Home Improvement Asked on August 2, 2021
Recently, I’ve been measuring the CO₂ concentration during multiple nights and the levels in the bedroom where I sleep are very high and unhealthy (over 1600 ppm).
I use an AirVisual monitor, which is high precision and catches the trends. I opened the window last night, and that’s why the CO₂ is lower. But on all the other days, it’s over 1400-1600 ppm.
I get a high concentration only when I’m sleeping, so I assume that the CO₂ comes from me. Since the windows are shut and the door closed, the CO₂ gets trapped.
The problem is that during the summer, the temperatures outdoor are over 95 F (35 C) with high humidity, and I have the airconditioning running inside. If I open the window, the heat comes in very fast and then the AC has to do extra work, which means waste of money and resources. And it’s the same situation during the night.
How do I get rid of CO₂ inside the house without opening the windows when the weather is hot?
EDIT: After reading all the great suggestions, I have tried a new measurement with the device far away from my bed, so it will not be affected by my breath. I also checked for timers and couldn’t find any. Last night I closed the window and the door at around 11 PM and the concentration started to slowly increase. During the night, the CO2 levels increased significantly (see graph below). In the morning, I opened the window and it slowly started decreasing. I have no doubt that there is a lot of CO2 in the room. So my question stands. How to get rid of CO2 or any other gases/vapors for that matter, in a hot, humid climate. Is HRV the only solution?
You want an high-efficiency heat exchanger.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_recovery_ventilation
Basically, you pipe in fresh air, but have it cooled before, while you heat out the air that is going out. It's typically installed on central hvac systems.
It needs maintenance to be efficient and it is quite often overlooked by contractors as it's hard to notice when it's not working.
Correct answer by Jeffrey on August 2, 2021
That's a really high CO₂ level. You need to figure out what is causing it and fix that, it's not normal.
Gas fired appliances with leaky vents are the most likely suspects — hot water heater, dryer? (Probably not your furnace, since its summer!)
In the meantime I would seriously open some windows and suck it up, that's dangerously high if accurate.
Answered by jkf on August 2, 2021
You can also try this: Get some plants in places where there's high co2 concentration. If there's no sun, then use plants which are good in that situation.
Answered by joga on August 2, 2021
What type of air condition are you using? Some only cool the air inside, while others use fresh air from outside. In a cafe or club there are norms about how much fresh air the air condition must put inside during a given period of time.
I would suggest the following:
Answered by user90188 on August 2, 2021
Plants respire throughout the day, producing both O² and CO². They produce much more oxygen than CO² though. It is a good idea to have plants to help with air, but they don't produce enough to make a huge difference. People intake approximately 750L of oxygen per day. We exhale approximately 0.02 cubic meters of CO² per hour. A plant, on average, produces approximately 22L of oxygen per day. It would take a lot of plants to change your room's exchange. That doesn't mean it is a bad idea though. Everything helps. Specific plants exchange better than others, and some help to remove harmful pollutants from the air. Do not fall victim to the myth that plants exchange CO² only at night and that they come even close to an even exchange. They exchange far more oxygen and do help.
Answered by Cameron on August 2, 2021
I have asthma and an 80% collapsed windpipe. With CO2 levels even within a good range (less than 600 ppm) I become short of breath. I had an erv system(energy recovery ventilation)system installed. Can’t use that during fire season! It hasn’t helped at all and the installers haven’t been helpful in figuring out why an open window does a better job. When I use it Particulate matter increases and opening windows does a better job of lowering CO2. The best idea I’ve found is to reverse a powerful fan out of the window to pull CO2 from the room. In minutes I can reduce the level but I can only rely on this method in the spring and fall unfortunately.
Answered by Bev on August 2, 2021
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