Construction dust ... is it PM10 ... or ATM?

Sensors
1

Hi … I live near lot of earth movers that generate lots of airborne dust, depending on how the wind is blowing. Is construction dust a PM10 … seems too big for PM2.5? It seems more like ATM. Is there a PurpleAir sensor that can register this? … hoping the PA-I would work, but it doesn’t seem to have PM10 or ATM readings. Practically speaking, what’s a good monitor? Thanks!

2

PA-II has PM10. Seems like construction dust would register across the spectrum (PM 1 to 10). I’d think the meter is definitely going to show some difference with clean air (but I’m not an expert on this).

Regards,
Robert

3

Thanks, Robert … I appreciate the answer.

I went back to the PurpleAir site to verify it and I found something very unexpected. The PA-I and PA-II seem to have a lot of specs in common, including the range of particles detected: 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, & 10 μm. The PA-I is an inside product with one sensor, and the PA-II is an outside product with two sensors.

I was hoping your suspicion would be true … it seems like the best thing to do would be try one out.

Would you have anything to add?

4

I suppose they’re the same tracker and electronics, just that the “II” has two of them for added data fidelity. I’ve found that both of mine track generally the same, on a PA-II (so a PA-I should be good enough). Good luck, be curious to know what you find.

Regards,
Robert

P.S. I assume earth movers generate diesel exhaust too, that is PM

5

Good point. Thanks for the advice!

6

I came across this discussion thread and thought it might be of interest; the topic was the concern PA was underestimating dust