love how he starts building a CO2 and particulate sensor instead of making an angled cover for the vent, so it can stay open all the time

I live in Northern California and have felt similar sluggishness due to the fires and subsequent horrendous air quality. In a way, it's more frustrating than being sick because you don't feel really bad enough to rest but you don't feel good enough to accomplish anything. I'm going to try this project once I can breathe again.

Jeff, you can permanently fix this vent by mounting white sheet (like magnet one ) in front of it on 5-10 centimeters from wall. It will not block airflow and there is no difference from camera point of view. Otherwise, pretty nice video! And I think about it but with ESPHome as firmware.

Dude! This totally happened to us at our old house too, but not just in a basement office. We started closing all our doors a lot to keep the kids out of different rooms, and there was only one return in the house, and sure enough when we'd go to sleep at night we'd wake up with terrible headaches and grogginess because the CO2 levels climbed to 2000+. As soon as we put gates in the doorways during the day instead, it was easier for air to circulate enough before we went to sleep.

Piping this into something like home assistant + automating the venting system sounds very cool to me. Might be fun to get that working.

Awesome stuff Jeff. I just started my crusade for good ventilation in my house. I felt exactly the same sluggishness you did in my home office, and there were some mornings I'd wake up so groggy that I felt like I hardly slept. I ended up using a SCD-30 sensor for CO2, temp, and humidity tracking in my bedroom for starters. After tracking with Grafana, I found that there were some nights we got above 5000ppm in our bedroom! We've been much more adamant about encouraging good ventilation in our house, and it sounds crazy but wow has it chamged how I have felt around the house. Anyway great video!

Dude, you're awesome. I appreciate how thorough you are with how you provide your material, and your advocating of open source. Keep up the great content.

I'm a noob with soldering but this actually looks accessible, I might give this a try!

Feeling thankful for my drafty 100-y-o house right now! Seriously though, fascinating.

13:18 "people often ask me we productive" **shows a can of dr.pepper** "boom. Productive"

This is one of the best youtube videos I’ve seen. It makes me want to attempt a similar build. I’m not sure I have the background to pull it off. I’m interested in creating a commercially viable monitoring system for IAQ so that improvements being made can be tracked and monitored. I think I’d have a lot of learning to do to be able to pull a build like this off. Perhaps I need to partner with someone who already has these skill sets. I’d also like to include circuit level energy usage monitoring. You’ve certainly got me thinking. Thanks

Knowing your office was in the basement I was going to say the only thing your sensor was missing was radon. Glad you made this one. I was thinking about creating a CO2 sensor myself but I'm glad that one has been made that truly takes it to a new level.

love the time laps seeing time pass on the clock looks so cool

Mate, you got me signed up after combining sensors with 3D printing. Thank you from coming back from the future! 🤯

now that you can monitor the rooms co2 levels, you should put some plants in there to see if/or how much co2 they absorb

You can read the pm2.5 off the IKEA sensor with an esp too. I've got one with a co2 sensor hacked in. Works really well with esphome.

This is really interesting. I love that you don't need a cloud service. Does anyone know of a ring doorbell type of project for the Raspberry Pi?

Pro tip: use some blu-tak (blue poster putty) to hold components in place while you solder. Often use this more often than helping hands or a PCB vise. Great video as usual, Jeff!

Thank you so much I really appreciate that you put the text version of your tutorials in the description.

When I converted my SodaStream to use standard co2 tanks I bought a cheap ($150) co2 detector from Amazon in case I had a leak. I didn’t, but it blew my mind that the co2 level in my kitchen would spike to 1200-1500 ppm for a few seconds after filling a bottle.

Just put a “ventilation” label on the vent. Now that you know how important fresh air is, you can consider the label your public service announcement.

Well done, and very well presented. Thank you for posting. The effects of poor IAQ quality in our homes and buildings is an area that we are only starting to understand the long-term consequences of. Continuously breathing particulates and carcinogens appears to have long-term health effects. In most cases, monitoring these items is a good start, but reducing their sources (often various sources of combustion), improved ventilation, and filtration - are key to remedying them.

Here in EU legislation in last years introduced the mandatory requirements for new building about air quality. There ara some heat recovery ventilation systems that you could interface directly using arduino/raspi and do custom control ;)

I have a air quality monitor in my home as well, I built it out of similar hardware. When researching this project I discovered that the AQI people have reported some findings that are concerning. saying that a lot of people live in homes that have real problems with air quality. Molds, and chemicals as well as CO2. Modern living, at it's finest.

FYI - I built a gizmo to measure temp, humidity, TVOC, and eCO2 using a DHT-22 and an SGP-30 attached to an ESP32. After that was up and running, I 3D printed a case for it. Before installing IN the case, the breadboard was sitting ON the case. The TVOC sensor went nuts. The reading wend from a00 - 150 ppb to 20000. Moved the box away and the reading eventually returned to normal. Incidentally, I happened to place a small plastic bag wherein I had received some small parts next to the TVOC sensor and it read pretty high as well. I would think the bag would have been around and “weathered” to where any trace organic volatiles would have dissipated. So, be cautious is using a TVOC sensor like the SGP30.

Just wanted to say thank you, you're one of the only few people I trust on YT/Reddit. Bless

I kid you not, I was just starting out with Home Assistant and looking for what I could with indoor air quality. This is awesome, ty :D

Jeff is such a great motivation for me on my own KZfaq journey, I am glad I was motivated by this man.

ok so this is 100% making me want to start doing projects like this... probably going to order a kit next week

It seems to be the realizable option to those cheap scrap they sell online. Thanks a lot.

I'm Deaf and trying to live nomadically. One of my fear was that there are simply no budget friendly option for a Deaf alert for CO2. Basically skipped the idea of having an indoor kitchen of some kind. I've been wanting to learn Arduino and basic electronic since forever just to make this one thing and voila! your vid showed up!. It's basically exactly what I'm wanting to make except no wifi and I'll connect a test button from my vibrating bed alarm clock to be closed by the pi whenever CO2 and the like gets too dangerous. Thank you!

Mate. As an avid viewer of your videos I’m telling you please don’t worry about covering the vent for my benefit. Stay healthy and keep that air flowing.

Seeing how long it takes for the solder to melt (around 5:20), I'd recommend a little more temperature. (The tip size does generally look okay, that's the other thing when melting solder takes too long.)

Now I want to build two of these to monitor the air quality in my kids' bedrooms. Though they get plenty of sleep time wise they seem to always be too tired at wake time and for a while after. Thanks for the tutorials and links.

New homes here for the past decade have to come with CO2 alarms. Usually in the form of smoke/OS2 alarms. I hear the same story over and over again on Nextdoor. The home owner was never made aware they were combo units and at some point replace them all with plain jane smoke alarms. They go to sell and get nailed for it.

I love watching software devs solder. 🤣

Safety tip when snipping leads after my funtimes a few weeks ago. Wear safety glasses. Yes it seems stupid. Yes I've thought the same having worked on electronics for the last two decades and yes it is a pain in the arse but... I was snipping some header pins flush and one of them managed to get into my eye and behind my lower eyelid. I ended up in a&e as despite my best efforts trying to get the metal out of my eye with tweezers, it did not go well. And yes... it hurt, it hurt a lot.

Two things: Make something to stand off from the vent and cover it while still letting you have airflow! You could put art or something there and still get the ventilation needed to be healthy. If you end up hooking it up to some home automation stuff, you might be able to reach out to Linus Tech Tips and help Linus with his own home automation set up.

Jeff, thanks for yet another amazing video. At first I thought you'd jumped the shark, (and were going to start selling those HEPA air filters you then later ?teasingly? mentioned in the video :) ) with that click baity title. As always you never disappoint and gave us yet another high quality fully documented maker video. I should have never doubted you. Keep up the awesome work.

I made a Arduino PWM controlled ventilation ( there's full of tutorials) and this seems a perfect new addition to include in it. So I can ventilate the room because temps and air quality.

Couldn't come at a better time.. I want one in each kids room to monitor air quality specially with A/C on and everywhere closed

Hello Jeff! Very nice video, very interesting! I am myself putting air quality sensors in my lab, so this is extremely on point for me :) One thing i'd like to mention : now i am putting leads on my sensors, and have them in open air to provide better readings. When in a case, the heat tends to accumulate, and many sensors are affected by heat. I try to leave some space between them (although most sensors don't heat that much, it is mostly the MCU). I'd like to mention also, as you mentioned "the easyest way", i find it to be esphome trough home assistant. With espHome, i assemble my node (i mean in the physical sense, plugging sensors, etc), plug it in USB, then open the esphome tab on home assistant's interface, create a node, paste the yaml config specified on esphome documentation, then hit upload. It will thus flash the esp, and next time, you can flash it over the air if you change something. I don't have to look for libraries or whatever... (i did that at some point, but it can be annoying with version changes). Anyways, once done, your sensor sends data to home assistant on a regular basis (can be changed), and HA automatically makes graphes and all. But just to go a bit further, you connect your home assistant to influxdb, then graphana, and do the dashboards as you did. The easy route is to use the plugins directly in home assistant (HA); although i chose to have influxdb not running on my raspi4 that runs HA, because i have beefier linux server with dockers for such tasks; and i plan to keep the data indefinitely, poll the sensors often, etc. Don't want to add a unnecessary burden to th pi SD card. I take good note of your sensors, i knew some, didn't know others. My plan is to have many air quality sensors running, and try to measure the deviation between all those sensors. Would be better if i had a lab grade one to calibrate my measurements, but i don't :) I am also willing to see if multiple cheap sensors in parallel can be used to significantly increase accuracy. In the begining with simple mathematical solutions, then later with AI (it is my field, so i want to use it there, it is not just for buzzwords :) ). As for sensors, there is also the BME680, not great for temperature (BME280 is muuch closer to my reference probe for that), but give air quality index estimations (following the IAQ scale), as well as equivalent CO2. as for particulate sensors, i have many of them, and only a few are worth buying. The one you used is one of them : well supported in various project, documented, and caracterized. Many particulate sensors don't give life expectancy, calibration procedures, etc. I am, as you are interested also by the geiger counter, and would like to also turn it into a physical random number generator :) Anyways, i didn't know about the CO2 stuff, i'll look into it, it may explain why i sometimes also have a hard time focusing in my lab.

Using a breadboard to solder in headers is one of those brilliant life hacks that seems so obvious that I feel like an idiot for not having done it all along.

great project, Jeff.... though one quick fix for your basement would be to make a small picture frame with standoffs that can attached (screw/magnet) to the face of the vent. This way, the vent can stay open for ventilation all the time & you can have a place to put a piece of art or your channel. ;)

I connected CO2 sensor with Home Assistant and installed HA app in phone. Now HA can send notifications to my phone "open window" :) Helps when you work from home. Long meetings with high CO2 will make you sleepy

You should probably avoid soldering on your breadboard. Firstly, the breadboard might not be able to take all the heat and you could melt the plastic. More importantly, the breadboard interconnects will act like a heatsink for what you're trying to solder. Soldering is best done when all connection points are correctly heated, as all the solder will just flow where you want it to. For throughhole I usually don't need flux and just focus on heating up every pin and hole. It also helps when you have a bit of solder on the tip to make proper thermal contact with the parts.

For those really thin wires (and the thick ones) get a thermal stripper, I'll never go back to the bladed type. Migt impinge on the air quality though !

For anyone who hasnt done projects like this: I built a similar air quality monitor a month ago(own design, I didnt know about AirGradient unfortunately) , also getting parts from banggood and aliexpress. The only tools I needed were a cheapo £10 soldering iron (you can order it together with the components if you dont have one) and a pair of sharp scissors. If you wanna give it a go, its a fun project and might even help your headaches and afternoon slumps ^^

Very nice build ❤ Parts hunting time for me, starts now👍🏻

You should look into getting a VOC sensor as well! Love the project

Shipping take a while in Australia too. One took 4 months WT. Blue tec is your friend to hold parts on boards.

Finally finished implementing your setup. Ansible is interesting! I need to learn more how that works!!! Thanks for helping me keep my air safe :)

Super cool! I built a monitor for my workshop using a pm2.5 sensor that then kicks on an airfilter if it gets too bad. Now I am thinking I might do an update with this awesome package

Waw, quite an interesting video. Btw, for the next version... adding a radon sensor, Geiger etc... I would recommend to add a gamma ray sensor too. They're not that expensive and show amazing results.

TIP: leave the vent open and remove it in post. Whatever video software you're using, all you need is a simple square mask, it couldn't be simpler.

This video gives me the idea to use this on our indoor ventilation. I could set a sensor in each tube in the centralised unit and somehow integrate it into Home Assistant, maybe... one day..

What would be cool as well is to add a pressure sensor right inside your HVAC return to measure the air pressure when the fan is on, so you can get an alert when to replace the air filter.

I hadn't realized that Productivity tastes more like regular Dr. Pepper.

One thing an air purifier can help with is air circulation. I'm living in an old apartment with 10ft ceilings and without the purifier the air would get stale quickly. It also helps when I open my windows, because I'll just set the air purifier to its highest speed and within 10 minutes all the air in my huge room has been replaced. My air purifier also has a PM2.5 sensor built in as well as a humidity and temp sensor. I have them all hooked up to my Pi running on Home assistant. Now all I need is a cheap CO2 meter and I'm set. I have an Xiaomi Air Purifier 2 in case anyone is wondering. I paid 120 euros for it which is really fair for what you're getting in return.

Sick building syndrome is real. I worked in an office that was in a vintage multi-story warehouse they rehabbed. Sealed it up tight. Had all the symptoms: drowsiness, mental fatigue. About a week before I left they handed out a survey to all employees inquiring if anybody had those symptoms. Apparently not imaginary. My old house, OTOH, is so leaky and drafty there is continuous air exchange.

This is super useful to me because I do experience very similar symptoms.

now you just need to get your AC to turn off the vent during record and to just circulate air if the temp is fine, but the air quality is low

A hubitat driver and app would be great so you could automate stuff such as starting a smart fan, alarms, etc.

The best windows setup !. Well done.. Next, next, next, finish

Sound so great... but also so complicated.

This channel is making me want to make my next home a fully smarthome

I have a basement gym. I added a big air vent. Vent it for about 20 minutes before I workout. Get some clean air.

I'm not trying to start a big debate here but wanted to touch on the headline of the article about the postal service. I always found it strange that people say the postal service is "losing" millions of dollars but they don't say the military is "losing" Billions of dollars. They are both a service that the government provides to us, not a waste of resources. I honestly think it's remarkable that USPS is able to have a nearly balanced budget given it's breadth and low cost of service. Even more fascinating to me is that the USPS is explicitly called for in the U.S. constitution. You're right that shipping agreements are very strange and the 'last mile' clause definitely aides foreign sales at the cost of domestic but I don't think the title of that article gives a fair perspective.

Jeff, I would suggest making a baffle box for the vent - so it doesn't reduce flow at all but makes it super silent. Make it the same color as the wall and it would just blend in.

You need to have a formaldehyde test as well. I went through this after buying new furniture that brought our house air to toxic levels. Also a VOC test would be a good idea so you can see how bad house hold cleaner are poisoning the air.

I think any efforts to bring air testing to all of us is important, regardless of what the catalyst was... Thanks for sharing this, hope you dig even deeper. Outside air is another important matter and I believe there should be more sensors for air quality in all areas and that data readily available on a digestible way.

thanks for your reveiw and showcasing such a great product. Just ordered 3 of um

I bought a 3 of the Senseair S8 CO2 Sensors. I'm waiting for them to come in. They was suppose to be for another project. But I'm glade I saw this project. Now I have another use for the other 2 Thank you.

"hehe. Nice" - I LOL'd at the peel

I suggest a 3d print of a vent that points upward/downward and hides your vent fins but still allows you to get fresh air in the room

Leaving your office door OPEN when you aren't recording would mitigate the CO2 build up. Personally I'd find a way to get fresh air into your Government Designed Work Cubicle. ;) Fascinating project Jeff!

Nice, this looks like a good winter project with my son. -Fellow STL AMDG educated person. Blue, not red.

Agree with your last point: radiation, Radon ... don't we really all want a tricorder? Let the iteration begin (continue).

Jeff, I'm so relieved to see, that someone is as clumsy as I when it comes to soldering. 😂😂

This is perfect timing. I’ve been wondering about this recently.

I build something similar about 2 years ago when all the bathrooms on my building had to be renovated... Designed a board for an esp-01, a PMS3003 and a dht12. Had 2 esp sendsing observations via MQTT and a a RPi 3B+ hosting the MQTT, InfluxDB and Grafana servers as containers. One of the boards died about a month ago, but the 2nd one keeps going.

This is very cool project! But i wonder if there is an option to add to this kit an oxygen sensor in someway. I want to be able to monitor oxygen levels in my room and to be able to log it in the same way you showed in this video

If you do a follow up on this, check your kitchen after you've done certain types of cooking. Anecdotally I've read that a poorly-ventilated kitchen range can expose you to unsafe levels of particulates. I dont know if that's true or not, but it might be helpful to know because most people dont think of kitchens as unsafe places to breathe.

I ran a co2 sensors at home for some time a couple of years ego, unfortunately the sensor I used was rather unreliable so I ended up stopping it. However, it was really interesting to see how fast the co2 levels dropped by just opening a window. The cognitive function of a person drops rather fast with poor air quality. At ~2000ppm co2 I think it drops to about 50%. It's not linear though.

The very important thing that makes the project is not realiable for DIY: the senor need to be calibrated by very accurate data. And you mentioned it in half of a sentence. I think that you should explain how did you calibrate the gas sensor - what makes whole system working well and precisely.

oh man, you're so good at finding things on my todo list.

Thank you for making this video. I've been researching how to make my own air quality sensor, this has helped a lot.

Great video, I made a DIY air quality monitor based on ESP32 that can be integrated in Home Assistant

Me who rents a basement apartment where I've closed all the vents to keep the apartment a reasonable temperature, while also having only a single openable window.... Yeah I think I realized why I feel like shit every time I come home.

Needs a VOC sensor too; that was probably the smell from the window installation.

Perfect timing. Something I've wanted for so long since I'm pretty sensitive to bad air. The initial investment is on the pricy side, this is going to take a while :D

Best moment: Boom! Productive.

Nice, I like the case. I made a little air quality project with a Sparkfun micromod carrier board running an ESP32 pulling data from a Sensirion SCD30 and Bosch BME680. Data is sent with MQTT to a Raspberry Pi running Node-Red and then to Grafana. I'm sure there is a better way but I don't know JSON. Sensor data should be kept secure or else you will broadcast to the world if you are home, what room you are in, just from CO2 levels alone. I didn't think it was going to be a big deal until I looked at a week worth of time series plots.

One option might be to mount a cover of some form (maybe even some art) an inch or two in front of the vent with standoffs. That would hide it while allowing a decent amount of air through.

The reason Airthings costs so much more, is because it also detects Radon. Which is actually MUCH more important to scan for (can cause lung cancer). Fantastic video though!

Very cool project. I feel like using the breadboard to hold your pins is a bad idea though. That breadboard is a huge heatsink. If you didn't have such a nice soldering station it might take forever to make a solder joint. Even so, it looks like that slowed you down a lot.

I wondered what that white thing was on your wall for ages, now I know!

Those Geiger counter looks beautiful. :)

Great video. Another sensor is the IKEA PM2.5 VINDRIKTNING and it is even a cheaper sensor and can be modified with an esp8266 to connect to WiFi

Hey Jeff, you forgot one step in the video. To select your com port for the d1 mini. Without that you can select the wrong board or device or and no device at all and watch it fail uploading.