Bangkok Air Pollution

[TonyClifton]

On 11/21/2018 at 7:33 AM, oval said:

Moved to a new condo on a higher floor and this morning the air looked shocking from my windows. 

 

Re. air purifiers I decided to go the cheap DIY way so bought a bunch of 3M Filtrete from Central Chidlom and taped it over the filters of the 3 AC units in my place. I don't have a air quality monitor so I don't know how well they are actually working, but the Filtrete has a solid reputation and is already going a little grey. 

 

Give me the wet season over the cool season any day. I'd rather be getting wet than breathing the crap that's in the air now. 

Better than nothing.  Filtrete is good, but you should call 3M and they will tell you that Filtrete doesn't get 100 percent of anything.  It's less than 70 percent of the pollutants.  But you are a damn sight better than most here who think closing their windows and doors will do anything.

[SoilSpoil]

11 minutes ago, TonyClifton said:

Better than nothing.  Filtrete is good, but you should call 3M and they will tell you that Filtrete doesn't get 100 percent of anything.  It's less than 70 percent of the pollutants.  But you are a damn sight better than most here who think closing their windows and doors will do anything.

Problem with Filtrette is that it can block the airflow in your AC unit and reduce its capacity. Leave some space uncovered.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, SoilSpoil said:

Problem with Filtrette is that it can block the airflow in your AC unit and reduce its capacity. Leave some space uncovered.

 

I used Filtrete sheets last year during the bad season, and tried covering all of the surface of my air con filters in that episode. I didn't notice any meaningful reduction in cooling/air flow initially.  But as the sheets absorbed gunk and began getting dirty, at that point, I began to notice some difference.  This season, when the pollution levels outside are bad like today, I'll probably start out trying the 80-90% coverage approach, especially since I'll be using them in tandem with an in room HEPA air filter.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Well, the decent air of the morning on Saturday gave way to an afternoon and evening of more BAD air in BKK. So it ended up being another day of gunk in the air. Lots of red around BKK yet again.

 

 

The above chart is a bit weird, as in Chula Hospital, my go to sensor for central BKK, right now isn't SO bad (at least not in the red). But pretty much every other sensor/site around it is still showing red/unhealthy levels of pollution into Saturday night. Not sure what to make of that discrepancy. Usually, the Chula readings match pretty closely to what I get at home in central BKK.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just a bit more on the above 9 pm orange reading from Chula BKK (updated to 127 AQI as of 11 pm)...

 

Just now before midnight, I turned on a sensor in my unfiltered air living room (we were out most of the day) and got a reading of 38 micrograms, which is equal to an AQI of about 107.  So at least indoors at my home, my own readings in lower Sukhumvit match those of the Chula site much more closely than the much higher red readings shown elsewhere around BKK tonight.

 

[edwardandtubs]

It keeps getting worse and worse in Bangna - currently AQI of 173.

 

Filtrete sheets are not particularly effective when pollution is this bad, getting rid of only about half the pm2.5 according to my monitor. My Xiaomi 2s is working well at getting rid of the rest of it.

[TonyClifton]

It keeps getting worse and worse in Bangna - currently AQI of 173.
 
Filtrete sheets are not particularly effective when pollution is this bad, getting rid of only about half the pm2.5 according to my monitor. My Xiaomi 2s is working well at getting rid of the rest of it.

Just think about the poor bastards who sell goods and food on the street. Watch that garbage coming from the crap Mitsubishi bus. How long do you suppose those folks live?

Sent from my Star Trek Communicator.

[TonyClifton]

Just think about the poor bastards who sell goods and food on the street. Watch that garbage coming from the crap Mitsubishi bus. How long do you suppose those folks live?

Sent from my Star Trek Communicator.

Sent from my Star Trek Communicator.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Bad again today, looks even worse than yesterday's levels. We're now up to 5 or so days in a row of c**p air.

 

 

[xylophone]

10 hours ago, edwardandtubs said:

It keeps getting worse and worse in Bangna - currently AQI of 173.

 

Filtrete sheets are not particularly effective when pollution is this bad, getting rid of only about half the pm2.5 according to my monitor. My Xiaomi 2s is working well at getting rid of the rest of it.

As others have said the Filtrete sheets are ok up to a point and I do believe they cut the efficiency of my aircon unit after a while, so I took them out and now rely on the Xiaomi 2 to do the work, and although the air quality outside can register in the 50s, in my apt it is now down at 1.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Looks like today is starting out better... Have to see how the rest of the day progresses...

 

My own indoor / unfiltered air sensor is showing right now a reading of 28 micrograms or an AQI of 84 in central BKK.

 

Here, BTW, is the US EPA website for converting/calculating PM2.5 microgram numbers into AQI values, or the reverse, AQI numbers into microgram readings.

 

https://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.calculator

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

One thing I'm not following, though, are the PM2.5 values and corresponding AQI values that the Thai PCD is using on their website, as an example in the image below from reading this morning:

 

http://air4thai.pcd.go.th/webV2/region.php?region=1

 

 

If you look at the bottom 3 rows of the chart above, in just one example, it appears to be showing a 24 hour PM2.5 average for those three locations of 57 micrograms, and a corresponding AQI value of 116 in the far right column.

 

And yet, when I use the U.S. EPA conversion calculator, a 24 hour average PM2.5 value of 57 converts into an AQI reading of 152, which is much higher than the 116 AQI values shown by the PCD.

 

 

https://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.calculator

 

Anyone have any idea what's going on with that?

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

OK, one thing I'm seeing is that different countries apparently have their own, and varying, AQI calculations/scales, because they have different standards/limits for what's considered an acceptable level of a particular pollutant. So perhaps Thailand is using their own AQI scale that is different than others.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_quality_index

 

So the bottom line result of this appears to be that the microgram readings of PM2.5 are going to be consistent from place to place, but the AQI levels are not, at least using Thailand's PCD calculation vs. the US EPA or AQI.cn calculations.

 

So this morning's 57 micrograms of PM2.5 reading at several BKK locations yields...

 

--a 152 AQI / red unhealthy reading on the U.S. EPA and AQI.cn scales, but

 

 

 

--a 116 AQI / orange unhealthy reading on the Thai PCD scale.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Ahh...in searching around the Thai PCD's website, I found their detail on their AQI calculations and an actual online calculator that you can use to convert PM2.5 microgram readings into the Thai AQI values, which are on a different scale than the U.S. and international ones.

 

Look at the bottom of the following PCD website. It's all in Thai language only, but the AQI calculator function there allows you to just fill in the micrograms value and get the Thai PCD AQI value.

 

http://air4thai.pcd.go.th/webV2/aqi_info.php#index_aqi_table

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

To illustrate how the different AQI values operate differently in Thailand vs elsewhere....

 

On the U.S. scale, a PM2.5 micrograms reading of 35.5 is the beginning of the unhealthy for sensitive persons / orange category. But on the Thai scale, a PM2.5 micrograms reading of 35.5 is on the high end of the satisfactory / green category.

 

On the U.S. scale, a PM2.5 micrograms reading of 56 is the beginning of the unhealthy for all / red category. But on the Thai scale, a PM2.5 micrograms reading of 56 is the low end of the unhealthy / orange category.

 

In general, the Thai scale seems to yield less alarming AQI values and color indicators for the same levels of actual pollution vs the U.S. EPA scale, as with the examples below:

 

On the Thai AQI scale, you don't reach the beginning of the "unhealthy" category until you hit a micrograms reading of 51. Below that is called "moderate" / yellow.

 

On the U.S. AQI scale, you reach the beginning of the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" category with a micrograms reading of 35.5. Below that is called "moderate" / yellow.

 

 

[lopburi3]

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

It is, indeed, a bit better outside in BKK today... But the forecast says more bad later this week.

 

[balo]

Great air in Pattaya today, a small breeze also so that helps.  AQI 70 -75  (from balcony).

[edwardandtubs]

AQI around the 200 level (very unhealthy) in Bangkok now. Air conditioner with filtrete combined with Xiaomi Mi 2s air purifier can only get the pm2.5 down to around 8 micrograms. It usually quickly gets it down to 1.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I walked into our unfiltered (at this hour) living room in central BKK a bit ago, and my sensor was reading 55 mcg, which translates into an AQI of 149, just below the red unhealthy for all level.

 

The official Chula Hospital sensor in the Silom area was showing similar, a bit higher, at 2 am...

 

Lots of RED / unhealthy out there.... Guess the BMA folks need to be spraying more water! 

 

Perhaps the Thai Air Force could launch all of its flyable propeller planes (5?) and have them circle around BKK to blow the smog away.... 

 

[seb2015]

So, anyone here able to pinpoint the reasons behind these record spikes this year?
I don’t buy the « Chiang Mai smog » or « car exhausts » explanations given here and there


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[lopburi3]

12 minutes ago, seb2015 said:

So, anyone here able to pinpoint the reasons behind these record spikes this year?
I don’t buy the « Chiang Mai smog » or « car exhausts » explanations given here and there


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Have you driven the roads of Bangkok this year?  Skytrain construction has had a severe effect in many areas of the city so cars are stuck in traffic jams much longer than previously and there are more of them (cars and jams) every year.  That combined with dry season burning all around the city I suspect does indeed account for a lot - but perhaps more important pollution is being reported better.

[balo]

13 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I walked into our unfiltered (at this hour) living room in central BKK a bit ago, and my sensor was reading 55 mcg, which translates into an AQI of 149

I beat you without any problems , we are using the same sensor right ?  Mine shows more than 80 or AQI 167 right now. From my balcony in top floor Naklua area. 

 

Something is very strange , clear blue sky , and light winds, but there is some sort of smell in the air. Inside my room the best I can get is 22 . 

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 minutes ago, balo said:

I beat you without any problems , we are using the same sensor right ?  Mine shows more than 80 or AQI 167 right now. From my balcony in top floor Naklua area. 

 

Something is very strange , clear blue sky , and light winds, but there is some sort of smell in the air. Inside my room the best I can get is 22 .

 

Sndway 825....

 

I too have noticed some kind of smell in the air here in BKK when the levels get high... Doesn't smell so much like smoke, but more a chemical kind of smell... Not sure what... But it's very noticeable if I go from an air purified room out into the open air sometimes.

 

[seb2015]

Have you driven the roads of Bangkok this year?  Skytrain construction has had a severe effect in many areas of the city so cars are stuck in traffic jams much longer than previously and there are more of them (cars and jams) every year.  That combined with dry season burning all around the city I suspect does indeed account for a lot - but perhaps more important pollution is being reported better.

Well I’ve been commuting by bike around the city for a few years now, during and outside peak hours but I did not notice any unusual gridlocks as you seem to describe.

What’s the main difference vs last year would you say ?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The winds must have shifted...or something...

 

 

[MalandLee]

A small % of those interested in "what we as individuals can do" about air the air pollution in BKK and elsewhere.

 

This 7 minute video offers the SCIENCE - not anecdotal - evidence to support it's claim.

 

 

[balo]

56 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Doesn't smell so much like smoke, but more a chemical kind of smell...

Exactly , that's what I smell too , something different than the usual Thai pollution.  

[kekalot]

19 minutes ago, balo said:

Exactly , that's what I smell too , something different than the usual Thai pollution.  

yeah it's not always smoke.. in fact if you have a meter and you cook at home the meter should go up quite a bit..

mine went up when the lady downstairs (I live on the fourth floor) cooks spicy stuff with oil.

[lopburi3]

1 hour ago, seb2015 said:

 

Well I’ve been commuting by bike around the city for a few years now, during and outside peak hours but I did not notice any unusual gridlocks as you seem to describe.

What’s the main difference vs last year would you say ?

 

It is in the outer areas of Bangkok for the most part - where skytrain construction is ongoing.  Although at eleven last week travel from Chok Chai 4 to Ratchada was 25 minutes - Latphao Road to Rama 9 on Ratchada was 30 minutes and from there to Phetchaburi Road about 25 minutes and Asoke was tailing into Phetchaburi with no movement.