We are a North Carolina 501-c-3 Not-For-Profit in the third academic year of this pilot project. We are now expanding during school year 2019/2020 beyond our several pilot neighboring school districts, and attempting to go statewide.
Our staff and leadership are mostly volunteers, and none of them, or the Pollution Detectives Inc. receive any income from any of the dealers of the equipment we loan out.
We currently have access to an inventory of AirAdvice monitors to investigate Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). There are several generations of AirAdvice monitors.
We loan (for free) North Carolina parents, students and teachers the AirAdvice Model 5100 IAQ Monitor . Should other vendors make available equipment of equal quality we are open to adding that to our inventory.
Interested users from other states can contact us here to explore other financial arrangements (like paying the shipping costs or similar) that might work. It is also possible that AirAdvice may have other creative thoughts about how you can gain access to their equipment.
We have discovered that many of the lower priced (several hundred dollars) monitors available at home improvement stores and over the internet are often not calibrated, and in our experience can give inaccurate readings. Our project will not survive if you/we report to school officials results which indicate learning is being reduced, or children’s health endangered, only to be discredited when school officials bring in more sophisticated (expensive) equipment to challenge your findings.
Your/our findings have to be bullet-proof.
The AirAdvice model 5100 meter is a full-featured device for measuring inside air for dust/particles, chemical pollutants, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, temperature and relative humidity. The results can be presented in graphic form covering 7 days of results.
Indoor air quality (IAQ) problems range from stuffy air, musty or other odors, allergies, asthma, coughing, drafty air, and cold or hot spots. One of the little known issues it can help uncover is levels of “stuffiness” that lowers mental functioning – so this tool can detect conditions that slows down student learning in classrooms.
The monitor collects IAQ data continuously, stores it in 1-minute intervals, and sends that data to the AirAdvice servers via its built-in land line modem. When not connected, the monitor can store data for up to 14 days.
Simple to use, the monitor plugs into a wall outlet, a fan starts taking in the room air, the electronics sample it, and it is then expelled. The resulting data is ready to upload in 30 minutes. It takes a few more minutes for the servers to interpret the data and prepare the report. And it can be deployed with additional monitors to provide a complete picture of IAQ and comfort.
The resulting reports tell you what was measured, why it was measured (why it is a concern), what was found, and, in the event of a health, safety or comfort concern, what product solutions are appropriate.
It is important that once plugged in it is left undisturbed, or the resulting findings are not reliable.
To learn more about the importance of uncovering the issues this monitor senses, click here
