Safety Siren Pro 3 Radon Detectors, EPA Evaluated

I bought this gizmo a few weeks ago to monitor the basement in our new house and see if it is usable as an entertainment/gym area. In the summer when we did the radon test the result came in at 2.4 . When I first turned on this device the result came in at 8.4 !!

That made me freak out a bit, but after re-reading the instruction I realized that placing the detector 2 feet away from the sump hole may not be the right thing to do. So, I moved it closer to the middle of the basement and reset it. After a couple of days the reading came in at 4.6 .

During heavy rains the device showed readings of as high as 5.9 and it went down to 4.2 during dry weather.

Before taking any drastic measures I decided to first do some common sense maintenance tasks on the basement to at least prevent radon from entering the living area upstairs. I taped up all the cracks in the HVAC ductwork that I could find. The radon reading slowly creeped up to 4.6 due to reduced ventilation of the basement, but at least none of it was going upstairs.

I called our house inspector who did the test and he pointed out that when we inspected the house there were storage cabinets over the sump hole and along the walls, covering up the "mother earth." So I placed a piece of rubber tile over the sump hole and the reading when down to 3.2 in a couple of days.

So, what's the moral of this story ? While I can't vouch for precision of this device I learned the following:

- You need to leave it on for at least a month before you get an accurate reading.
- There is no need to freak out over "mildly" high readings. First, the device is not that accurate. Professional continuous testing devices cost thousands. So, don't take what it says as an absolute measure. Trust, but verify. Second, the US EPA requires mitigation at 4.0 -- but based on my research European agencies require mitigation at 7.0 and in some parts of Canada as high as 20.0 .
- If the reading is mildly high, say between 4 and 6 like it was in my case, then common sense maintenance tasks may take care of the problem. For example, covering up the sump hole with a piece of rubber tile helped bring the reading down to under 4.0 for us.

What radon mitigation people don't tell you is that you can cut your radiation exposure in half just by circulating the air in your basement. Moving the air around encourages the plate-out (settlement) of charged daughter particles of radon decay. It doesn't reduce the radon itself, but it encourages the actual dangerous stuff to stick to the walls and furniture instead of your lungs. The decay of the daughter particles is measured in minutes, and not even days. There is a guy who patented a ceiling fan as a means of mitigating radon. So, the point is -- mild increases in radon levels can be mitigated cheaply, if not for free.

To conclude, I find this device useful in general as a tool for measuring earth gases entering the basement. Besides radon there is a lot more harmful stuff that may be seeping in that you need to worry about. Ground water carries all sorts of disgusting stuff and in some areas of the country mildly high radon levels are the least of your worries (think arsenic, mercury, MTBE, etc.) So, if the Safety Siren is telling you you have mildly high radon readings it probably means you have mildly high levels of all sorts of other disgusting crap in your basement. Common sense methods of circulating the air, covering up the exposure to dirt, etc. is enough to control the problem.

I have used the device in short-term mode for the last few weeks, and have found it to be useful for judging general radon levels, but not the accuracy achieved by professional testing equipment. It registered 6.4 in my basement after we insulated the house. I had a mitigation system installed and the next readings were 1.0 after 2 days wait for the system to work. I decided to have a professional come in and do testing - and over the course of the 3 days he left his equipment to run, I had the Siren placed right next to it with a memory reset. His equipment, post mitigation, averaged 0.2, and the siren showed 1.0. Not a huge discrepancy, but one that would have prompted me to explore more mitigation options using the Siren alone, as I wanted the level in my house to be that of average outdoor air - 0.4. The EPA standard of 4.0 is just plain not safe - in fact they say that you should get it as close to .4 as possible. I will continue to use the device in my basement for the longer term. However, read the fine print in the manual about calibration. Professional units need to be calibrated to read radon levels accurately almost on a yearly basis. This unit can be re-calibrated for a fee of $75, and you need to send it back to the company. So it may not be very useful after a year, although it is cheaper to re-calibrate than to purchase a new one. I have also seen online that you need to vacuum out the grills on the unit once a month, as the glass technology used tends to let particles accumulate.

My suggestion is to back up your readings with a professional if you want to see dead accurate results. My professional test over 3 days cost $115. And if you have granite counter tops in your kitchen, do yourself a favor and have them test for radioactivity (and therefore radon). All granite contains uranium, I have found, and it could contribute to radon levels. Luckily, the absolute black granite I have had negligible radioactivity above background levels - but the possibility of higher readings is out there, if very slim. Peace of mind is of paramount importance to me though.

If you're interested in a radon monitor, I'd give this one a close look. Radon detection does not seem to be an exact science, so I'm not sure any test is 100% reliable.

The Safety Siren Pro 3 is very sensitive to things like stereos and fluorescent lighting, and you don't want it near doors and heating registers, which really narrows down the spots to put it. If you ignore their guidelines in the manual, as I intentionally did at first to get it in the right spot, funny readings or error messages will result. Our first reading was 33 pCi/L. Then came error messages. Then I followed the instructions, found a good spot that met their specs, and since then it has worked fine.

How reliable is it? I have three sets of data from three different methods of radon testing in our house. I do not know which is most reliable, but here are the results. A professional radon test with a continuous monitor, closed house, was done in June. The basic levels were between 2 and 3, but with high levels and a peak of 27 during a thunderstorm. The average was 9. That taught us that averages can be misleading, and made us pay attention to radon in this house. The hourly readings from that professional monitor were much more useful, showing a house that was good in good weather and bad in stormy weather.

Following extensive work in a crawl space that had never had any work, not even a vapor barrier, we tested again, closed house. This time with the Safety Siren Pro. Readings were .3 or .4, very low. Since then we've lived in normal conditions, windows open, etc. Readings have been between .3 and 2.3 in our bedroom.

We did a direct comparison from Sept. 19 to Sept. 23, using a Pro-Lab test kit from the hardware store ($10 plus $30 for lab fee). The two canisters were analyzed as .3 and .1 for that period. The Siren Pro ranged between 1.9 and 2.3 during the same time. Which is correct? Don't know. And it's a big difference -- 1000%. On the other hand, both methods are suggesting low radon levels (for Indiana these are low). The Siren Pro shows an average of 1.0 for the last six weeks. (It has a button to push to see long-term average and short-term average levels.)

Since none of the three tests suggests that the house has high radon in good weather or since the crawl space work, it is not unlikely that the Siren Pro is approximately correct, good enough for our purposes. And since it appears to be the highest of the three tests, conditions taken into consideration, it may be giving us a margin of error in the direction of caution.

We would buy it again. Not saying we know for sure any of these tests are fullproof, but we have done nothing to mitigate radon other than the crawlspace work that had to be done anyway (perimeter drains, vapor barrier, sump pump, and running all downspouts from the roof far away from the house). So the Siren Pro has let us avoid the cost of radon mitigation, plus the annual cost of lost energy by running a continuous fan on a vent pipe in the crawl space.

It's very easy to use, and can be used forever, so in that sense it is easy to recommend it. The EPA sees it as a valid test. For $150 plus $40 plus $119, you can get a professional test, canister test, and the Safety Siren, and that may be $300 well spent if the professional test indicates high radon.

Assuming it's somewhat accurate, the Safety Siren lets you gather all kinds of valuable data while controlling different variables --ventilation in the basement, ventilation in the house, sealing gaps where radon might enter, etc. And you can also note variances in outside temperature and humidity and their effects.

Radon is not a big issue in the area I live but since my wife and I recently moved into a bedroom in our basement I decided not to take any chances. I was looking at all of the Radon test kits when I ran across the HS71512 Electronic Radon detector, from Safety Siren. The idea of purchasing a tester that will give continuous readings over time just made sense. After researching this device I found that it had received many good reviews so I ordered one up.

There is not much to installing this device. The most important thing is determining the best place to mount it. The manual says "The detector should be placed in the lowest living area of the home, in a location where it will not be disturbed." It also notes that the location of the detector should be at least 3 feet from windows, doors, or any other potential openings in the exterior walls. It should be mounted at least 1 foot from exterior walls and at least 20 inches from the floor. The detector should not be installed near heating and air conditioning vents, doors, fans, windows or any other draft producing items. You also cannot place the detector on metal, granite or slate, as these materials can produce false readings. I hung mine from a floor joist in the utility room of our basement and plugged it in. The unit only comes with a 10 ft. power cable (unit does not have the ability to run on batteries) so you need to keep this in mind when choosing a mounting location. When plugged in the detector runs a short self-test, followed by four short chirps to acknowledge that the unit is functioning properly.

After 48 hours passed, the LED display showed a reading of 1.6 pCi/L (Pico Curies per Liter), which is way below the caution level of 4 pCi/L. Short-term readings display a 7 day radon average, while long-term readings give an average since the unit was last powered up or reset. We have had our Safety Siren Pro 3 Radon Detector installed and running for the past 3 months now and it has been working as expected. The highest levels seem to show up when humidity is the highest. Our highest reading was 2.4 pCi/L while the lowest reading was 1.2 pCi/L. Even at the highest reading I am confident that my family and I are safe in our home, as the EPA states that prolonged exposure to radon gas levels of 4pCi/L or above can cause lung cancer and other illnesses.

The primary features and specifications of the HS71512 Safety Siren Pro 3 Radon Detector are as follows:

* Clear, easy to read LED radon level display
* Displays radon levels from 0.1 to 999.9 pCi/L
* Samples air continuously and updated reading display once every hour.
* Short-term reading displays average radon gas levels over past 7 days.
* Long-term reading display average radon gas levels since last powered on or reset, up to a maximum of 5 years. Unit resets long-term average reading after 5 years.
* Audible alarm sounds if the long term level reaches 4 pCi/L or higher, or if the short-term level remains at or above 4 pCi/L for 30 consecutive days.
* Detector runs self-test every 24 hours and displays error if test fails.
* US EPA evaluated and meets performance criteria for the continuous radon protocol.
* Accuracy = +/- 20% pCi/L
* Operating Environment = 32 ° to 158 ° F (0 ° to 70 ° C)
* Power Source: Input = 120v AC at 9 watts / Output = 18v DC/200mA
* Sensor Type = Ionization Chamber
* Dimensions: 4.7" x 3.1" x 2.1"
* Weight: 8 oz.
* 1 year limited warranty

Although Radon is not a big threat in my area, I am very happy that I purchased this detector. It gives us the peace of mind that we needed, so we would not always wonder if my wife and I or our children were in danger. The device is extremely easy to install and use. Once plugged in you can leave it in place, to monitor your home over weeks, months or even years. The manual does recommend moving the unit to different areas of your basement, to assure that your entire basement is free from high Radon gas levels. Many people have noticed high ratings near a sump hole in their basement (which we do not have), so I certainly recommend that people test levels in this area of their home. If anyone notices elevated Radon gas levels in their home, they should look for any cracks in their foundation and basement walls and seal them immediately. If the levels are extremely high, or if the Radon gas levels remain above 4 pCi/L even after sealing cracks and holes in your basement, you should contact a Radon Technician as soon as possible. They will likely need to install a Radon evacuation system in your home.

I am giving the Safety Siren Pro 3 Radon Detector 5 stars, for ease of installation, flawless functionality, and for value. This detector may seem a bit pricey to many people but you can't put a price tag on your family's health and safety. It could save your life and the lives of everyone in your household.

Safety Siren Pro 3 Radon Detectors, EPA Evaluated

Sounded good, BUT...........

Not properly calibrated and Not approved for use in NJ by the State! Gives readings much higher than carbon absorption kits and therefore unreliable!! Wish I could return it for a refund!!!!!