Customer Reviews

Safety Siren Pro Series HS71512 3 Radon Gas Detector

5 star:		(104)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The documentation I got with my house showed a radon reading above 50.0 before a mitigation system was installed and < 4.0 after it was installed.
The radon mitigation fan broke and I falsely thought painting / sealing the basement floor (years ago) would stop the radon.
After plugging in this unit I got a reading (after a few days) around 10.0 and it went up day by day. I replaced the mitigation fan when the reading was around 20.0. This unit then showed the level go down each day (took about 2 weeks to get to safe level).
Highly recommend this considering you can spend $15.00 a pop on those radon testers you mail in. One I used said I had a safe level.

Though the interface is a bit clunky the device really works great!
I would never again bother with those mail-in radon detectors again -- save to validate the machine -- as our device's values were shown to be the same. But, unlike those mail-in cans the results are delivered within the two days (the device needs that amount of time to calculate a moving average) instead of a month.
Thanks to the device I was warned of a 4.5 pico curie level in my basement. After having a radon mitigation system installed, the device showed the level dropping to 1.6.
A friend of mine, more out of curiosity, asked to borrow the device. He put it in his basement expecting nothing much. A few days later he heard a fire-alarm like siren coming from the basement. He'd forgotten about the detector. When he finally realized it was the radon detector he was shocked to find his basement had a radon level of 13! Now, he too has a radon mitigation system and the levels have dropped to around 1.0.
We calculated that we reduced our families' lung cancer mortality rates by multiples -- especially for my son whose lungs are more sensitive.

"...Mortality rate is usually expressed as deaths/100 over a lifetime of exposure (70 years 75% of the time). Does not tell you when the deaths occurred, just an estimate of how many.

4 pci/liter: 3% average mortality (e.g. 3 out of 100 people expected to die of lung cancer)
15 pci/liter: 10% average
20 pci/liter: 15% average mortality
200 pci/liter: 50% average mortality

Houses with upwards of 2000 pci/liter have been measured! Even these can be dangerous in the short term (10 years or less). Although these mortality rates seem very high, they are similar with those for things we accept as part of our everyday lives.

10 pci/liter is roughly equivalent to the risk of smoking 1/2-1 pack of cigarettes/day or having 500 chest x-rays/year.

Can also express risk as a loss of life expectancy. Tells you, how much something shortens the average (not your) life expectancy. Doesn't say when any individual will die. 15 pci/liter lowers the average life expectancy by one year (10% mortality). Smoking a pack a day reduces it by 6 years. Being 25 pounds overweight reduces it by 2 years. Automobile accidents reduce it by 2/3 years. Home and work accidents reduce it by about 100 days...."
-- GEO113 Radon Lecture Notes

One neighbor in my development had a high test off a 4-day test ($30 charge) and it sent the other homeowners out to buy more of the $30 test kits and test their own homes. I was one of those. I spent $30 to find out I was at 13. Then I did a bunch of online research and found out that 4-day tests are very misleading because they can spike for a variety of reasons like if the ground is frozen, or it rains. Both of those scenarios were in play during my test. Some of the neighbors went out and spent money on abatement and a few more tests, so they are at $90 (+ abatement) and I assume they'll be doing more tests periodically to see if the abatement is still working. I got the Pro 3 and have had it going for a week now. My test kit for $30 said my reading was 13, but after 48 hours with the Pro 3 my first reading was about half that, 7.7. Then it went down to 4.8, and now it went back up to 8.0, all within 7 days. Why not buy the Pro 3 and get a more accurate reading over time?

Works great and confirmed a test I had 3 months ago by a local firm.

Update: Almost 2 years into owning this product and still working good. I have loaned it to others in our area who have had professional firms test their basements and it is confirming their results. So far so good.

Rather than pay for another 20 dollar one-time two-day radon test after my radon mitigation system was installed, I decided to get this detector instead. It was certainly worth the investment in continuous peace of mind. Just note that you'll need to do some minor installation since the detector needs to hang from a stud in your wall. You just can't plug it into an electrical outlet. I'd recommend it for anyone who has a basement or lives in an area with high concentrations of radon, even if you've had an earlier test done, since radon levels can change over time, particularly in newer houses as they "settle" and perhaps develop cracks where radon can get in. We tested in 1998 with a one-time test and got a reading of 3.7. We tested again just recently and got a reading of 7.8, which is what caused us to install the mitigation system.

I've been using two of these continuously for years in our basement. I thought we had a mild radon problem. Readings ranging from rare 3 to as high as 7 typically 4 or 5. But it didnt follow the usual seasonal pattern. At least in my area radon readings are usually highest in the winter. Yet our readings were lowest in the winter, highest in the summer.

Then on a hunch, I wondered if maybe humidity in the basement was making this read incorrectly. Humidity is much higher in the basement in the summer. I bought a dehumidifier a month ago and since then our readings have ranged from 2-3 usually 3. You must understand that in 5 years in this home we have never before seen a reading of 2 in the basement, and 3 has been as rare as a blue moon.

I'm not sure what to believe our radon level is anymore. I plan to do more charcoal tests and a long term test to better evaluate it.

The description of the item mentions something about humidity, but I haven't been able to find anything which describes a relationship between humidity levels and what this unit reads.

Update 12/2010: I should have updated a while ago. Back in 2008 I did several canister tests both short and long term. In general the short term canister tests (several) did match the results from the device fairly closely. I then went ahead and had the radon mitigated and performed radon tests before and after. Again the results match reasonably closely. After mitigation, my unit shows a reading of 1.2-1.8 while the expensive calibrated official test shows readings around 0.6-0.8. In either case mitigation has made the level apparently safe for me although my electric bill has gone up more than expected.

It is easy to set up and to read. The instructions tell you how long you have to wait for an accurate reading, and I found the time was exact.
It is a little cheap, however, for its $100 plus price tag: The indicator panel that you need to stick on the front falls off.

I bought this gizmo a few weeks ago to monitor the basement in our new house and see if it is usable as an entertainment/gym area. In the summer when we did the radon test the result came in at 2.4 . When I first turned on this device the result came in at 8.4 !!

That made me freak out a bit, but after re-reading the instruction I realized that placing the detector 2 feet away from the sump hole may not be the right thing to do. So, I moved it closer to the middle of the basement and reset it. After a couple of days the reading came in at 4.6 .

During heavy rains the device showed readings of as high as 5.9 and it went down to 4.2 during dry weather.

Before taking any drastic measures I decided to first do some common sense maintenance tasks on the basement to at least prevent radon from entering the living area upstairs. I taped up all the cracks in the HVAC ductwork that I could find. The radon reading slowly creeped up to 4.6 due to reduced ventilation of the basement, but at least none of it was going upstairs.

I called our house inspector who did the test and he pointed out that when we inspected the house there were storage cabinets over the sump hole and along the walls, covering up the "mother earth." So I placed a piece of rubber tile over the sump hole and the reading when down to 3.2 in a couple of days.

So, what's the moral of this story ? While I can't vouch for precision of this device I learned the following:

- You need to leave it on for at least a month before you get an accurate reading.
- There is no need to freak out over "mildly" high readings. First, the device is not that accurate. Professional continuous testing devices cost thousands. So, don't take what it says as an absolute measure. Trust, but verify. Second, the US EPA requires mitigation at 4.0 -- but based on my research European agencies require mitigation at 7.0 and in some parts of Canada as high as 20.0 .
- If the reading is mildly high, say between 4 and 6 like it was in my case, then common sense maintenance tasks may take care of the problem. For example, covering up the sump hole with a piece of rubber tile helped bring the reading down to under 4.0 for us.

What radon mitigation people don't tell you is that you can cut your radiation exposure in half just by circulating the air in your basement. Moving the air around encourages the plate-out (settlement) of charged daughter particles of radon decay. It doesn't reduce the radon itself, but it encourages the actual dangerous stuff to stick to the walls and furniture instead of your lungs. The decay of the daughter particles is measured in minutes, and not even days. There is a guy who patented a ceiling fan as a means of mitigating radon. So, the point is -- mild increases in radon levels can be mitigated cheaply, if not for free.

To conclude, I find this device useful in general as a tool for measuring earth gases entering the basement. Besides radon there is a lot more harmful stuff that may be seeping in that you need to worry about. Ground water carries all sorts of disgusting stuff and in some areas of the country mildly high radon levels are the least of your worries (think arsenic, mercury, MTBE, etc.) So, if the Safety Siren is telling you you have mildly high radon readings it probably means you have mildly high levels of all sorts of other disgusting crap in your basement. Common sense methods of circulating the air, covering up the exposure to dirt, etc. is enough to control the problem.

UPDATE 3/4/09: I realized that I had the device's power supply right next to it. Moving it away from the unit lowered the radon reading by at least 1.0-2.0 pCi/L . It is now consistently below 4.0 . This is a finicky little gadget. I wouldn't rely on it as the source of all truth about radon. TRUST BUT VERIFY.

Radon is not a big issue in the area I live but since my wife and I recently moved into a bedroom in our basement I decided not to take any chances. I was looking at all of the Radon test kits when I ran across the HS71512 Electronic Radon detector, from Safety Siren. The idea of purchasing a tester that will give continuous readings over time just made sense. After researching this device I found that it had received many good reviews so I ordered one up.

There is not much to installing this device. The most important thing is determining the best place to mount it. The manual says "The detector should be placed in the lowest living area of the home, in a location where it will not be disturbed." It also notes that the location of the detector should be at least 3 feet from windows, doors, or any other potential openings in the exterior walls. It should be mounted at least 1 foot from exterior walls and at least 20 inches from the floor. The detector should not be installed near heating and air conditioning vents, doors, fans, windows or any other draft producing items. You also cannot place the detector on metal, granite or slate, as these materials can produce false readings. I hung mine from a floor joist in the utility room of our basement and plugged it in. The unit only comes with a 10 ft. power cable (unit does not have the ability to run on batteries) so you need to keep this in mind when choosing a mounting location. When plugged in the detector runs a short self-test, followed by four short chirps to acknowledge that the unit is functioning properly.

After 48 hours passed, the LED display showed a reading of 1.6 pCi/L (Pico Curies per Liter), which is way below the caution level of 4 pCi/L. Short-term readings display a 7 day radon average, while long-term readings give an average since the unit was last powered up or reset. We have had our Safety Siren Pro 3 Radon Detector installed and running for the past 3 months now and it has been working as expected. The highest levels seem to show up when humidity is the highest. Our highest reading was 2.4 pCi/L while the lowest reading was 1.2 pCi/L. Even at the highest reading I am confident that my family and I are safe in our home, as the EPA states that prolonged exposure to radon gas levels of 4pCi/L or above can cause lung cancer and other illnesses.

The primary features and specifications of the HS71512 Safety Siren Pro 3 Radon Detector are as follows:

* Clear, easy to read LED radon level display
* Displays radon levels from 0.1 to 999.9 pCi/L
* Samples air continuously and updated reading display once every hour.
* Short-term reading displays average radon gas levels over past 7 days.
* Long-term reading display average radon gas levels since last powered on or reset, up to a maximum of 5 years. Unit resets long-term average reading after 5 years.
* Audible alarm sounds if the long term level reaches 4 pCi/L or higher, or if the short-term level remains at or above 4 pCi/L for 30 consecutive days.
* Detector runs self-test every 24 hours and displays error if test fails.
* US EPA evaluated and meets performance criteria for the continuous radon protocol.
* Accuracy = +/- 20% pCi/L
* Operating Environment = 32 ° to 158 ° F (0 ° to 70 ° C)
* Power Source: Input = 120v AC at 9 watts / Output = 18v DC/200mA
* Sensor Type = Ionization Chamber
* Dimensions: 4.7" x 3.1" x 2.1"
* Weight: 8 oz.
* 1 year limited warranty

Although Radon is not a big threat in my area, I am very happy that I purchased this detector. It gives us the peace of mind that we needed, so we would not always wonder if my wife and I or our children were in danger. The device is extremely easy to install and use. Once plugged in you can leave it in place, to monitor your home over weeks, months or even years. The manual does recommend moving the unit to different areas of your basement, to assure that your entire basement is free from high Radon gas levels. Many people have noticed high ratings near a sump hole in their basement (which we do not have), so I certainly recommend that people test levels in this area of their home. If anyone notices elevated Radon gas levels in their home, they should look for any cracks in their foundation and basement walls and seal them immediately. If the levels are extremely high, or if the Radon gas levels remain above 4 pCi/L even after sealing cracks and holes in your basement, you should contact a Radon Technician as soon as possible. They will likely need to install a Radon evacuation system in your home.

I am giving the Safety Siren Pro 3 Radon Detector 5 stars, for ease of installation, flawless functionality, and for value. This detector may seem a bit pricey to many people but you can't put a price tag on your family's health and safety. It could save your life and the lives of everyone in your household.

I bought this radon detector about 10 months ago, until recently I would have given it 4-5 stars, as I thought it was displaying an accurate radon level.I had not compared it to another radon detector.
I had it set on long term setting, and noticed that the level in my basement was reading high at 5.5. That is when I noticed that the detector was not working correctly. It would not switch between long and short term readouts. Regardless, I called VSI- a reputable company in Illinois that installed a mitigation system in our basement. They advised that I get a plain old carbon radon detector and that this system is actually not legal in the state of Illinois.
Meanwhile, I called family safety products and shipped the unit in to be replaced. Well, a month later, I have still not received a replacement. They say they have no record of me sending in the product. Thank God I sent it certified, so I was able to show proof, which they insisted I show.
also, the replacement they say, they will send is not warrantied for any extra length of time, but from the date of the original purchase- thus I only have a month or two to know if it works correctly. That's ridiculous!
Save your money and get a 10 dollar detector. If that does not satisfy you, get ten of them! You'll still save money and come out ahead.