The Test
In Canada; Radon Gas is measured in units called “Becquerel’s per cubic meter”. Health Canada recommends that the ‘action level’ be at 200 Bq/m³.
In the USA, where Radon Gas is measured in "Pico Curies per liter of air," or "pCi/L." their ‘action level’ is 4 pCi/l.
Both governments say that Radon Gas levels in dwellings should be as low as reasonably achievable.
There are two lengths of radon tests that can be conducted. The long term test can run from 30-365 days. Typically it is a minimum of 90 days. The short term test runs 2-30 days. Typically this is a two day test.
We considered as many different testing systems as possible before we chose one that would be our mainstay for real estate and mitigation projects.
Let’s discuss the pro’s and cons of all the systems we considered. By the time someone has decided to test their home we feel that they would not be willing to wait for 90-180 days for results (although we do have those test kits available). If the test is part of a real estate purchase those kinds of timelines are just impractical and if it is a post mitigation test nobody wants to wait that long for test results.
So, the system we looked at had to be a short term test. In that time range there are four short term testing systems that meet with NEHA standards.
Continuous Monitors: Pro’s: Hourly radon test results, movement detection (no tampering), hourly barometric and temperature readings, some monitors have 3rd party interpretations of test results. Tests results available usually, within one hour. This system is most often recommended for real estate transaction inspections. Con’s: Must be treated as high tech hardware, more expensive.
Charcoal Canisters: Pro’s: easy to carry, inexpensive, a good choice for personal home testing. Con’s: subject to tampering (in a real estate transaction) subject to humidity, only provides an average and that is biased to last 12 hrs of test, can have delays in getting lab work completed and test cells sometimes get hung up at customs going to US labs.
Charcoal Liquid Scintillation: Pro’s: Easy to carry, inexpensive, a good choice for personal home test, soon to have Canadian lab available Con’s: subject to tampering (in a real estate transaction) subject to humidity, only provides an average and that is biased to last 12 hrs of test, can have delays in getting lab work completed and test cells sometimes get hung up at customs going to US labs.
E perm Electret Ion System: Pro’s:Easy to carry and test results are available almost immediately. Con’s: Test is subject to false high if mishandled by inexperienced operator. Testing system reader must remain in an air conditioned environment. Short term test is subject to tampering (in a real estate transaction). Test results are calculated by operator no independent third party.
At Mr. Radon we are proud to use as our primary Radon Gas testing device the Radalink Continuous Monitor. We chose this company and system because they work as an independent third party laboratory to interpret the results and issues an emailed based report. We believe that this system represents the best in testing technology that exists in the market for real estate testing. We also use the Eperm Electret Ion system for long term and concerned homeowner testing.
Link to Radalink:
http://www.radalink.com/
