Your home should not only be your castle; it should also be a safe and calm sanctuary from the world. Yet the danger that may lurk in your home are numerous. One that few home owners realize is that of radon gas. This radioactive gas is colorless, tasteless and cannot be smelled making it a real threat because it is do difficult to detect.
As many as 21,000 radon-induced lung cancer deaths occur every year according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the Surgeon General’s Office. From as early as 2003, the EPA’s Assessment of Risks from Radon in Homes from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, noted epidemiological evidence linking lung cancer with high concentrations of radon the number of radon-induced lung cancer deaths is second only to cigarette smoking. Smokers exposed to high levels of radon are particularly at risk.
Correct sump pump installation can make a significant difference in eradicating radon gas build up in your home. Radon abatement or radon mitigation is the term used to refer to the process of reducing radon gas concentrations in buildings. Because there are no symptoms for radon gas exposure and the negative impact is only seen years after initial exposure, many people do not even know that there homes or workplaces are contaminated. Radon can build up in ground water or well water and make its way into inhabited spaces, causing risk for lung cancer and other health issues.
The EPA recommends that home owners test for radon gas and if a reading of 4 picocuries per liter, pCi/L, or higher is indicated, radon mitigation and abatement services is needed. Even a lower reading can be dangerous and you should consider working to reduce this. Almost a third of homes in seven states and on three Indian lands had radon levels over 4 pCi/L. As many as one in 15 American homes have levels higher than this. Frighteningly, radon levels of 4 pCi/l expose you to approximately 35 times as much radiation as would be allowed if you were standing next to the fence of a radioactive waste site.
There are short-term and long-term radon detectors, with the short-term ones measuring levels over a two to 90 day period and long-term devices looking at the average concentration for more than three months. Reducing radon levels in homes with level above 4 pCi/L could reduce cancer deaths by 5,000 per year, according to the EPA.Radon sump pump installation can take two forms: active or passive. An active sump pump installation have an electric fan that helps to reduce radon build up. Passive systems do not have fans. You can reduce indoor radon levels by half with a passive system and mitigate it even further with an active sump system with a fan.
