We are in a good stretch of weather, so just a general reminder to get lots of fresh air into your home. Not only will your tank pH be happy, but there is lots of new evidence that indoor co2 of even 1000ppm for long periods of time can have health impacts to humans and pets.
If you do not know what your indoor co2 levels are, you can get meters on amazon for $50-100 that are pretty decent. Outdoor air is around 400 and I would try and get as close to this as possible.
We are lucky in Colorado that even in the dead of winter we have days that get into the high 40s or 50s which are great days to open windows. Conversely, nearly every night is in the low 60s to air out in the summer. We are talking about just exchanging air and not cooling/warming your home, so just a few minutes of open windows with a good breeze is enough every few days and your furnace or AC can quickly recover from this. It is worth a few pennies in natural gas to get the waste out of your home.
Running your AC and not opening windows for two months can lower your tank pH by .4, or more, and bring co2 levels in your home over 1300 with just a few humans and pets. More humans, pets or longer amounts of time can have higher co2 levels. Fatigue, hard time sleeping are the first symptom - this was likely always the issue at large family gatherings and not chemicals in turkey that don't seem to do anything when eaten in a sandwich without 30 people in your home. Headaches, loss of muscle mass and a few other non-fun things can happen with even higher levels or more exposed time periods. Children are affected too.
Most schools are required to stay under 800 ppm of co2, but even lower is better. This is going to be a larger and larger issue with the earth warming and people using conditioned air more than ever.
If you do not know what your indoor co2 levels are, you can get meters on amazon for $50-100 that are pretty decent. Outdoor air is around 400 and I would try and get as close to this as possible.
We are lucky in Colorado that even in the dead of winter we have days that get into the high 40s or 50s which are great days to open windows. Conversely, nearly every night is in the low 60s to air out in the summer. We are talking about just exchanging air and not cooling/warming your home, so just a few minutes of open windows with a good breeze is enough every few days and your furnace or AC can quickly recover from this. It is worth a few pennies in natural gas to get the waste out of your home.
Running your AC and not opening windows for two months can lower your tank pH by .4, or more, and bring co2 levels in your home over 1300 with just a few humans and pets. More humans, pets or longer amounts of time can have higher co2 levels. Fatigue, hard time sleeping are the first symptom - this was likely always the issue at large family gatherings and not chemicals in turkey that don't seem to do anything when eaten in a sandwich without 30 people in your home. Headaches, loss of muscle mass and a few other non-fun things can happen with even higher levels or more exposed time periods. Children are affected too.
Most schools are required to stay under 800 ppm of co2, but even lower is better. This is going to be a larger and larger issue with the earth warming and people using conditioned air more than ever.
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