Radon Mitigation System - Fan in Basement?

[bdinger]

I am currently in the process of selling my home. A radon test revealed that my radon is at a level of 6.9 pCi/L. The buyers interested in my home are requesting that a mitigation system be installed.

I currently have a passive mitigation system. It consists of a pipe that starts below the basement floor, runs through an interior wall of the home, and vents above the roofline. My thoughts were that a fan could be installed in the basement on this existing pipe. (Installing the fan in the attic is not an option, as the home has vaulted ceilings and no suitable location for an attic fan.) I got an estimate from someone who stated that law and/or regulation now states that the fan cannot be installed in a basement. This means that I would need to reroute my existing pipe and have the fan installed on the exterior of the home. Is it true that law and/or regulation now prevents the fan from being installed in the basement on an existing passive system? (I live in the state of Pennsylvania, if that has any bearing on your response.)

Thanks in advance for any responses!

[The Reverend Natural Light]

Could you install a fan at the top of the pipe? I've seen fans at infiltec.com that are weatherproof and wouldn't look too funny sticking up off the roof of a house.

Have you offered cash? $500 back at closing could make the buyer overlook it and then you don't even have to worry about whether or not the fix works.

-rev

[e-mail] wrote:

[tester]

I put mine in the basement, vaulted ceilings here too. I know it should not be that way but OH WELL !! When they first came out the fan went into the basement. I think they just wanted to make it hard for a homeowner to do it on their own. I also have a radon gas detector. Beets nothing and it seems to work, it was like 89.99 when I got it now about 119.95. I think the newer one will show 0.0 to 999.9 shows the level of radon gas in pCi/L. Mine only shows whole numbers.

But I am guessing if I ever sell some inspector will point it out.

The Pro Series 3 Radon Gas Detector is the only radon gas detector on the market designed for use by the homeowner. This Series III Radon Detector was evaluated by US EPA and meets performance criteria for the continuous radon protocol.

[dpb]

...

I don't actually know law/requirements but the EPA radon site should help.

But, this is one I'd try to get out of by buying the potential buyers off -- let them deal with it to whatever level they're comfortable. If go ahead and do something yourself, then I'd want a contractual agreement up front that what it is you're going to do is going to be acceptable irrespective of the outcome of any further test, otherwise you're in an open-ended loop. As noted, it would be far simpler for you to take a small hit and be done, but whatever you decide, don't just do something just hoping it will be accepted by a potential buyer. A piece of carpet replaced or similar cosmetic/structure is one thing, something like radon remediation _could_ escalate into a real hassle depending on the situation. You just want to make it a closed-ended deal.

[hallerb]

I am in PA, in a hot radon area:(

What they do is put a pipe up outside along the downspout to vent the radon, not beautiful but normal procedure around here

perhaps the fan could go on the top of the existing pipe or just at the roofline?

[trader4]

Are you for real? What prospective buyer is going to enter into an agreement where if the seller just does X, they then have to buy the house whether it corrects the radon problem or not? The radon is above the acceptable limit. The seller owns this problem period. Plus, now that he knows about it, he has to disclose it to future buyers as well.

Any buyer with less than shit for brains is going to insist that this be corrected properly, by a professional company, not the homeowner and that a further test shows that the radon is now at an acceptable limit.

As noted, it would be far simpler for

[hallerb]

yeah as a relatred issue I want to install a interior french drain, the home is above the grade of the street. I have wondered if draining the french drain by gravity to the street and adding a couple fresh air vents would allow the radon to leave naturally?

the reason the OP vent didnt work is that radon is heavier than air, so it comes out in the home rater than on top of the house. roof vent too high

in any case he will have to use a certified radon company at a cost of about 2 to 3 grand depending on how many vents are needed

also minimizing vacuumn in the house like hot water tanks and furnaces using indoor air, that tends to suck more radon in.

using outdoor air for combustion is much better

[Tom The Great]

IMHO:

I was wondering if I too could install a fan on my passive system, but in my research about where to place the fan, the ideal situation is where the piping inside your house is always under a negative pressure. Having the fan anywhere lower than outside('habital spaces') could result in a pin hole leak blowing subslab air into the house.

Also, you might want to check if you can use the passive setup, since many systems today exit the house immediately, meaning very little piping exists in the house.

Good luck with your ventures, and wish you would tell use what happened.

later,

tom @