Bangkok Air Pollution

[mommysboy]

How to protect yourself from pollution?  The very best way is to exercise- indoors probably.  It is well known that smokers who are keen sportsmen suffer significantly less from the ill effects of smoking.  So if it works for them it must surely work for city dwellers.

[manchega]

On 3/9/2019 at 11:32 PM, edwardandtubs said:

Clearly it's per cubic metre as the AQI in Bangkok almost never gets that low.

Well if you have followed government monitoring stations over the past 5 years you would have frequently seen AQI falling to good levels, particularly when they decided to omit the particle size or if they decided to average over past year or rolling cumulative average

[edwardandtubs]

Smog is suddenly back big time today after a long spell of reasonable air quality. Red AQI all over Bangkok and I'm getting readings of about 80 micrograms at home.

[fishism]

Smog is suddenly back big time today after a long spell of reasonable air quality. Red AQI all over Bangkok and I'm getting readings of about 80 micrograms at home.

My Xiaomi Sensor finally arrived, anyone know how to configure it in the MiHome app? I have tried multiple devices and WiFi’s but it will not work.



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[edwardandtubs]

AQI over 200 now in the very unhealthy zone, making this the worst day of the year so far.

[mommysboy]

WOW 202. Time to leave if you are able to.

[edwardandtubs]

1 hour ago, fishism said:

My Xiaomi Sensor finally arrived, anyone know how to configure it in the MiHome app? I have tried multiple devices and WiFi’s but it will not work.



Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

I'm getting similar readings on the Sndway monitor on my balcony now. 

[JimShorts]

Thailand back on top, holding two positions in the top worst air (recorded) in the world. 

 

[edwardandtubs]

5 minutes ago, JimShorts said:

Thailand back on top, holding two positions in the top worst air (recorded) in the world. 

 

 

That's not up to date. It should show Chiang Mai first and Bangkok second.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I went to bed last night with my bedroom purifier running on low, and my bedroom sensor showing a reading of 2 mcg...

 

I woke up this morning with my bedroom sensor showing 22 mcg with the bedroom purifier obviously still running on low (which now has obviously been switched up to high and thus brought down the levels to the high end of the "good" range).

 

Outside in our unpurified living room right now in downtown central BKK, I've been getting readings of 52 mcg or so all morning long -- roughly 142 AQI / the high end of orange, unhealthy for sensitive groups.

 

It's the first time the PM2.5 levels have been this high in at least a couple weeks.

 

Silver lining in the dark clouds - today's return of heavy smog spurred me to finish some of the window and doorway sealing work that I'd left only partly completed when the air had turned good the past couple weeks. Anything to prevent the cr*p outside from getting inside is a good move.

 

What the heck happened overnight???

[uhuh]

H

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

WOW.... and you think BKK has it bad.... just look to the north....

 

Here's the all Thailand view:

 

 

Then the BKK region view:

 

 

Then what the heck is this???  Did someone set the TMD office in BKK on fire???

 

[madmen]

I went to bed last night with my bedroom purifier running on low, and my bedroom sensor showing a reading of 2 mcg...
 
I woke up this morning with my bedroom sensor showing 22 mcg with the bedroom purifier obviously still running on low (which now has obviously been switched up to high and thus brought down the levels to the high end of the "good" range).
 
Outside in our unpurified living room right now in downtown central BKK, I've been getting readings of 52 mcg or so all morning long -- roughly 142 AQI / the high end of orange, unhealthy for sensitive groups.
 
It's the first time the PM2.5 levels have been this high in at least a couple weeks.
 
Silver lining in the dark clouds - today's return of heavy smog spurred me to finish some of the window and doorway sealing work that I'd left only partly completed when the air had turned good the past couple weeks. Anything to prevent the cr*p outside from getting inside is a good move.
 
What the heck happened overnight???

I'm by the pool in lower Sukhumvit and can see it although no where near as bad as before.
The purifier is sitting on 6 compared to last time when it was 15 to 20

Do you not have an auto setting?

[edwardandtubs]

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Then what the heck is this???  Did someone set the TMD office in BKK on fire???

 

 

Either on the blink or a very localised factor like a nearby barbecue. It's just down the road from me and it's not that bad.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I can't recall seeing readings this high, even in the North, any time in my memory....  And it's obviously not any single sensor aberration, as the extremely high readings are pervasive up there.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 minutes ago, madmen said:

I'm by the pool in lower Sukhumvit and can see it although no where near as bad as before.
The purifier is sitting on 6 compared to last time when it was 15 to 20

Do you not have an auto setting?

 Nope, my bedroom Sharp model and living room Honeywell model are only manual, with high, medium and low fan settings.

 

That's why I have sensors in my bedroom and living room, so I can adjust the purifiers' operation as needed (except when I'm sleeping, of course!) 

[edwardandtubs]

4 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I can't recall seeing readings this high, even in the North, any time in my memory....  And it's obviously not any single sensor aberration, as the extremely high readings are pervasive up there.

 

 

It's not unusual, check the thread in the Chiang Mai forum that has been running for years. Regular reports for years of well over 100 micrograms of pm10 at this time of year. The only difference is the pm2.5 is now being reported too.

[mommysboy]

19 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I went to bed last night with my bedroom purifier running on low, and my bedroom sensor showing a reading of 2 mcg...

 

I woke up this morning with my bedroom sensor showing 22 mcg with the bedroom purifier obviously still running on low (which now has obviously been switched up to high and thus brought down the levels to the high end of the "good" range).

 

Outside in our unpurified living room right now in downtown central BKK, I've been getting readings of 52 mcg or so all morning long -- roughly 142 AQI / the high end of orange, unhealthy for sensitive groups.

 

It's the first time the PM2.5 levels have been this high in at least a couple weeks.

 

Silver lining in the dark clouds - today's return of heavy smog spurred me to finish some of the window and doorway sealing work that I'd left only partly completed when the air had turned good the past couple weeks. Anything to prevent the cr*p outside from getting inside is a good move.

 

What the heck happened overnight???

What the heck happened overnight???

 

It would have to be something major like crop burning.

[edwardandtubs]

Just now, mommysboy said:

What the heck happened overnight???

 

It would have to be something major like crop burning.

Could just be the drop in wind speed and other atmospheric changes.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

12 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

It's not unusual, check the thread in the Chiang Mai forum that has been running for years. Regular reports for years of well over 100 micrograms of pm10 at this time of year 

 

First, I do track the CM air pollution threads on a regular basis....

 

Second, PM10 levels are not the same or comparable with PM2.5 levels.

 

Third, in looking right now, just as one example, this school in the CM area is showing a Hazardous/Dark Red AQI level of 387, which translates into a noontime today PM2.5 level of 337 mcg -- which is exceptionally bad even for CM.  And several other nearby sensors have even higher current readings for today than that.

 

 

 

 

 

[madmen]

 Nope, my bedroom Sharp model and living room Honeywell model are only manual, with high, medium and low fan settings.

 

That's why I have sensors in my bedroom and living room, so I can adjust the purifiers' operation as needed (except when I'm sleeping, of course!) 

Pesky sleep getting in the way. I would leave it on medium and put it at the far end of the room if the noise is not too much

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 minute ago, madmen said:

26 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 Nope, my bedroom Sharp model and living room Honeywell model are only manual, with high, medium and low fan settings.
 
That's why I have sensors in my bedroom and living room, so I can adjust the purifiers' operation as needed (except when I'm sleeping, of course!) 

Pesky sleep getting in the way. I would leave it on medium and put it at the far end of the room if the noise is too much

 

I was lulled, temporarily, into a sense of air relaxation these past couple weeks where I almost didn't even need to be running the air purifiers at all at home... So was just leaving them on low at night to save on electricity costs... The low vs med noise factor really isn't a problem in our bedroom at night.

 

But now, of course, we're all back to the real world... Purifier on HIGH!

[madmen]

Could just be the drop in wind speed and other atmospheric changes.

Could be before bedtime spicy curry [emoji493] phenomenon

[mommysboy]

Looking on the bright side- just think of all the money you'd save not having buy 3 packs of marli red a day.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Tues. afternoon updates:

 

 

 

TMD sensor readings are back to "normal" after the extreme spike earlier in the day.

 

And my unfiltered air living room sensor, which had been bouncing around 52 mcg for the entire morning, is now up to 62 mcg by mid afternoon, which is 154 AQI and just into the red / unhealthy category.

 

 

[mommysboy]

6 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Tues. afternoon updates:

 

 

 

TMD sensor readings are back to "normal" after the extreme spike earlier in the day.

 

 

We can all breathe a chesty sigh of relief!

[edwardandtubs]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

First, I do track the CM air pollution threads on a regular basis....

 

Second, PM10 levels are not the same or comparable with PM2.5 levels.

 

 

That's exactly the point. How can you compare this year to previous years when pm2.5 data was not widely used back then? Anyway, best leave that discussion to the Chiang Mai forum.

[Misty]

2 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I was lulled, temporarily, into a sense of air relaxation these past couple weeks where I almost didn't even need to be running the air purifiers at all at home... So was just leaving them on low at night to save on electricity costs... The low vs med noise factor really isn't a problem in our bedroom at night.

 

But now, of course, we're all back to the real world... Purifier on HIGH!

Walking around Sukhumvit earlier this afternoon, and saw almost no one wearing a mask. A shame, even the masks that don't filter pm2.5 particles at least send a visual message.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

46 minutes ago, Misty said:

Walking around Sukhumvit earlier this afternoon, and saw almost no one wearing a mask. A shame, even the masks that don't filter pm2.5 particles at least send a visual message.

 

AFAICT, the typical Thais don't pay particular attention to the real time readings, and at best see the day late/later Thai media reports, or other sources even later than that...

 

When the air changes from bad to good, they're still wearing masks several days into perfectly good air. And when the air changes from good to bad like overnight last night into today, they don't seem to know it's time to break out the masks again.

[Misty]

Yes, seems likely most don't pay attention.  But some do.  One of my employees first clued me in to AQI Bangkok.  A couple weeks back she'd been following real time AQI readings on her phone almost hourly. Her line friends seemed pretty upset by air quality.  I'll ask her tomorrow if they're still following.