Kidde 442020 Radon Gas Detection Test Kit

Couldn't find one locally, so glad to find a reasonable one on Amazon. The purchase price included the mail-in lab testing, which is not always the case. We just placed the tray (about the size of a slice of bread) for 48 hours as instructed in the area of concern, and mailed it back to them in the sleeve they sent. The contents of the tray seemed to be bits of charcoal. Something I did not know prior to the test is there is no way to get official results without going through a lab, and labs are accredited by the US and presumably must submit their results. Law here (and perhaps elsewhere) forces home owners to divulge the results of a test upon a sale, so I was nervous about the test for various reasons. We had become alarmed about Radon due to a recent article in the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Upon further reading, however, it turns out that while Radon is a very serious problem and health risk, there is some political baggage attached to its danger -- the left seems to want to ignore it because there is no one to sue, and the right seems to want to publicize it because the danger is not coming from big corporate -- if i may be so crude as to abbreviate it that clumsily. Books have been written about the subject from both sides. Obviously, there is a lot more to it, but the whole matter unnerved me. And, I was further amazed to learn, by looking at the online US gov danger zone map, that the residents of NYC, which we are, are in less danger than, say, upstate NY residents. (Radon comes from the ground.) But to get to the end of this review, and here it is, our result under the level of any sort of concern, and this test was easy, fast and cheap.

In the U.S. there is a fairly easy way to see if you are at a higher than normal risk for radon. First, just type "EPA Radon Map" into Google. Go to the top address. From there you should be able to access a county-by-county map of your state's radon potential. There are three zones. Counties in red are "red zones" with an average radon level of greater than 4 pCi/L, which is the lower threshold for needing to repair your home. These are the counties with the highest risk. Generally, if your home has a basement, especially if it is finished and people inhabit it on a regular basis, you should really check your home. Also, don't assume that because you had your home tested when you moved in or several years ago that everything is still OK. I tested my home in 1998, and it was in the 2-4 pCi/L range. I did a test last week and the radon level had doubled in eight years! <br /> <br />About the product itself, it has clear instructions on how to start and stop the collection test. Also, you can mark on the return form to have your results emailed to you so you don't have to wait for the mail. We sent our results off in the mail on a Saturday and had the results back via email on Wednesday. The returned report not only contains your home's radon level but also a section on radon health risks - its much higher if you smoke, state radon contacts, and what you should do next depending on the radon level. I highly recommend this product.