Bangkok Air Pollution

[ExpatOilWorker]

We made the international morning news: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-15/planning-a-vacation-in-bangkok-don-t-forget-your-pollution-mask

 

[mommysboy]

23 hours ago, edwardandtubs said:

There is no discrepancy. The external bodies take the data published by the Pollution Control Department and convert it into their own index. 

 

Well that figures!!

[mommysboy]

11 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

We made the international morning news: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-15/planning-a-vacation-in-bangkok-don-t-forget-your-pollution-mask

 

No, it's ok Thai authorities have the real figures.

[ChidlomDweller]

I see so many post and comments (also in the BP) insinuating that the Thai government underreports the pollution figures.  Scoundrels as they are, here that's not the issue. 

 

The AQI is not the same as the PM2.5 measurement.

 

The AQI is an index of how unhealthy various pollutants like PM2.5, PM10, ozone, CO2, are, to bring them on a comparable scale.  

 

PM2.5 is the average micrograms per cubic meter of this pollutant over 24 hours.  Such a number on its own would tell you nothing about how unhealthy the pollution level is, nor would it allow you to compare the health hazard from, say PM2.5 to the Carbon monoxide measurment.

 

For more info or if you don't believe me, google "relationship AQI and PM2.5".

 

AQI is a scale of the estimated health impact, the other a physical measurement.

 

For instance PM2.5=50micrograms/m3 corresponds to an AQI reading of 150.  PM2.5=155 micrograms/m3 corresponds to an AQI of 200.  The past few days the newspapers have been reporting PM2.5 readings like 60, 70, which correspond to an AQI in the 150-200 zone.  No cheating or conflicting data here.

[edwardandtubs]

32 minutes ago, ChidlomDweller said:

I see so many post and comments (also in the BP) insinuating that the Thai government underreports the pollution figures.  Scoundrels as they are, here that's not the issue. 

 

The AQI is not the same as the PM2.5 measurement.

 

The AQI is an index of how unhealthy various pollutants like PM2.5, PM10, ozone, CO2, are, to bring them on a comparable scale.  

 

PM2.5 is the average micrograms per cubic meter of this pollutant over 24 hours.  Such a number on its own would tell you nothing about how unhealthy the pollution level is, nor would it allow you to compare the health hazard from, say PM2.5 to the Carbon monoxide measurment.

 

For more info or if you don't believe me, google "relationship AQI and PM2.5".

 

AQI is a scale of the estimated health impact, the other a physical measurement.

 

For instance PM2.5=50micrograms/m3 corresponds to an AQI reading of 150.  PM2.5=155 micrograms/m3 corresponds to an AQI of 200.  The past few days the newspapers have been reporting PM2.5 readings like 60, 70, which correspond to an AQI in the 150-200 zone.  No cheating or conflicting data here.

This is what I've been trying to tell people but it's all a bit too complicated for some posters.

 

I would disagree with you on one thing though. PM2.5 is not necessarily a 24-hour average. It's usually reported as an hourly average.

 

[mommysboy]

You miss the point.  By using the Thai measure the layman is led to believe that the Thai p2.5 is much lower than it actually is.

[Wallet73]

I've been suffering with chronic bronchitis, asthma and very bad sinusitis for years now, everytime i leave Bangkok i start to feel better. So this time i've been out of Bangkok for nearly 5 months and my lung problems have resolved! I only have occasional asthma now.

I even had a very expensive HEPA air purifier in my apartment.

 

Thais are killing their country.

[ExpatOilWorker]

The wind blew most of the pollution away from Bangkok. I can now see a building that is 20 km away.

Happy days are back.

[adammike]

I was in Bangkok for 3 nights sat to tue and it was ok, blue skies so very hot in the sun walking about but as pollution free as Bangkok gets.

[JimShorts]

The air has been decent the last few days, which was nice to finally be able to go outside again.

 

Not sure what happened, but today the air pollution is back in full effect. Well over 150 all across Bangkok and seemingly most of Thailand as well. You can really see it today, the buildings in the distance have disappeared completely. 

[lopburi3]

But they have fixed that issue as now are reporting PM10 for Bangkok to make it look better.

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

37 minutes ago, JimShorts said:

The air has been decent the last few days, which was nice to finally be able to go outside again.

 

Not sure what happened, but today the air pollution is back in full effect. Well over 150 all across Bangkok and seemingly most of Thailand as well. You can really see it today, the buildings in the distance have disappeared completely. 

No southern wind nor any significant rain predicted for the next week, so better dig in next to the air-filter.

[edwardandtubs]

12 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

But they have fixed that issue as now are reporting PM10 for Bangkok to make it look better.

 

To be fair on the PCD, monitoring stations do sometimes go down but they're back up again fairly soon. There are a variety of monitoring stations to choose from and the one closest to me is still showing PM 2.5 at 175.

[LALes]

It is brutal out there today in BKK.  Looks like the worst day we had last month.

Just when you thought it was safe to go outside again.

Guess we're not out of the woods, yet.

[lopburi3]

1 hour ago, edwardandtubs said:

To be fair on the PCD, monitoring stations do sometimes go down but they're back up again fairly soon. There are a variety of monitoring stations to choose from and the one closest to me is still showing PM 2.5 at 175.

Indeed the 2.5 is again being reported - but the official government data is only PM10 reporting so always sounds much better than it is.

[edwardandtubs]

43 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Indeed the 2.5 is again being reported - but the official government data is only PM10 reporting so always sounds much better than it is.

All the Bangkok data is official government data. These private websites take that data and convert it into an index.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm still seeing the correct chart info including PM2.5 for Bangkok... And, it's NOT good out there. Mask and HEP:A filter time. Things seem to have started going to sh** as of early Sunday.

 

http://aqicn.org/city/thailand/bangkok/chulalongkorn-hospital/

 

 

[lopburi3]

34 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

All the Bangkok data is official government data. These private websites take that data and convert it into an index.

Not sure what you mean but there are government and non government reporting stations in Bangkok and other areas of Thailand.  My point was the official reporting to the public for air pollution within Thailand is based on PM10 rather than PM2.5 - the AQI website will normally report the PM2.5 if available (it was not available for a time after 0700 today so they then revered to PM10.

[edwardandtubs]

22 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Not sure what you mean but there are government and non government reporting stations in Bangkok and other areas of Thailand.  My point was the official reporting to the public for air pollution within Thailand is based on PM10 rather than PM2.5 - the AQI website will normally report the PM2.5 if available (it was not available for a time after 0700 today so they then revered to PM10.

There are no non government monitoring stations in Bangkok. The US Embassy has one in Chiang Mai but not here.

 

It's not clear what you mean by 'official reporting'. The PCD has both pm10 and PM 2.5 stations and publishes the data of both.

[JoshBe]

I only started tracking the AQI a few months ago, but from my subjective experience, it seems that the air quality is much worse this year than it was last year. 

 

Any recommendations for an affordable air purifier for a small room (30m2)?

[lopburi3]

5 minutes ago, JoshBe said:

I only started tracking the AQI a few months ago, but from my subjective experience, it seems that the air quality is much worse this year than it was last year. 

 

Any recommendations for an affordable air purifier for a small room (30m2)?

Have been used below for several years - and it replaced a previous Hatari unit of the same type that had been in use for a decade or more.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/hatari-ht-ap12-i172545206-s215785084.html?search=1

[JoshBe]

24 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Have been used below for several years - and it replaced a previous Hatari unit of the same type that had been in use for a decade or more.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/hatari-ht-ap12-i172545206-s215785084.html?search=1

Thank you for the recommendation.

I would've stayed away from a Thai brand and went with a Japanese one (Sharp, Hitachi), but an air purifier that lasts over a decade is certainly a sign of good quality.

Btw I've found the same model even cheaper on Powerbuy https://www.powerbuy.co.th/en/hatari-เครื่องฟอกอากาศ-hatari-รุ่น-htap12-เครื่องฟอกอากาศ-216364

 

[lopburi3]

Did not shop - just selected first shown.  Here is same price you found direct from Lazada.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/hatari-ht-ap12-30-32-i160507064-s193285301.html?search=1

[edwardandtubs]

6 minutes ago, JoshBe said:

Thank you for the recommendation.

I would've stayed away from a Thai brand and went with a Japanese one (Sharp, Hitachi), but an air purifier that lasts over a decade is certainly a sign of good quality.

Btw I've found the same model even cheaper on Powerbuy https://www.powerbuy.co.th/en/hatari-เครื่องฟอกอากาศ-hatari-รุ่น-htap12-เครื่องฟอกอากาศ-216364

 

Remember to change the HEPA regularly - at least once every six months. 

 

Also that company doesn't publish the filtration efficiency of the filter they use so it's likely to be low. 

[JoshBe]

33 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Did not shop - just selected first shown.  Here is same price you found direct from Lazada.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/hatari-ht-ap12-30-32-i160507064-s193285301.html?search=1

I'd prefer Powerbuy though because they have actual stores where I can go to incase there's an issue with the device. 

Any thoughts on this one? https://www.powerbuy.co.th/en/sharp-เครื่องฟอกอากาศ-สำหรับห้องขนาด-30-ตรม-รุ่น-fpf40tat-เครื่องฟอกอากาศ-217431

It's 2000 THB more but it seems to better purifier because of the ionizer. 

 

 

 

[lopburi3]

No idea but the Hatari also has ionizer.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

At least the BKK forecast seems to show some relief on the horizon, later this week by Thursday. But tomorrow and Wednesday still predicted as bad.

 

[edwardandtubs]

4 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

No idea but the Hatari also has ionizer.

Ionizers are a bad idea because they create ozone, which is a harmful pollutant in itself, and do almost nothing to reduce the particulate matter in a room.

[JimShorts]

7 hours ago, JoshBe said:

I'd prefer Powerbuy though because they have actual stores where I can go to incase there's an issue with the device. 

Any thoughts on this one? https://www.powerbuy.co.th/en/sharp-เครื่องฟอกอากาศ-สำหรับห้องขนาด-30-ตรม-รุ่น-fpf40tat-เครื่องฟอกอากาศ-217431

It's 2000 THB more but it seems to better purifier because of the ionizer. 

 

 

 

You do not want ionizer. This will cause different health issues. 

 

Blueair are the best, but very expensive. 

 

I have a few Blueair purifiers along with a few Bwells. The Bwells perform very good. 

 

I recommend getting a PM monitor, I find mine very helpful, especially when going out of the house. I have one I got in the USA, looks exactly like this one on Lazada but with a different logo. It works great. http://bit.ly/2IlZbgy

[lopburi3]

Use of ionizer is optional on units (HEPA) so equipped that I have seen.