with exhaust from combustion, but it won’t tell you what the source of that is. If you live in an area with an otherwise already poor air quality, neighbour’s emissions might not even provide enough signal for you to take action.

Regardless, I would recommend relying not on detection, but rather continuous management of the possible issues. That means having a high quality filtering (HEPA at minimum) stage in your system and maintaining it periodically. Explore adding activated carbon (or buy appropriate filters that integrate both) to deal with non-particulate problems such as smell. That way you won’t have to live at your neighbour’s externalities’ mercy :slight_smile:

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#3

When the smoke from the Canadian wildfires came across Michigan last summer, it caused my monitor to register some crazy high PM readings, fwiw . . .

#4

Thank you both. I looked up activated coal filters for my MVHR. They do exist, but unfortunately they seem to have an only superficial effect, and cost 200/filter (Zehnder M5 filters). I’m writing it down as a possible option, but I will also continue exploring the fan-control solution. If starting a wood stove caused a spike in PM, like tadawson mentioned, that could work as a trigger.

One more Q: Is it safe/adequate to use an AirGradient ONE outdoors for a few weeks to test whether that PM spike appears? Or would high humidity/cold temperature risk damaging the ONE?

Many thanks!

#5

The sensors and processor in the One are pretty much the same tech as in the outdoor, and I’ve run mine in -18F with no ill effect. The biggest difference is that the One is not weatherpoof.

#6

Good to know, thank you.

#7

Hello,

I have the wood-burning smoke from neighbours with air ventilation problem since some years and tried very many things.

Results:

  • PM2.5 ist the best smoke indicator I found and quite precise, better than VOC.
  • Switching on/off the air ventilation automatically is no good way, because the smoke level often rapidly changes, depending on wind etc., so if the air ventilation for example is switched off from 20 microgramm/cbm PM2.5 on and switched on again if lower than 20, it will be switched on and off very often, what might affect the air ventilation’s lifespan.
  • The perfect solution I installed and I’m extremely happy with:
    https://www.luftfilter.kaufen/produkte/kwl-upgrade/hs-homeair-500/
    Quite expensive and needs some space for installation, but this awful device eliminates all kinds of pollutants in the air. I never got more than 1 microgramm/cbm PM2.5 inside, even when it’s 100 or more outside, and the activated carbon also eliminates all kinds of odor.

So in the end I agree with nagisa’s statement above. You could also try it simpler at first and insert other filters to your air ventilation, as I also did before, but standard air ventilation filters are too small and, if strong like HEPA, cause too much resistance that will overload the air ventilation’s motor. So you at least need an additional housing for much bigger filters that cause less resistance. The mentioned HomeAir 500 has much bigger filters than standard air ventilations and an additional own motor that automatically supports the air ventilation so that there will never by any overload.

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