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Comment by haram_masala | Hacker News Reader

The time plot of CO2 in the bedroom is sobering - it seems that they’re reaching levels where CO2 causes cognitive impairment.

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It doesn’t look like it hits 1000 ppm. I thought anything under 1000 was fine and concern didn’t start until closer to 1500.

My office at home will quickly go over 2000 and then 3000ppm if I keep the door and window closed. It sucks in winter because I basically have to keep the window open(and be cold) if I want to have the privacy of a closed door.

It did make me realize why I was feeling sleepy and not quite so focused after long period of time in that room, so getting a CO2 sensor was great in that sense. I also stopped closing the door to our bedroom - CO2 levels would easily go over 2500ppm overnight if you left the door closed.

If you own your home, you could install a ventilation system with an air-to-air heat exchanger with the outside... that way you at least reduce the heating loss. Or you install a forced ventilation towards whatever adjacent room there is, with a foam mesh to pad down on sounds.

We wallet has involuntarily clenched at the thought of how much that would cost. I'll stick with opening the window for now I think.

Why? You can have a simple indoor exchange for under a hundred dollars - a simple bathroom fan for 20€ would be a starter if you don't mind its noise, but stuff like axial fans for pot growers is pretty cheap as well (e.g. [1]). That, a 100mm core drill and a fairly simple mechanical 230V switch on the door should be enough.

A heat exchange fan can be had for 525€ [2].

[1] https://www.grow-shop24.de/Silent-Axialluefter-100m-h-100mm-...

[2] https://raumluft-shop.de/getair-smartfan-dezentraler-wohnrau...

Because labour is crazy and I don't feel comfortable doing this myself. I've recently had a basic AC unit installed at home, it was £500 for the hardware and then another £1000 on top of that for the installation. I imagine that exchange fan would be at least £1000 installed and I just don't have a grand laying around spare to do this.

Yeah, AC units do require a lot of specialized labor to install (in some jurisdictions, it actually may even be mandated by law)... but a simple fan? That's half an hour for the drill, half an hour for the electrician and that's it.

I could imagine that happens in many boardrooms too. ;)

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