Tips for locating radon sumps in new houses

I have been to a number of new houses which had high radon levels and which already had a radon sump installed during construction. Apparently all that was needed was for the sump to be activated by the addition of a fan. I have yet to find a single house where I have been able to use the existing radon sump.

Here are the most common problems encountered.

1. The pipe from the radon sump to the terminal has a fall to the terminal. Within days of fitting a fan the 90 degree bend beneath the terminal box will fill with condensation. The bend acts as a water trap and prevents the fan from sucking. In this case the sump can not be used.
2. The terminal is located at the front of the house. Nobody wants a radon fan stuck onto the front of their house! One builder told me that he puts the terminals at front of the house to give easy access to the truck that comes to suck out the radon. Gimme a break!
3. The terminal is located in the middle of the foot-path between two town houses. Connecting to the pipe will block the foot-path.
4. Th Radon sump is installed in the sub-floor but not piped out to a terminal. Sounds a bit daft but it happens.

Tips for locating radon pipe terminal.

1. Fall on pipe should be from the terminal towards the sump.
2. Locate terminal at back of house away from doors and not directly under a window.
3. Use short length of 4" pipe with wall bracket to locate the terminal the correct distance from the wall.
4. If possible locate in line with socket position inside for ease of electrical installation of fan at a later date.
5. If you are not going to do it right don't do it at all, it will never be used if installed wrong!
6. Carry out a radon test when you move in. The radon sump has no function and is a waste of money unless the house is tested.

For further advise contact The Radon Centre.

Radon in Schools

I was at a public meeting recently and I heard an ill informed opposition politician woffling on about radon and about why doesn't the government go and start testing schools in high radon areas. For the record The Department of Education & Science have lead the way in dealing with the radon problem. They have had a policy for some time of testing every classroom in every school in Ireland. At this stage 99% of schools have been tested and any school with high radon concentrations has had remediation work carried out. In fact the Department have exceeded their legal obligations in terms of mitigating radon levels in schools.
The problem in my experience is that when some schools find they have high radon levels the teachers and parents alike make a song and dance about it, there is a major panic and ghost busters from Wexford get called in in a hurry to fix the radon problem.
But could you get any of these excited parents or teachers to test or fix their own houses? Not a hope!

I got a phone call from a lady in Waterford before Xmas. She had gotten a letter the previous day from the RPII saying the she had a radon level of 800 Bq/m3 in her home and she was in a major state of panic over this. She told me she couldn't sleep last night worrying about it so I told her it was nothing to get too worried about and that I would drop down next day and have a look at the house. I went down to see her and lo and behold hadn't she gotten herself so worked up over the radon problem that she had gone back on the fags. She is chain smoking away goodo while she is asking me what we are going to do about this radon problem. I said to her that the first thing we should do about the radon problem is give up the fags. Needless to say she didn't want to hear about it. Well I got a days work out of it, put in sump and a couple of air vents which got the levels down. Met her on the street at Xmas, delighted with the job, smoking away for Ireland!
The mind boggles with radon sometimes, it's Friday, I'm off to find a high stool in a smoke free zone!

Thanks to Wexford County Enterprise Board

Thanks to Wexford County Enterprise Board, and in particular Tom Banville for the assistance and support given to us in The Radon Centre.

Thanks to Fergal O'Byrne

Thanks to Fergal O'Byrne of the Irish Internet Association for his help with our web efforts. Visit Fergal at www.fergalobyrne.com or www.iia.ie .

Thanks to Graphedia

Thanks to Niall Reck of Graphedia for designing our website and assisting us in our efforts to improve awareness about Radon Gas and The Radon Centre. Visit Niall at Graphedia.

The Radon Centre starts to Blog

Welcome to The Radon Centre blog.

Our purpose is to eradicate radon from homes and business premises in Ireland. This silent killer causes lung cancer and affects over 100,000 Irish homes and an unknown number of business premises.

We will post news and articles about developments and events to do with radon. We will be letting you know about our experiences as we continue to test for radon and as we continue to eliminate radon from homes and business premises.

For more info visit The Radon Centre or post a comment here.