How to use a particulate monitor to improve indoor air quality

In this video, I talk about the health impacts of particulate matter in your home’s air and explain how to use a particle counter to detect and reduce it. I use the Dylos DC1100 Pro.
Many people are getting wrapped up in VOCs, and neglecting PM, which is just as important!
Intro (0:00)
What is particulate matter (PM)? (0:14)
Health impacts of PM (0:41)
How to reduce PM (1:14)
Particle counters (1:40)
Real life examples of particle counter uses (2:34)
Sources of error with particle counters (4:14)
Dylos DC1100 PRO Particle counter: amzn.to/3V1ssmy
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[@soulconnectiondoula]

I love your real life examples, the space heater one is very surprising. Just goes to show that there can be things in our air that we aren’t aware of even if we aren’t smelling or seeing it.

[@Kapnobatai9]

Excellent vid, this is very helpful. Looking forward to seeing more.

[@HealthyHomeGuide]

Awesome, glad you found it helpful!

[@VH7420]

Hi. Thanks for your video. I'm in the market for a particle counter. I live next to a busy road too. For that, I usually keep my windows closed except when the traffic lowers on weekends and in the evenings. I'm wondering, with the particle counter that you are using, does it go to zero when next to the outflow of a Hepa filter?

[@HealthyHomeGuide]

Hi, thanks for the comment! I like your window-opening approach. And good question: yes, my particle counter (Dylos DC1100 pro) does go to zero next to the outflow of a HEPA filter. It also goes to zero next to the outflow of a MERV 16 filter. Not MERV 13 though.

[@VenturaIT]

@@HealthyHomeGuide You can't put a particle counter in the flow of a fan to get a valid test... it has to be away from any moving air since the particle count formula uses the air speed (velocity) as one of it's factors in the particle count formula... with all other things the same the faster the air is moving the cleaner the air is, so when the air is moving faster it will give a false low reading.

[@HealthyHomeGuide]

@@VenturaIT So, I don’t put the particle counter IN the outflow, I put it sort of near it. Next to it, a couple feet away.

[@VenturaIT]

@HealthyHomeGuide you put the counter where you are or where the person or people will be in the room, there may be some particle counters that you can put in the flow and Dylos might be one of them but in general it gives an artificially low reading... the Dylos isn't meant for testing how many particles come from the machine... if you put it too close it might miss particles coming from the other side of the vent, for example, but one of the biggest mistakes I see people make is putting a particle counter right up to the machine and then saying "see 0 particles"... that's not a valid way... since air acts like a fluid, like the water in a pond, particles will not be uniformly distributed in the room, so there is no perfect way to count the particles, all of these machines, counters, and filters, even the million dollar or multi-million dollar counters and monitors and GC-MS machines are just "good estimates" there is no proof that one is correct and another is wrong, but there are some that do not work and the proof or evidence shows they simply don't work and give invalid or false measurements. The Dylos has been shown to work to give a good estimate of the particulate air pollution in a room. You've got most things covered and I'm glad you realized this about the CADR and the effectiveness of a filter is mostly decided by the amount of air it moves through the filter... it doesn't matter if it's dirty or if it leaks or any of that, even a tshirt over a fan will filter some things. I even read that you never need to change a HEPA filter because the trapped particles make it more efficient. But I would change the filter just to prevent mold and bacteria and chemicals. Because these nasty chemicals are impossible to filter and they stick to everything... that's why when you have a neighbor like you described the only solution is to move. I know this because I studied Physics at UCLA then I had a bunch of "problem neighbors" and ended up starting my own environmental testing and consulting company. You need to combine the Dylos with a TVOC monitor with 1 second real-time graphing then you run GC-MS testing. This is the best way that is affordable to really know what you are breathing. For benzene, a commonly found VOC and class 1a carcinogen, the WHO excess lifetime cancer risk limit for leukemia is .04 ppb, so it's super low and this stuff should all dissipate to around 0 in a short amount of time unless there is a continuous source. If there is a continuous source, you need to move to where there isn't one. In 2024 a lot of unknown pollution is coming from meth labs and drugs labs on top of the know sources like BBQ, cigarettes, smoking, BBQ, fireplaces, vehicles, factories, power stations, etc. From a chinese medicine point of view you can see something going on with someone's kidneys by the red under their eyes... these chemicals can damage kidneys, liver, brain, skin and other organs, even can damage your eyes, throat, and hearing. This is not medical advice, just information for you. The problem is that almost nobody knows this about chemical exposure. It's a huge deal and the average doctor doesn't know anything and I mean anything about it. Secondhand smoke is now been proven to cause chronic kidney disease. The main problems I see in my neighborhood are secret meth labs and nobody knows, they keep everything down below 25ppb so they avoid detection by the average CIH because CIH's are only trained on OSHA values which start at 100ppb and up. It's setup like that for a reason, the people running the meth labs don't want to get caught and they have Phd scientists running and designing their systems and they know how to avoid detection. If you want to run some GC-MS testing let me know at Ventura Environmental c0m online. Again none of this is medical advice just information based on research I've done. The testing lab I sue is better than the testing company Brad or Brent from that TV show uses, I've talked to him, except our basic test doesn't cover Formaldehyde. It would be good to use both labs at the same time to get a redundant reading.

[@VenturaIT]

700-800 is kind of high if you are actively filtering a room and have the windows/doors shut... that's about 7-8 ug/m3 on the PM 2.5 scale more or less... which is not bad, but the WHO new limit is 5 ug/m3... with my Dylos 1100 Pro I actually get down to 0 particles in my office if I don't move too much, ha ha... and it will hover below 300 even with our IQ Air Health Pro Plus on it's lowest level which is very quiet... when there is an active source of pollution outside filters can't keep up because the VOCs come in and then condense into particles in real-time from the gas state and overpower even 2 quality HEPA filters on high in a closed room... given your health problems and that you said you have a neighbor emitting large amounts of smoke, enough to set off your own smoke alarm I would recommend you move and or file a nuisance report against the neighbor with your other neighbors, that is seriously bad for your health, I also recommend you run a real-time TVOC monitor and get 24-7 GC-MS testing done, but in general with a neighbor like that there is no way to filter/block or evade that nasty stuff and after time your house and attic will become a permanent source of unhealthy air pollution... it only takes .0001 ppb of ethylene oxide which is contained in most smoke to exceed the EPA's lifetime cancer risk limit.

[@krashanb5767]

Empowerment by fear 😊