Toxic Air - Oxygen Sensor and a Brilliant Brother

I have shared recently that I realized that I probably have methane gas coming up through plumbing in the basement that never gets used. 

I have a Genius level brother who figured out a way to check the air in my home. He borrowed an oxygen sensor and wrote a program with a data logger to go off and sense the air in my home every minute or two. 

He sent it to me as we don't live close, and then spent time to help me set it up downloading apps on my phone and computer so I could look at the changes in the oxygen levels in my home. 

I set it up on the floor in the basement, and then the ceiling to determine if their was more or less oxygen in either area. Without fail, the oxygen on the ground level was higher than at ceiling level. 

RADON gas is heavier than oxygen which would have made the oxygen level on the ground LOWER than at the ceiling area. However METHANE gas is lighter than oxygen and so the methane gathers near the ceiling. 

Moving the sensor around the basement let me know that methane was coming into the house along with oxygen through the pipes as my house is so air tight. 

After I could tell there was methane in the house, I put water in all those unused drains and then put the oxygen sensor around the basement again, and now, plugging up those drains, the oxygen level near the ground went down, and the levels near the ceiling were higher!

I moved the sensor upstairs, and it was interesting to see that when the furnace went on, the oxygen levels went down quickly, and when the furnace went off, the levels increased just as dramatically! Because the Radon is heavier than Oxygen, when the intake for the furnace goes off, it pulls radon directly from the basement floor as that is where the main big intake for the furnace is, the hallway in the basement. 

So, when you look at the sensor toward the end of the graph, you can see lots of up and down as the radon makes it go up and then it drops when the furnace goes off. 

If things hadn't changed when I put water in the drains, I could say that the problem could have not been a gas, however, when things changed after putting water in the drains, it showed that it had to be some type of lighter gas. If there was just methane and not Radon, the levels should have balanced to stay the same. However, it isn't the same, this gas is heavier than air. 

So, I now need to work on finding someone to put in a heat recovery system vent in my home. It would be so nice to feel better and feel like I had the energy to get things done! 

I am so blessed to have a brilliant brother who can put together these type of things to make figuring out what my problems are so much easier! 

Have a blessed day!