Ask HN: Any HNers have air quality sensors near-ish 'East Palistine, Ohio'? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Any HNers have air quality sensors near-ish 'East Palistine, Ohio'?

81 pointssamstave17 comments

Anyone have better data than whats being reported, be it air, fish, frogs, birds, livestock?

This sort of investigation probably needs something more like a gas chromatography mass spectrometry machine. I don’t think a run of the mill set of air quality sensors is going to tell anyone which toxic nastiness is in the air /water there.

Collecting samples and getting them analyzed by a lab should be possible though.

If there are any Marijuana Testing Labs in Ohio, bring them a sample of water...

Almost all weed testing labs have these machines in them. SPECIFICALLY for toxic chemical (pesticide) contaminants testing. I'd bet any testing lab in Ohio would do this for free.

Air quality sensors probably won’t get you the information you want. The ones available will be able to detect small particulate, indoor gases like CO or CO2 which wouldn’t be the issue, or very vague broad swaths of compounds lumped together which again are only relevant at high concentrations achieved only in enclosed spaces.

If there is something going on the most likely culprit is something specific with toxic effects at quite low doses that just wouldn’t be detectable without very specialized equipment (5,6,7? Digit costs)

I grew up there and my entire immediate and extended family lives in the area or within a 20 mile radius of the area.

What type of sensors and data would you like to see?

Assuming it's not cost prohibitive I'm happy to get a bunch of sensors set up and recording data.

Read the EPA reports that have been posted... it contains the data from the static and roaming air quality testing. It shows that there are pm2.5 particulates around in slightly elevated amounts, but none of the chemicals from the train.

I have yet to see any hard evidence of things like chemicals from the train being detected in ground water or streams, and I have seen no evidence of anyone dying from the big, scary cloud, nor of any chemicals from the train being present in that, either.

There's a huge amount of conspiracy BS being pushed on this, so be sure to think critically about anything someone tells you about the event.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna70378

I'm still waiting to see still images that aren't 10 days old

Kinda over it, hope Bethesda is excited about doing a Fallout Ohio

> so be sure to think critically about anything someone tells you about the event.

Don't forget to spray your kids with DDT and buy the new lead painted asbestos walls ;) and remember we're here for your own safety (PS: regulations are bad)

The chemical from the train got burned which turned it into a different chemical. Are they only testing for purely what was in the train or the byproducts of the chemical being burned?

Both. The combustion products of any of the chemicals listed as being on the train so far are CO, CO2, HCl, and trace phosgene. Only VCM has the last two. The HCl is the biggest risk because it's the largest product by volume and because when inhaled it forms hydrochloric acid with water in the lungs. Fortunately it will combine with water in the atmosphere if it finds that first.

I have an Raspberry Pi 3 with an attached Enviro+ from Pimoroni with the PMS5003 Particulate Matter Sensor. I am about 60 miles South/SouthEast and I have been curious if my device would pick anything up from it. I don't have it outside, but in my basement in my office of a 1953 built home. I am personally more concerned about the water though. We draw our water from a lake as the local reservoir. I never really dug into getting the readings and posting them somewhere for this device/sensors.

Make sure they’re reliable. https://halestrom.net/darksleep/blog/048_indoorairsensing/

Not as bad as the Ohio incident, but they just had a big chemical (Nitric Acid) spill on the highway near my work (Tucson, AZ). Everything shut down.

They say 1mi is the danger zone, but we've had 20mph winds this week. I'm 15 miles away, think I'll be OK?

The EPA is releasing sampled air data here:

https://response.epa.gov/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=1593...

You can request air sampling, they have contact information on that site.

I have a purple air I'm setting up in ne Ohio for a few days while I'm in town. But it is intended for I side copd air particulates from natural gas.

Anecdotal, but I live near Akron and haven't noticed any change here. I am upwind though!

Check at city-data, they pull air quality stats.

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