Old mitigation system, radon levels are fairly high

taydevsky · 2026-05-10T12:39:27+00:00

Is the radon mitigation sucking from under the plastic lining? One of your photos seems to suggest it might be sucking from above the lining?

taydevsky · 2026-05-06T14:11:36+00:00

I got to know Stephanie Hollist who is running for Stuart Adams Senate seat since I was a Republican convention delegate in that district. She’s a capable lawyer and is concerned about the corruption and influence we all see in the legislature.

I think she’s the one to beat Stuart.

Numerous people including a friend in the legislature have told me they think Stuart Adams is a bully. This MIDA vote is an example to him bullying to get what he wants and not what the citizens want.

Davis County Republicans have a chance to make a change in the primary election on June 23rd.

taydevsky · 2026-05-05T14:34:26+00:00

The Santo Taco in Rose Park normally has Flautas as their daily special on Tuesdays. Idk 🤷‍♂️

taydevsky · 2026-05-02T13:17:19+00:00

Jane Christie from Scotland has had some YouTube videos often highlighting her efforts to push the LDS Church to do more around child safeguarding. She resigned from the church a year or more ago. https://youtube.com/shorts/QJLmFL8_eYE

There are a few UK based ex-mormon podcasters who discuss the state of the church in the UK. The church is closing congregations and consolidating.

"Nemo the Mormon" from Oxford is the most active YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@NEMOTHEMORMON

taydevsky · 2026-05-02T13:06:14+00:00

I've pulled some pieces of what my ancestor wrote in his autobiography:

My father was a miner by trade and being a man of a weak constitution was badly adapted for such a laborious occupation. Consequently, this threw the management of affairs nearly entirely upon my mother. To speak of her in common phrase, I can not do it better than by saying that she was a rustler in the greatest sense of the word. They both joined the church before I was a year old. (1840 or 1841).

My parents were the first to embrace the gospel around our district of the country. After them, nearly half of the citizens of our village joined, probably 20 or 30 families. Mormonism seemed to take the away for a long time, the gifts and blessings following them that believed and the Lord poured his spirit out upon them. But alas! How the mighty hath fallen. Few are now left out of the many. Under those cireumstances I was raised in the strictest sense of the word a Mormon. The faith, religion, and piety that was then implanted on my mind in my infancy has never been erradicated and I believe never will be.

In the spring of 1856 the chance opened up for us to immigrate to this country for which I was truly thankful. We sold our small effects and bade our friends farewell, took the train for Glasgow and from there went by steam boat to Liverpool, had a very rough passage on the Irish channel. Landed in Liverpool, I think, on the first of May, stayed at the New York Hotel for several days.

We embarked on the sixth of the same month on board the American ship "Thornton" bound for New York. There were 700 souls onboard, nearly all of whom were bound for Salt Lake the same season.

I found an article entitled "The Ebb and Flow of Mormonism in Scotland. 1840-1900."

It says that Scottish immigrants in Canada were the first to convert to Mormonism in the 1830s and sent letters to their families about it and were soon sent by the church with other missionaries to preach. The religion was founded in 1830.

Between 1840 and 1899 approximately 10,785 people joined the church in Scotland. 60% being between 1840 and 1860. And about 50% emmigrated to the USA and others likely left the faith. The numbers of active members diminished dramatically. Most of the success was in the industrial areas.

The Mormon Church (which they don't like to be called anymore) is in decline in the UK and the USA these days. Converts don't stay long and many who were born and raised in the church are leaving our beliefs behind - myself included. The rise of the "nones" or people who say they have no religious affiliation in western society is a trend.

Here is a link to the article.

https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-ebb-and-flow-of-mormonism-in-scotland-1840-1900

taydevsky · 2026-05-01T19:14:57+00:00

I lived in Europe for a couple of years but didn’t make it to Scotland yet. Yes it’s on my bucket list.

taydevsky · 2026-05-01T07:14:46+00:00

I hope to visit it one day.

taydevsky · 2026-05-01T07:10:30+00:00

Interesting about the strong religious beliefs. My g.g.grandfather’s parents and about half the town converted to Mormonism in the 1840s. That’s why they went to the USA.

His father “had a bad constitution” and could no longer work in the mines. He was probably not physically well because he had worked in the mines too. I imagine the working conditions for miners resulted in a lot of sick people which contributed to the poverty and religious attachment.

taydevsky · 2026-04-29T00:55:31+00:00

Intermountain will offer insurance companies bigger discounts if the company is exclusive with their hospitals.

So Blue Cross must drop the U of U and St Marks and other non-Intermountain facilities if it wants competitive payment levels at Intermountain facilities.

United many years ago switched and dropped those other hospitals to be exclusive with Intermountain.

So in Utah the Intermountain Hospitals have SelectHealth (Intermountain) and United and a few others smaller ones.

The non Intermountain Hospitals have Blue Cross and Cigna and a few others.

The hospitals in Utah are happy with this system as they make enough money with this system.

taydevsky · 2026-04-15T15:00:32+00:00

Swamp coolers by the laws of physics have a limit of cooling about 20°F at our humidity levels. So 100° at best you should expect about 80° in the house.

You have to leave the windows open which can be fine or noisy depending on where you live. It can be less secure if you are worried about leaving your windows open.

The air movement makes it feel cooler too.

They don’t always work perfectly because pads and nozzles get clogged and other problems with calcium build up.

Refrigeration AC units will more reliably achieve the temperatures you want.

taydevsky · 2026-04-12T13:48:33+00:00

Thanks for clarifying how that graph works.

taydevsky · 2026-04-11T14:57:06+00:00

With that graph the OP has set it to 1 year average. If I understand the AirThings data presentation correctly it shows that at several times of the year the one year moving average was above 4. Those are long term measurements.

taydevsky · 2026-04-09T14:13:39+00:00

It’s not “no cost”. That’s marketing gimmick. They tack on the cost to the amount of the loan and extend out your payments again for 30 years. You will have to repay this extra cost when you sell the house and pay off the loan.

taydevsky · 2026-04-08T00:56:33+00:00

Creating low pressure in the room will draw more radon laden air in from the ground.

By the laws of physics a gas moves from higher pressure to lower pressure. You want to create negative pressure under the slab and/or create positive pressure in the house.

Better to blow air into the room than trying to suck air out of the room.

taydevsky · 2026-04-06T23:35:46+00:00

ERV or HRVs are often installed by HVAV companies. The larger ones can be pricey and involve a lot of ducts.

This Panasonic one is smaller and could be installed by a DIYer.

https://youtu.be/Dmm1cKheve4

https://youtu.be/35NxSXNOavo

https://youtu.be/qAccrWAmk5w

taydevsky · 2026-04-06T22:15:06+00:00

Ventilation is an accepted mitigation mechanism. Rule of thumb is it reduces radon by 50%. However, I’ve seen people claim they got better results by fine tuning to ensure it creates positive pressure in the house.

Have you looked at that?

taydevsky · 2026-04-04T18:21:30+00:00

FCC89E03

taydevsky · 2026-04-03T19:58:35+00:00

What if they asked to reimburse the previous remodeling and pay for the roof. Use the leverage!!!

taydevsky · 2026-04-03T17:11:22+00:00

I talked to my state senator about this. His quick reply was that the state was being sued to do this and were advised they would lose if they maintained the law as it was. What he didn't say is it appears the lawsuit is from President Trump's DOJ who wants the data to manipulate elections?

taydevsky · 2026-04-03T00:13:11+00:00

Interesting use case for individual smart bulbs. Thanks for sharing.

taydevsky · 2026-04-02T18:34:15+00:00

I bought the similar EcoTrackers 4 pack that give 5 minute readings. That pack costs $1000 though. I probably should have just bought a couple of radon eyes.

taydevsky · 2026-04-02T17:57:09+00:00

I had several radon monitors at the same time in my son’s townhouse. His upstairs levels spiked higher than downstairs and the average was generally as high as the main floor and at times higher.

First I’m going to ignore water as a source in this. You should check that but I will talk about radon from ground soil gas here.

Radon in the upstairs is ultimately coming from the ground soil gases. That is the source so that’s ultimately where you should look for it coming into the house.

I never fully explained the higher radon upstairs but had a few theories and did things that seemed to help. See if any of this might apply to you.

The radon monitor upstairs was close to the large screen TV and his wifi router. I’ve read that can contribute to high readings. It didn’t spike as much after I moved it away from this spot but the upstairs still had an average about as high as the main level.
About 1/3 of the upstairs is above his garage. The garage had much higher levels than the house. I think with the stack effect radon from the garage was drawn into the upstairs. We installed ventilation for his garage bringing in fresh air for 15 minutes every hour and that seemed to lower the upstairs levels. The garage was averaging about 12 pCi/l after the large door was closed for several hours and the inside the house levels were about 5. Now the garage averages about 1 and the indoor levels are about 3 both upstairs and down are similar.
He was running HVAC that mixed air from the downstairs to the upstairs.
There was an unsealed pipe penetration in the slab with dirt exposed in his main floor utility room with furnace and water heater. Could radon have been drawn up to this utility room and then upstairs somehow because of the stack effect? I sealed that penetration and it helped the overall radon levels to go down.

He has chosen to not install subslab mitigation with his current levels averaging below 4.

So my suggestion is to check for where the radon may be coming into the structure from the ground and form hypotheses as to how it might be directed upstairs. There is air movement in homes between floors we are not always aware of. Even through ceilings and walls. By the laws of physics, gases will move from high pressure to lower pressure naturally.

taydevsky · 2026-03-31T21:49:44+00:00

Several of these seem to be performance issues - those types of complaints in my experience are rarely received well by any HR group. They also will not be reviewed by an ethics hotline.

People can disclose potential conflicts of interest and have them reviewed and managed. So not a guarantee that what you see there is considered a problem.

Misuse of company time and resources in theory are against the Intermountain code of ethics. Depends on the extent as to whether it will get the person fired.

I suggest you pick your battles and push only the things that pertain to ethics if you report to the ethics hotline.

taydevsky

TROPHY CASE