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How do you know if the air quality in your house is good or bad? The short answer: You can’t always tell on your own. Enter the best air quality monitors, which can help track everything from the humidity inside to sensing carbon monoxide.
Whether you have allergies or just want peace of mind when you’re not home, there are a handful of reasons you might need or want a new air quality monitor in your home. The best new air quality sensors and gadgets can now connect to your smartphone to send you important alerts and notifications when detecting harmful fumes and toxins in rooms around your house.
But it’s not only gasses that can cause issues – especially for highly sensitive people, there are multiple (and often invisible) factors that can fire up allergic reactions and make it harder to breathe. That can include mold, mildew, and the weather outside, particularly in areas that are close to wildfires or in a polluted area. As the East Coast deals with now-hazardous levels of air pollution from the Quebec wildfires, people are picking up air quality monitors to make sure their homes are safe from smoke, smog and the harmful particles that can often come with it.
Investing in a new air quality monitor can help you make sure that the air in your home is always fresh and safe. Here’s what you need to know.
Air Quality Monitor Buying Guide
From how they work to their features, here’s what you need to know about choosing your next air quality monitor.
Notifications: Most of the best air quality monitors will ping to your phone or mobile device, but some are harder to read than others, and at a crucial time, a few seconds can make a big difference. Plus if children are checking these as well, graphs and charts and meters might not be clear to them. In that case, go with one that’s unmistakable, like a happy face vs. sad face. A large display area, around 2-3 inches, will also be much easier for anyone to read right on the unit.
Monitoring: There are multiple tiny air sensors in these, and often a small fan to keep air moving and get real-time measurements of the toxins in the air, from mold to pollen, formaldehyde and more. It’s also helpful to visually see the remaining battery level, temperature (indoors and out), humidity, and volatile chemicals.
Instructions: Measuring the air quality inside is important, especially if there’s an emergency – but then what? Knowing is only half the battle, and that’s why some of these can instruct or advise you what to do when it senses that chemicals are building up to a harmful level. That might include opening a window, wearing a mask indoors, or even evacuating in extreme situations.
Power: A lithium battery is best if you plan to be moving it around the house or to different locations, but if it’s staying in one spot, a wired USB plug will be just fine.
We all take about 20,000 breaths per day and according to the EPA, spend about 87 percent of our lives indoors. Having one or these on hand ensures you know what’s going into your lungs, and can breathe a little easier.
If the air quality monitors detect high levels of air pollution in your space, you can try using an air purifier to eliminate the harmful particulate matter. Of course, you should always consult authorities if you begin to have trouble breathing or start noticing high levels of toxicity in your space.
