How good is Lumpini park air quality?

[sidjameson]

Anybody have some good data?

I love jogging there, but I know how bad exercise is if the air is bad.

I'd like to think Lumpini has its own micro climate, but I fear I'm wishful thinking.

[Why Me]

http://aqicn.org/city/bangkok/

says air quality is 53 (moderate) near Lumpini now. Which is about as good as it gets in Bkk. I doubt Lumpini is insulated from pollution from the major streets running by it. But 53 is pretty darned good. If you can wait till late night/early morning it's even better.

[Raphus]

Use the Airvisual app.

Best up to date true value of air quality.

[geriatrickid]

IMO. there isn't a "micro climate" in Lumpini park because it is small in size and  has a sparse amount of trees. All that it can offer is  "distance" from direct  vehicle  exhaust.  The reality is that  wherever you are in Bangkok, you will be subject to heavy particulate matter. You can reduce your exposure by avoiding the times of day when it is at the highest (commuting times) and by avoiding  zones where it is most concentrated (busy intersections).

 

Have you considered Sky Running 4th floor - Rachaprasatabhakdi Building / Building B, Government Center Chaengwattana?

Edited July 26, 2020 by geriatrickid

[Don Chance]

This time of year is the best time to be in Bangkok. After the monsoon ends tho it will be very bad air pollution.

[rak sa_ngop]

I would think that Lumphini area has some of the best air in Bangkok. When you consider the adjoining Chulalornkorn hospital, the Chulalongkorn University, the Royal Bangkok Sports Club , the National Stadium etc all on one side and then the Australian embassy, Alliance Francaise, Polo club, Tobacco Monopoly (with new park grounds) and Benjakitti Park etc all on the other side. This means that a huge area around Lumphini is relatively undeveloped in terms of urban living with limited road traffic. That's my take on it.

[willi2006]

Close to Lumphini Park at Chulalongkorn Hospital the Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI) is currently 34:

https://waqi.info/#/c/13.731/100.535/16z

[thecyclist]

If you do the standard loop that the vast majority of Lumpinee joggers do, then most of the time you will be close to some of the busiest roads Bangkok has to offer, and therefore close to the source of the pollution (still, of course a lot better than running on the sidewalks outside of the park). I alternate the standard round with crisscrossing the center of the park, away from the traffic, especially that 'inner island' in the middle of the park, where most likely the pollution is only a fraction of what it is on the fringes. If you do longer jogs, there is also that elevated walk/bike way that connects Lumpini with Benjakitti park, most of it is away from heavy traffic, although part of it is along a smelly Klong. This way you not only minimize exposure to pollution but you break the monotony of doing the same lap over and over again. 

[ThailandRyan]

Lumpini has a trailer parked which shows the AQI PM 2.5 readings.  When I jogged this evening it showed 15, I just finished and  I live about .25km away from the Park and my Pm 2.5 meter reads 5 right now outside.  Of course in the house with the air purifier running its at 1. 

Edited July 27, 2020 by ThailandRyan

[johnray]

It doesn't matter.  The health benefits of jogging far outway the air quality myth.

[ThailandRyan]

Sorry forgot to add that the Trailer is parked at the now closed corner entrance at Rama 4 and Sathon Thai/Whitthayu rd. It is on the inside ring across from where the guard shack is.  You can see it when you cross the small bridge as it sits just off of the right side. and the clock tower is off to the left down the inner road

Edited July 27, 2020 by ThailandRyan

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

This AQI monitor at Chula Hospital is a good site for monitoring the air around Lumpini Park:

 

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

 

It also uses the U.S./Intl air quality AQI scale, not the Thai one that allows higher levels of pollution before signaling unhealthy levels.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Thingamabob]

For Lumpini I recommend around 4am. After which go home and take a nap before starting your day.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

32 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Lumpini has a trailer parked which shows the AQI PM 2.5 readings.  When I jogged this evening it showed 15, I just finished and  I live about .25km away from the Park and my Pm 2.5 meter reads 5 right now outside.  Of course in the house with the air purifier running its at 1. 

 

 

If it's a Thai government or PCD monitor, it's AQI values are going to be distorted/low-balled in accord with the Thai government's own AQI scale, which allows for higher pollution levels before signaling any health problem.

 

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

For Lumpini I recommend around 4am. After which go home and take a nap before starting your day.

Why, I either run at 6:30 am, or at 4:45 pm, the past few months since they opened up Lumpini to run inside  the air quality has been pretty darned good and the sky clear looking.   I have 9 months of photos from every day that I have run in the park, and I run 6 days a week.  Back around November/December the sky was rough and the Pm 2.5 outside was in the 50's at my condo.  Inside with the air filtration system never above 8.  After March things started clearing an looking beautiful and the air quality improved.  That is also because of a reduction in traffic and fewer factories over at the ports belching out there <deleted>.  Add in the fact I have seen fewer black smoke belching buses and cars and I am sure its helped to make it nice now.  Not sure what will happen Post Covid and when the full 10 million people resume living in Bangkok.

[ThailandRyan]

19 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

If it's a Thai government or PCD monitor, it's AQI values are going to be distorted/low-balled in accord with the Thai government's own AQI scale, which allows for higher pollution levels before signaling any health problem.

 

My UNI-T AQM meter and my Xiaomi A1 air purifier systems read pretty darned close to what the trailer says, as I check them before heading out in the morning as well as in the evening. But to each there own.  We all do what we think is right for outdoor entertainment with air quality in mind. Just thought of something else.  Maybe my living 40 floors up from the ground may make a difference in my Air Quality at the unit vs. the ground area, never gave it much thought until now.

Edited July 27, 2020 by ThailandRyan

[Searat7]

I have worn an N 95 mask in Silom (where I have lived) for years because of 2.5. Lumpini was the one place I could go for a walk without a mask and I am sure all the trees have something to do with this. 

[sidjameson]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Lumpini has a trailer parked which shows the AQI PM 2.5 readings.  When I jogged this evening it showed 15, I just finished and  I live about .25km away from the Park and my Pm 2.5 meter reads 5 right now outside.  Of course in the house with the air purifier running its at 1. 

Thanks for that.

May I ask, how much is the air purifier? Clean air in the apartment all year would tempt me to live in bk fulltime.

Is it expensive to run?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

24 minutes ago, Searat7 said:

I have worn an N 95 mask in Silom (where I have lived) for years because of 2.5. Lumpini was the one place I could go for a walk without a mask and I am sure all the trees have something to do with this. 

 There may be more trees and grass there. But if the air is bad in BKK on any given day, it's not like being in Lumpini Park is somehow going to shield you from it. There aren't invisible walls that somehow make the air inside the park better than the air all around it.

 

[ThailandRyan]

The units size will depend on the size of the room that you have.  My Condo is 135 SqM and so I have the larger unit in the living room/Dining Room/Kitchen area, and each room has its own.  Not sure how much energy they are using, as I never really checked, and my MEA Bill has always been within a few hundred baht of each month.  I average using 1600 KWH each month because we cook most meals at home, and run the Aircons at 25 when we are home and in the rooms.  At night the air purifier's run in the bedrooms, and so do those aircon units.  My unit for the big room is a Xiaomi Mi Air Purifier 3H.  

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, rak sa_ngop said:

I would think that Lumphini area has some of the best air in Bangkok. When you consider the adjoining Chulalornkorn hospital, the Chulalongkorn University, the Royal Bangkok Sports Club , the National Stadium etc all on one side and then the Australian embassy, Alliance Francaise, Polo club, Tobacco Monopoly (with new park grounds) and Benjakitti Park etc all on the other side. This means that a huge area around Lumphini is relatively undeveloped in terms of urban living with limited road traffic. That's my take on it.

 

Don't think so... The air is like being in a big swimming pool of water. If someone pisses at one end of the pool, it's eventually going to spread out thru the entire pool.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Lumpini has a trailer parked which shows the AQI PM 2.5 readings.  When I jogged this evening it showed 15, I just finished and  I live about .25km away from the Park and my Pm 2.5 meter reads 5 right now outside.  Of course in the house with the air purifier running its at 1. 

 

 5 pm reading today from Chula Hospital... The 59 is the AQI value on the international scale, which just happens to equal 16 micrograms of PM2.5.  Are the numbers you're mentioning above AQI values or PM2.5 values in micrograms?

 

Chula's 59 AQI reading as of 5 pm today was a bit high compared to the other AQI readings of surrounding sensors for whatever reason. But as you can see from the sensors maps below, not much showing real 15 AQI readings around central BKK at that hour.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

32 minutes ago, sidjameson said:

May I ask, how much is the air purifier? Clean air in the apartment all year would tempt me to live in bk fulltime.

Is it expensive to run?

 

It all depends on how large an area you need to purify. And how your living area is arranged, individual discreet rooms with closeable doors, or one big open space area.

 

If you have separate closed off rooms, you can get away with smaller capacity and less expensive purifier units that are sized for those rooms. But if you have one big open area, you're either going to need a very large, high capacity, expensive purifier, or multiple smaller ones.

 

Generally speaking, you only need to run the purifiers in BKK say from about November through April, and then only in the areas you're actually occupying at home at any given time. Depends on the size and configuration of your living area.

 

Edited July 27, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[ThailandRyan]

7 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

 5 pm reading today from Chula Hospital... The 59 is the AQI value on the international scale, which just happens to equal 16 micrograms of PM2.5.  Are the numbers you're mentioning above AQI values or PM2.5 values in micrograms?

 

Chula's 59 AQI reading as of 5 pm today was a bit high compared to the other AQI readings of surrounding sensors for whatever reason. But as you can see from the sensors maps below, not much showing real 15 AQI readings around central BKK at that hour.

 

 

PM 2.5 in micrograms on my meters and filtration system digital readings which are micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m 3)

 

I run my filtration systems daily and year round, as I have allergies and the aircons blow in all kinds of dust, even when they are cleaned regularly.  

Edited July 27, 2020 by ThailandRyan

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 minute ago, ThailandRyan said:

PM 2.5 in micrograms on my meters and filtration system digital readings which are micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m 3)

 

But I'm betting the outside trailer you were talking about at the park was showing Thai scale AQI values, which are totally different than actual PM2.5 microgram values, as well as different from international/U.S. scale AQI values.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The US EPA has a handy website that allows you to easily convert back and forth between international/U.S. AQI values vs PM2.5 microgram values.

 

Just choose the link at top for pollutant value to AQI value, or the reverse AQI value to pollutant value, and then use the pull down box to select the pollutant you want to convert, such as PM2.5. Enter in the value you already have, and it will give you the corresponding conversion value.

 

https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-calculator/

 

The difference between the Thai and International/U.S. AQI scales is...

 

--On the International/U.S. scale, you first get to the orange/unhealthy for sensitive groups AQI level starting at 101 with an actual PM2.5 value of 35.5 micrograms.

 

--On the Thai government scale, you don't get to the same orange warning level until the actual PM2.5 value reaches 51 micrograms, considerably higher. The Thai scale considers that same 35.5 micrograms level as I mentioned above as being at the upper end of the Thai AQI green/good air rating.

 

As I mentioned above, the Thai AQI scale allows for considerably higher levels of PM2.5 pollution before health warning levels are triggered.

 

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

 

In short, you don't want to be relying on the Thai AQI scale as the basis for your personal air quality/health judgments.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

36 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

 the aircons blow in all kinds of dust, even when they are cleaned regularly.  

 

Most modern split-unit air con systems here are sealed systems, meaning that they simply recirculate and cool the air that's already in the room...  Unless you have a much older AC system that actually pulls outside air into your room.

 

[josephbloggs]

3 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Lumpini has a trailer parked which shows the AQI PM 2.5 readings.  When I jogged this evening it showed 15, I just finished and  I live about .25km away from the Park and my Pm 2.5 meter reads 5 right now outside.  Of course in the house with the air purifier running its at 1. 

Thanks for posting!!  Not sure what the point of it was but I am curious - what is the difference between your recorded POWER WALK and, er, a walk?

[thecyclist]

2 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 There may be more trees and grass there. But if the air is bad in BKK on any given day, it's not like being in Lumpini Park is somehow going to shield you from it. There aren't invisible walls that somehow make the air inside the park better than the air all around it.

 

That is true, of course, but at least you don't get the exhaust blown in your face like you do when you walk down the sidewalk. The more distance you put between yourself and the poison spewing vehicles the better. 

[thecyclist]

42 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Thanks for posting!!  Not sure what the point of it was but I am curious - what is the difference between your recorded POWER WALK and, er, a walk?

For some 6 km per hour is a power walk, for others it is just a regular walk. Fitness levels differ tremendously.