EcoTracker  -  A New Radon Hotspot Locator from Ecosense

 September 07, 2021

All experienced radon mitigators have worked on homes and large buildings where their initial mitigation strategy does not play out as expected.  Repeat visits for additional diagnostics and system revisions are common.  Such repeat visits are often not compensated.  They can delay other scheduled work and are frustrating to you and your customers.  The time required to perform diagnostics is critical, because a crew is often standing by to perform work or appointments are scheduled at other properties.  Thus, Ecosense saw the need to take multiple, fast, and accurate radon measurements parallel.  The EcoTracker solution is the result.

The EcoTracker solution bundles 4 radon detectors into a compact system which allows mitigators to rapidly and easily measure radon levels over multiple locations within a building at the same time.  Each of the detectors use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to broadcast their data simultaneously to an app installed on a smartphone or tablet.  All 4 radon measurements are displayed for easy comparison.  The first reading appears within as little as 5 minutes after set-up.  Subsequent readings get more accurate as the counting statistics improve. 

The EcoTracker smartphone app, when in sniff mode, can be configured to display either the latest interval of continuous 5-minute or 10-minute average measurements or in an easy-to-interpret graphical display of the results. Once a radon level is measured for a specific location, the EcoTracker detector can be moved to a new location. In as little as 30 minutes, 8 separate locations can be measured. One or more of the EcoTracker’s 4 detector units can also be set for hourly or continuous results if leaving the units in place for hours or days is so desired. All data can be downloaded and displayed as a spreadsheet or text file.

A sniffer that takes sufficiently accurate measurement in 5-10 minutes avoids the issue of daughter product decay.  Legacy electronic radon sniffers may only provide 1 or 2 results before background counts prevent further useful measurements.  Because competitive radon sniffers take so much time to make their measurements, and must be moved from position to position, one needs to proceed with caution.  They should be moved from areas expected to have lower radon to areas of higher radon (and not the reverse).  The reason is the solid daughter products of radon decay are “sticky” and produce a cascade of decays of short half-life daughter products within a detector, which peaks on the order of 30 minutes after the beginning of measurements.  Longer measurement times accumulate more such “hot” daughter products within the measurement device.  If not compensated for by measuring counts of specific energy level, these decays can prejudice a radon monitor.  Units designed without costly energy level discrimination require a “cool down” period (outdoors, for instance) prior to further use. 

Furthermore, to show how factory-calibrated EcoTracker units perform, the 4 units of one EcoTracker were cross-compared in a well-known certified U.S. radon chamber set to ~25 pCi/L.  Each unit in the group measured to be +/- 2% between themselves and the industrial grade Durridge Rad7 monitoring the chamber.  Such precision is possible due to the EcoTracker’s use of a patented ion chamber radon sensor, which offers industry leading 30 CPH/pCi/L  (counts per hour per pCi per liter) sensitivity. 

Because of their fast response and ease of use, an EcoTracker solution can also be used by mitigation crews to track radon levels while they are on the jobsite to either monitor how ventilation is reducing the crew’s exposure or to observe the reduction in radon once their installation is activated. 

The EcoTracker comes complete with a carrying bag and all necessary power cable accessories.  It is available for purchase from Ecosense, Amazon, and approved channel partners.  With its unique feature rich four-unit multi detector solution, the EcoTracker is attractively priced when compared with existing single unit radon sniffing solutions. 

Busy professionals tackling difficult problems can now save themselves time, money and headaches while reliably providing their customers with  results they can trust.