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Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 07 Oct 2021, 08:22
by Merilyn1
Just wondering if anyone has purchased a CO2 meter recently?

Looks like it may be a good investment to check CO2 levels as an indication of ventilation in classrooms as students return to face to face learning. I have found meters that cost $450 or ones that are $30 (not going there). Would appreciate some recommendations.

Re: Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 08 Oct 2021, 19:28
by Anna Z
Would love to know what you finally end up with.

Re: Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 11 Oct 2021, 07:35
by Merilyn1
At this point in time, I'm looking at a CO2 probe for our (Vernier) data loggers. The advantage to this is it will graph the results, so could monitor the levels for a whole period.
I will only buy one and do some random checks. Balancing out our likely risk of poor ventilation (low risk) with cost of the probes, the need for them long term (low), puts me in a position where I am comfortable with this approach.
Life - all about risk assessments.

Re: Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 11 Oct 2021, 10:57
by Anna Z
...and the bonus would be you get a CO2 probe for future pracs in class. We use Pasco CO2 probes and I would go that option. So same as your thoughts with the Vernier gear. last year I set one up just to see how they went in one of our poorly ventilated labs (nothing to do with Covid)...and surprise surprise the levels were low even with a double class. I'll see if I can dig up the graphs.

Re: Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 11 Oct 2021, 11:37
by bigmack
Interesting
Could explain the yawning in doubles

Re: Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 11 Oct 2021, 12:06
by Merilyn1
I'd blame the teacher! :giggle:

Stuart from Scientrific replied to my email and, if any of you know him, he is not the kind of guy to make things up to get a sale. He certainly confirmed, backed up with references, the best practice was to check over a number of hours. Random, one-off measurements may be misleading.
I've put it to the Headmaster. Hoping Science won't have to pay for all of it as the probes are a bit pricey. Still a whole lot cheaper than buying air purifiers that may not actually work or may not be needed. I'm confident that one probe with some random testing will be sufficient for our needs.

Re: Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 12 Oct 2021, 08:06
by RosalieL
I will be honest and say I have not been keeping up with regulations/requirements for CO2 monitoring. Is the idea behind this that if CO2 rises then there is not enough ventilation and COVID is more likely to be transmitted if present? I might suggest this to our school as well. I am not sure if we have a CO2 sensor or not. Out data logger is old and we can never get it to work anyway!

Re: Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 12 Oct 2021, 08:33
by Merilyn1
You're spot on Rosalie - measuring CO2 levels is an indication of the ventilation in the room. If levels increase when people are in the room, it can show that ventilation is inadequate.
Bing Lee are selling an indoor weather station which also has a CO2 monitor (Netatmo). Airmet are selling CO2 monitors for $200 but they are out of stock.
Look at Ozsage's website, they recently released a paper on ventilation and COVID controls. It gives a recommended CO2 level for indoors.
Victoria's Dept of Ed has spent a lot of money and got a lot of publicity over their bulk purchase of air purifiers. You may not need these, monitoring CO2 levels is a first step and only if these levels can't be reduced by ventilation should you consider air purifiers. You also need to ensure the unit is big enough for the room.
The IEU is already questioning schools to see if they are monitoring CO2 levels in classrooms. Given the publicity from Victoria, I would expect a lot of parent inquiries, too.

For here, I have gone ahead with the purchase of the Vernier probe. The headmaster has agreed to split the cost with Science.

Re: Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 13 Oct 2021, 11:55
by Anna Z
Merilyn1 wrote: 12 Oct 2021, 08:33 You're spot on Rosalie - measuring CO2 levels is an indication of the ventilation in the room. If levels increase when people are in the room, it can show that ventilation is inadequate.
Bing Lee are selling an indoor weather station which also has a CO2 monitor (Netatmo). Airmet are selling CO2 monitors for $200 but they are out of stock.
Look at Ozsage's website, they recently released a paper on ventilation and COVID controls. It gives a recommended CO2 level for indoors.
Victoria's Dept of Ed has spent a lot of money and got a lot of publicity over their bulk purchase of air purifiers. You may not need these, monitoring CO2 levels is a first step and only if these levels can't be reduced by ventilation should you consider air purifiers. You also need to ensure the unit is big enough for the room.
The IEU is already questioning schools to see if they are monitoring CO2 levels in classrooms. Given the publicity from Victoria, I would expect a lot of parent inquiries, too.

For here, I have gone ahead with the purchase of the Vernier probe. The headmaster has agreed to split the cost with Science.
Excellent outcome, get ready to fire up some respiration pracs next year :)

Re: Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 13 Oct 2021, 13:35
by Merilyn1
I will definitely be promoting the use of this probe! I might even put together another ppt with instructions. I have done a few for various probes in the last few months, trying to get teachers to use the equipment we spend a lot of money on.

Re: Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 19 Oct 2021, 14:44
by Merilyn1
To give an update. I received the CO2 probe yesterday from Scientrific. Really impressed as I only ordered it last Wednesday.

I've connected it up to a data logger, along with a temperature probe which I thought may add some value to the CO2 monitoring. I've tested it out around the place just to make sure the outside readings were around normal - a bit over 400ppm.
This afternoon I set it up in a Kindergarten room and left it to do the collection run for an hour. All good, with just a spike near the end when the kids would have been leaving the room - I daresay some kiddo has walked over to look.
I have now downloaded the graph and data to my laptop. I'm creating a folder and will name each file by the room, date and time. This will be invaluable if we get any enquiries. The ability to save the data like this is one thing I would not have been able to do with a stand alone meter.
It will be worth the expense.

Re: Carbon Dioxide Meter

Posted: 19 Oct 2021, 15:36
by RosalieL
That's great that they came so quickly! Sounds like fun to play with :)