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Weather Station Hardware => Air Quality Sensors => Topic started by: parkernathan on September 04, 2022, 11:07:55 PM

Title: Air Quality Monitoring Question
Post by: parkernathan on September 04, 2022, 11:07:55 PM
I currently use a Davis AirLink to monitor the air quality in my backyard (since I work for AEM, plus we’re looking at feeding the data into AEM’s enterprise map tools). I also check it with BreezoMeter daily (I have a BreezoMeter Premium subscription).

Sometimes the Davis AirLink can be 2 to 3 times higher than BreezoMeter since there’s some activity going on in the neighborhood that I’ll only say publicly is illegal (and I hope is resolved soon since it’s dramatically affecting the air quality and health here).

I haven’t been consulting the EPA’s AirNow website since it seems their nearest sensor is 50 miles from me, and I don’t know if it would accurately reflect my city.

I also haven’t invested in a PurpleAir sensor yet nor consult their website since their nearest sensor is also almost 50 miles from me. I also don’t know if the PurpleAir would do anything differently from my Davis AirLink now.

I have two Davis AirLinks at opposite ends of the house indoors as well. In the past, the readings could get high at times, but I just invested in two large whole home air purifiers at opposite ends of the house, and now the Davis AirLinks read zero most of the time, so it seems the purifiers are working.

Is there any reason for me to incorporate checking the EPA AirNow website into my daily air quality check, and is there any reason for me to consider a PurpleAir sensor?

Thanks!
Title: Re: Air Quality Monitoring Question
Post by: vinceskahan on October 22, 2022, 01:25:57 PM
I'd save the money unless you have other reasons to fiddle with a PurpleAir.

FWIW - I have a PA outside here near (formerly super-smoky) Seattle so I splurged for an AirLink to be an inside sensor and backup if the outside PA ever fails. As a test, I colocated the AirLink outside for a day+ and found it read basically identically to the PA.

Only difference I can think of is the outside PA has two sensors and the Davis has one.  I know there are other threads here with comparisons of the sensors each uses etc. but they read identically for me.
Title: Re: Air Quality Monitoring Question
Post by: parkernathan on October 22, 2022, 01:55:39 PM
Good info. Great to know. Thanks!