Jestersix

‘Tis the (fire) season - Air Quality monitor build

thesassyindian

thesassyindian

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Given that fire season is coming early this year, I’m planning on building an indoor air quality monitor. Here’s a tentative feature list:
  1. Particle/ESP32 (WiFi)
  2. PM2.5 AQI
  3. CO2
  4. Temperature
  5. Humidity
  6. Time
  7. 3.5” LCD / ePaper display
  8. PurpleAir API to display closest outdoor sensor AQI + temperature
  9. Email notification for abnormal readings
  10. Auto turn on air purifier
  11. Audible alarm (maybe not?)
  12. 3D Printed enclosure
  13. Intranet Webpage / Graphana interface
If y’all have any other ideas on what I can implement in this, I’m all ears!

Cheers!
 
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While I am a fan of diy, I also like outsourcing when there is a good solution. I check purple air and enough people have quality monitors around me, I get a really good moving average. My dad is really hard to get presents for. So we got him his own outdoor purple air monitor.

Also, when you can taste the air, or the sky turns orange, it's bad :)

What would you plan on doing differently when there is a bad or moderate air day that you wouldn't normally do I guess is what I'm asking? Or are you using this as an early warning system?

I like the focus on emergency prevention, but my two cents would be to spend time on a power backup solution for when pg&e cuts it.
 
H2OPlayar said:
While I am a fan of diy, I also like outsourcing when there is a good solution. I check purple air and enough people have quality monitors around me, I get a really good moving average. My dad is really hard to get presents for. So we got him his own outdoor purple air monitor.

Also, when you can taste the air, or the sky turns orange, it's bad :)

What would you plan on doing differently when there is a bad or moderate air day that you wouldn't normally do I guess is what I'm asking? Or are you using this as an early warning system?

I like the focus on emergency prevention, but my two cents would be to spend time on a power backup solution for when pg&e cuts it.
Click to expand...
Aah yes, forgot to add that part in - automatically turn on my air purifier / hepa filter!

Also, my tank is tiny, so I have a computer UPS to keep my only wavemaker running :)
 
thesassyindian said:
Given that fire season is coming early this year, I’m planning on building an indoor air quality monitor. Here’s a tentative feature list:
  1. Particle/ESP32 (WiFi)
  2. PM2.5 AQI
  3. CO2
  4. Temperature
  5. Humidity
  6. Time
  7. 3.5” LCD / ePaper display
  8. PurpleAir API to display closest outdoor sensor AQI + temperature
  9. Email notification for abnormal readings
  10. Auto turn on air purifier
  11. Audible alarm (maybe not?)
  12. 3D Printed enclosure
If y’all have any other ideas on what I can implement in this, I’m all ears!

Cheers!
Click to expand...

For "Auto turn on air purifier" I'd imagine just publishing the readings to an MQTT server would be enough. A home assistant automation setup could easily turn on/off an MQTT enabled switch (iESPHome-based Sonoff switch for example).
 
tygunn said:
For "Auto turn on air purifier" I'd imagine just publishing the readings to an MQTT server would be enough. A home assistant automation setup could easily turn on/off an MQTT enabled switch (iESPHome-based Sonoff switch for example).
Click to expand...
Precisely! Either MQTT / IFTTT / WEMO API . I’ll evaluate the easiest option when I’m writing the code for this. MQTT does seem easiest.
 
thesassyindian said:
Precisely! Either MQTT / IFTTT / WEMO API . I’ll evaluate the easiest option when I’m writing the code for this. MQTT does seem easiest.
Click to expand...
I've got an IQAir indoor air quality monitor; it shows the current indoor/outdoor AQI as well as indoor CO2. Having this available in an easy to see display is super useful, but the display isn't very large.

I've been considering something similar to this except with a larger screen hanging over the front door so I know current conditions if I'm about to head out.
I've got a purpleair sensor and have been meaning to query it locally on my network and push the current conditions to an MQTT server. In my case I want to be able to automatically shut off the outdoor air exchanger when the outdoor air quality is really bad.
 
tygunn said:
I've got an IQAir indoor air quality monitor; it shows the current indoor/outdoor AQI as well as indoor CO2. Having this available in an easy to see display is super useful, but the display isn't very large.

I've been considering something similar to this except with a larger screen hanging over the front door so I know current conditions if I'm about to head out.
I've got a purpleair sensor and have been meaning to query it locally on my network and push the current conditions to an MQTT server. In my case I want to be able to automatically shut off the outdoor air exchanger when the outdoor air quality is really bad.
Click to expand...
There are a lot of nice I2C/SPI +3in LCD screens available on Adafruit/Amazon/Digi-Key.
 
Cost estimate:
1620679523493.png


Compared to:
1620679561361.png
 
Ok I realize this is a DIY thread. And I realize that the point of DIY is to plan and make something, not just buy it.

But I have a couple of these filters and they do monitor air quality and automatically kick into higher speeds when air quality declines. Plus they are pretty powerful, high-quality, easy to clean/replace filters.

Amazon.com: LEVOIT Smart Wi-Fi Air Purifier Large Room, H13 True HEPA Filter, Smoke Eater and Odor Eliminator, Cleaners for Allergies and Pets, Mold Pollen Dust, Works with Alexa, LV-PUR131S, White: Home & Kitchen

Buy LEVOIT Smart Wi-Fi Air Purifier Large Room, H13 True HEPA Filter, Smoke Eater and Odor Eliminator, Cleaners for Allergies and Pets, Mold Pollen Dust, Works with Alexa, LV-PUR131S, White: Everything Else - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
smile.amazon.com
 
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JVU said:
Ok I realize this is a DIY thread. And I realize that the point of DIY is to plan and make something, not just buy it.

But I have a couple of these filters and they do monitor air quality and automatically kick into higher speeds when air quality declines. Plus they are pretty powerful, high-quality, easy to clean/replace filters.

Amazon.com: LEVOIT Smart Wi-Fi Air Purifier Large Room, H13 True HEPA Filter, Smoke Eater and Odor Eliminator, Cleaners for Allergies and Pets, Mold Pollen Dust, Works with Alexa, LV-PUR131S, White: Home & Kitchen

Buy LEVOIT Smart Wi-Fi Air Purifier Large Room, H13 True HEPA Filter, Smoke Eater and Odor Eliminator, Cleaners for Allergies and Pets, Mold Pollen Dust, Works with Alexa, LV-PUR131S, White: Everything Else - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
smile.amazon.com
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up, have been trying to do some research on air filters before fire season gets here, also having a hard time figuring out which ones have affordable replacement filters, seems half the ones that I've considered as "good" always happen to have air filters that cost so much part of me considers just tossing the old unit and buying a new one.

That said, are these loud? Like would you put this in a bedroom? We have one that when turned on any setting other than low it is just too loud., even in the living room.
 
IME all HEPA filters I've tried are loud when on high. Also all that I've tried are not bad at the medium setting. Between my office and my home I have IQAIR, Winix, Honeywell, and Levoit filters. The most expensive is the IQAIR and that one is really loud on the high setting. I think I have a total of 14 HEPA filters between my office and home.
 
I've used these filters for a few years (my version is old and not smart though). We wash the exterior cloth at least once a week but keep extras on hand like filter sock rotation. It has 3 speeds, quiet, medium and loud. We replace the the filter at least twice a year and it is about $50ish for the replacement (we order on amazon). Prior to using the Blue filter, we would tape a standard AC/heater house filter, like 3M, to the back of a box fan :D.

www.blueair.com

Blue family air purifiers | Blueair

Explore Blueair Blue family air purifiers and learn how they improve indoor air quality with HEPASilent™ technology and simple one-button control.
www.blueair.com www.blueair.com

I think they work well? The exterior cloth and internal filter sure do get dirty before replacing.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Thanks for the heads up, have been trying to do some research on air filters before fire season gets here, also having a hard time figuring out which ones have affordable replacement filters, seems half the ones that I've considered as "good" always happen to have air filters that cost so much part of me considers just tossing the old unit and buying a new one.

That said, are these loud? Like would you put this in a bedroom? We have one that when turned on any setting other than low it is just too loud., even in the living room.
Click to expand...
Yes, I have one in the bedroom too. The loudness depends on the speed. The magic with these is that when set to auto they only go the speed they need to be to keep the air clear, so usually on a low/quiet speed (almost silent). But if needed they rev up for a while to clear the air again.

I am happy with these. I have other brands and other models from the same brand. The one I linked to LV-PUR131 is the best one as far as I’m concerned. The Wifi connection to your phone is a gimmick I don’t use but some might like. They have a non-Wifi one but it is slightly more expensive for some reason (I have both non Wifi and Wifi, they are the same otherwise).
 
I also specifically want CO2 monitoring, and besides, I love to make overkill DIY stuff :p

That said, here's my first iteration of the display. There's certainly an information overload, but hey, I like numbers!

Still need to tweak the layout, like text/number alignment and such.

If any of you have any suggestions on improving the readability of all this data, please let me know!

1622152748119.png
 
Is there a fire/barbeque near you? I'm surprised the indoor air quality is better than the outdoor. Ditto with the CO2(?) can't imagine it would be more outside than inside
 
sfsuphysics said:
Is there a fire/barbeque near you? I'm surprised the indoor air quality is better than the outdoor. Ditto with the CO2(?) can't imagine it would be more outside than inside
Click to expand...
I’m right on an arterial road - El Camino Real so it gets pretty bad during peak hours so would assume that the trend holds true.

That said, the PM2.5 data in the above picture for indoors is a proxy value (indoor sensor isn’t wired in yet).
 
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