That put us a hair over the avg but under what one would remediate to, basically least possible risk and no real way to reduce it.
My biggest issue in my gym, besides CO2, is humidity. I can easily see a 30%+ increase in the warmer months and it stays around for a bit as well, sensor in gym and tv room. It’s not quite warm enough down there to do mini splits for cooling so probably stick with the plan of a good dehumidifier, setup in a way that it draws from one area and exhausts to another for some circulation as well. (forget if I got into that above)
Yes, 400ppm is frequently the ambient outdoor concentration, subject to where you are located.
It’s hard to comment on your specific example, but residential codes (which I am no expert in) typically have relied on the normal daily opening and closing of exterior doors to allow some fresh air into the home, and that was never very scientific. I think the historic thought was always just go open a window if you want to.
The sensor does read locally where it is placed, and circulating the central HVAC will help even out the concentration throughout the home faster, but its never going to get down to the ambient level without the introduction of some fresh air.
Newer construction is significantly tighter than old doors/windows/etc. and some updates to residential codes now are requiring one or more small fans in a bathroom or similar to run continuously 24/7 to draw or push fresh air into the home.
Interesting video. I didn’t know there was an active detector for radon. We also have a ‘grandfathered’ large range from before they required ‘make-up air’ for the gigantic vent system. Maybe I should look more into that because of the issues from the vacuum it can create: Those exhaust hoods can reverse flue gasses from furnaces, water heaters, and fireplaces too!
So because I’m a data nerd and love tracking and measuring things, I picked up an Aranet 4 from Amazon. A little shocked and unsettled with the results. Baseline for my apartment is over 1,000ppm. I set it up in my living room and it’s settled around 1,100ppm with me sitting on the couch watching TV. It’s a 1,400sq foot apartment and I do have the heat on, 2 people and 3 cats. That’s seems rather high for not doing anything special.
Was going to test it in the workout room today during a SweetSpot ride but now I’m rather scared by how high it’s going to go.
What can I do or use to get my normal levels down?
Edit: Interestingly, I just noticed my air purifier was unplugged. It has a “smart air” cleaner feature thing that changes the fan speed based on how dirty it sense the air. I plugged it back in and turned it on and it immediately went into the red, and went into turbo mode.
I wish, I’m too much of a weenie. It’s too cold right now. My bike is actually right next to the window so I do when the weather isn’t too bad but right now it’s painfully cold outside. I’ve tried just cracking the window and even then I get cold. I guess it’s a pick your poison choice (pun intended).
Here’s my workout today. 4x15 @90%. Workout room is our spare bedroom, which is about 150 square feet. Baseline in my apartment settled around 1,100ppm. The little dip into the green before starting was me taking the device outside to make sure it was working correctly. Started with the door closed by accident.
Reference points as follows:
A - got on bike and started warmup, no fans
B - turned on fans, small dip as the air got circulated
C - finished 2nd 15min interval, then opened the door
D - workout done
E - opened window
F - closed window
So I started the workout with the door closed. Depending on whether my wife is home sometimes I leave the door open and sometimes close it to spare her the sound of the trainer. Will never close the door again for a workout after the data I got. Made it 2 intervals in before I couldn’t take it (mentally). I’ve done long rides in there before so I have no doubts I was well over 4,000ppm on previous rides. Kind of freaky. The value dropped but hovered around 3000-3200 for the remainder of the workout. Fast drop after ending the workout, then really steep drop when I opened the window. It was cold out so I couldn’t leave the window open very long. And again settled around 1,100.
I opened the door after the 2nd interval, but I didn’t feel any different. It was more of a mental thing seeing 3700 and continuing to go up. I’m very curious how high I would have gotten if I left the door closed but didn’t feel like subjecting myself to that (again). Needless to say I will be leaving the door open from now on. I might try to crack a window open as well but like I said above, I’m a weenie with cold and it’s really cold right now. But maybe the health aspect can toughen me up.
Well this thread is worrying. I’ve been significantly more tired/depressed since moving into my new house about a year ago. I used to ride my trainer in the living room of prior houses. In my new house I have a mostly dedicated room however it’s shared as my office. So I basically workout for 1-5hr in the mornings and then sit at a desk for another 4-8hr. Almost always have the door closed the entire day.
It’s not a small room maybe 16x16 but has a bunch of stuff (bookshelves, desk, treadmill, trainer, etc that take up a bunch of space. It does have an attached bathroom thats maybe 6x16 that I always leave the door open to. I run that exhaust fan when I shower and a bit after to get rid of humidity so it probably removes some co2. I wonder if I should run that during workouts too, but have always been concerned about removing the cool and/or fresh air without a great source of fresh air.
I could open door to house but then dogs and/or kids come and bug me. I could open windows but winter would let in cold air and summer let in hot air. We also tend to have neighbors frequently burning stuff and/or it rains which may negatively affect air quality in the room.
Think I’ll buy a sensor at minimum to try some things.
It’s interesting to see everyone’s results pretty much line up and agree with the surprise I think everyone here has shared with their own data points (I also ordered an aranet4 to see what it looks like on my end).
While I am very interested to see the numbers, I also wonder if this is a ‘non-issue’ from an impact perspective even from a health perspective - I wonder to what point have we adapated to some of the baseline numbers we have seen considering. We (I believe) are not feeling the negative symptoms associated with the CO2 intake at the levels (Amber/Red) we are identifying (granted maybe these numbers are not absolute in terms of accuracy but the trend line is nonetheless something to go by in terms of what is being detected).
Also notable is this hasn’t been a topic in any TR podcast to date given the focus on indoor training and aside from that youtube video have not found anyone else unpacking this.
Nonetheless I will log and get that trend line mapped but I assume (for now?) this might be just be a little corner, a rabbit hole of testing and curosity - hopefully nothing to panic about (?).
Side bar - I wonder if our facination with this isn’t also an outcome of the pandemic as we have all become extra aware. WIll be interesting to see where this will go.
Good thought! I was listening to a podcast recently (Jordan Harbinger) and he had a guest on and they discussed air quality – indoor air quality in particular. CO2 was a major part of the discussion and they discussed how we often open the car window to alleviate drowsiness and how we usually attribute cold air in the face as the awakening agent The guest pointed out the real culprit is actually C02 buildup in the car and opening the window has the obvious effect.
I am now questing for air quality sensors. I do not think I have a problem along these lines (big room, plenty of fan power, HVAC fan runs regularly) in my “Little Shop of Power” but in general I would like to know about the air in my house C02 and radon in particular (the LSOP is in the basement).
I have a temperature monitor in the LSOP and I do notice an upward spike corresponding to my training sessions. Even the shorter sessions spike the temperature. So, why not spiking the CO2?
I wonder if the co2 build up is really a problem in a modern house, that is equipped with an air supply unit. I am not an expert in the area, but I remember reading that with the air supply unit in the normal mode all air inside a house is replaced with fresh air in two to three hours. Of course if you are training in a room without any air control the situation is different.
I asked my doc about this, and she laughed, but then got serious and said ‘leave the door open then if it bothers you’, and that the size of the room should make a problem with CO2 less likely unless I’m doing HOURS of riding (6 or more?). Mentioning that I can raise the temperature in the room by two degrees or more didn’t help, I got the same answer, plus maybe turning on the A/C, or opening a window (it’s been below freezing for a week with no relief coming any time soon). Well, duh, but leaving the door open allows for commotion and the dog which can cause distractions. Using the A/C doesn’t change the air, and opening a window starts a game of too warm/too cold/too warm, and promotes condensation also, etc… (First world problems?)
Could it be a problem? I’ve always thought that the ‘fog’ after a hard workout session was ‘bike brain’, expected after a hard workout, but could it be CO2? Possibly, possibly not.
Doctors deal with what might kill you. Most don’t deal with subtle things like will not rebreathing CO2 be 5% better for my training.
My wife bought one of these meters so I started measuring my workout space out of curiosity after reading topics here.
I go downstairs and look at the meter and it will read 1200 in our sealed up for the winter house. If I open the window, it will go down to 450. If I don’t open the window and do a workout, co2 will rise to 1700+ over an hour in my workout space.
This is a large open downstairs area so apparently opening a door would make little difference.
Does it make a big difference though? I’m not sure. But common sense does seem to indicate that one should open a window and maybe not train in a small, closed up room with no ventilation or hvac.
No one needs to poop their bibs for a 3 hour endurance ride.
While that might help clear CO2 from the body the concern most people have is learning how little fresh air they have in their homes. This isn’t just a workout problem. It also isn’t just about the CO2
Perhaps to encourage a good airflow, regardless of temperature, it would be worth riding with two windows open slightly, not by a lot…marginal frames and all that😜
Not necessarily. Many residential forced air systems are closed loop and don’t (intentionally) provide ventilation (fresh/outdoor) air. Ventilation air is provided by make up air for the exhaust (bath, kitchen range) fans. Or from air leaking (infiltrating) through the building assembly (with or without an exhaust fan). The old assumption was that infiltration in single family homes is enough to ventilate them.
I asked my physician about that, and she laughed. Probably not likely unless I’m really riding in a closet and there is no air available. I’ve spiked the heat in the ‘cave’, but she said I should relax on CO2 buildup.
I do have a Massomo (sp) pulse ox that shows a healthy upper 90’s saturation pretty much the entire workout/ride.
Most don’t deal with subtle things like will not rebreathing CO2 be 5% better for my training.