Prepping for pollution season in Chiang Mai

[Old Curmudgeon]

 

This year for pollution season, I'm trying to prepare more thoroughly than in the past.
Especially important as one gets older.

 

Here is what I've done already.
Is there anything else that would have benefit?

 

Decided can not "secure" the entire house.
Just not possible.
So concentrating on three rooms where I spend the most time:

bed room, home office, hobby room.

 

No attempt to secure large front room or bathrooms.
Also no attempt to secure indoor kitchen - cooking creates it's own pollution anyway.

 

All air conditioners cleaned.
Professional service did that.

 

 

 

Bought another large air cleaner.
Had two Hatari units already.

Bought one more, similar design, but different brand.
Simple filter and fan -- no fancy, high-tech electronics.

 

Considered -- but did not buy -- piezoelectric air cleaner.
Would it work much better than basic mechanical filter unit?
I don't know, but decided against it.

 

Added layer of filter material to all air conditioners and air cleaners.

 

My air pollution test meter shows reduced particulate matter of level 1,2 or 3 inside, while ambient air outside is 60-90.
I'm pleased with that.

 

Brought out two ultrasonic humidifiers: cleaned and tested.
Air conditioned air gets very dry -- adding moisture may or may not improve the cleanliness of the air, but it is more comfortable to breath.
Sleep better, too.
No more dry mouth.

 

These humidifiers require mineral water, rather than plain tap water.
So there's a little extra effort to buy large, packs of Purra Mineral Water every week, but not serious.

 

Bought a water mist sprayer for the front yard.
Not yet installed.
Will water mist help against pollution, or is that just "urban legend"?
Wish I knew.

 

 

 

Bought some large, live plants for the front room.
Will the plants help clean the air?
I don't know, but they look nice.

 

Remaining to do:
Weather stripping around the doors of the three "clean" rooms.
And a bottom strip on each door.

 

Check window "seals" and add or replace if necessary.

Anything else?
What else could be done to mitigate pollution season in Chiang Mai?

 

The alternative to all this, of course, is pick up and move to Hua Hin for three months.
But from reading this forum, looks like they already have plenty of curmudgeons there.

 

[novacova]

5 minutes ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

Will water mist help against pollution, or is that just "urban legend"?

Try it out by turning it on and off. 
 

 

6 minutes ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

Will the plants help clean the air?

No, the smoke has a way to bypass plants.

7 minutes ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

Anything else?
What else could be done to mitigate pollution season in Chiang Mai?

Respirator, oxygen mask, diving air tanks, a flight to somewhere else.

[JBChiangRai]

I take the same approach to air purification as I do to air conditioning.

 

It all has to be silent and cover the whole house including corridors, the only exception is the garage which is air conditioned but there are no air purifiers there.

 

To be silent the air purifiers have to be large, we have several Xiaomi MAX units that run very quietly.  My bedroom has 2 large Toshiba units, the kitchen/diner/family room has 2 Xiaomi MAX units, the living room has 2 and the entrance foyer and corridor has 4 units, this is the center of the house, it’s very leaky keeping this purified and cool and makes a huge difference over the entire house.

 

We are able to keep the whole house around 30ppm CD2.5 quietly on the most polluted of days.

 

If I was starting again from scratch, I would buy nothing other than the Xiaomi MAX units.  They are expensive but a far superior unit and very quiet.

 

 

[newbee2022]

17 hours ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

 

This year for pollution season, I'm trying to prepare more thoroughly than in the past.
Especially important as one gets older.

 

Here is what I've done already.
Is there anything else that would have benefit?

 

Decided can not "secure" the entire house.
Just not possible.
So concentrating on three rooms where I spend the most time:

bed room, home office, hobby room.

 

No attempt to secure large front room or bathrooms.
Also no attempt to secure indoor kitchen - cooking creates it's own pollution anyway.

 

All air conditioners cleaned.
Professional service did that.

 

 

 

Bought another large air cleaner.
Had two Hatari units already.

Bought one more, similar design, but different brand.
Simple filter and fan -- no fancy, high-tech electronics.

 

Considered -- but did not buy -- piezoelectric air cleaner.
Would it work much better than basic mechanical filter unit?
I don't know, but decided against it.

 

Added layer of filter material to all air conditioners and air cleaners.

 

My air pollution test meter shows reduced particulate matter of level 1,2 or 3 inside, while ambient air outside is 60-90.
I'm pleased with that.

 

Brought out two ultrasonic humidifiers: cleaned and tested.
Air conditioned air gets very dry -- adding moisture may or may not improve the cleanliness of the air, but it is more comfortable to breath.
Sleep better, too.
No more dry mouth.

 

These humidifiers require mineral water, rather than plain tap water.
So there's a little extra effort to buy large, packs of Purra Mineral Water every week, but not serious.

 

Bought a water mist sprayer for the front yard.
Not yet installed.
Will water mist help against pollution, or is that just "urban legend"?
Wish I knew.

 

 

 

Bought some large, live plants for the front room.
Will the plants help clean the air?
I don't know, but they look nice.

 

Remaining to do:
Weather stripping around the doors of the three "clean" rooms.
And a bottom strip on each door.

 

Check window "seals" and add or replace if necessary.

Anything else?
What else could be done to mitigate pollution season in Chiang Mai?

 

The alternative to all this, of course, is pick up and move to Hua Hin for three months.
But from reading this forum, looks like they already have plenty of curmudgeons there.

 

Why not leave and come back after the burning season? We do this since more than 15 years already and move to our beach house. Last year it was necessary up to June

[Presnock]

17 hours ago, novacova said:

Try it out by turning it on and off. 
 

 

No, the smoke has a way to bypass plants.

Respirator, oxygen mask, diving air tanks, a flight to somewhere else.

N95 masks and 2.5micron masks reportedly filter out most of the pollutants.  There may be more up to date on particular masks, but if one looks for them, read the labels to determine quality.

https://ellessco.com/blog/2022/07/pm25-mask-different-n95

 

[novacova]

2 minutes ago, Presnock said:

N95 masks and 2.5micron masks reportedly filter out most of the pollutants.  There may be more up to date on particular masks, but if one looks for them, read the labels to determine quality.

https://ellessco.com/blog/2022/07/pm25-mask-different-n95

 

I modified them in order to eat and breathe while wearing 

[BumGun]

Could also try this if you need more filtering ? Just uses 4 filters and a box fan, easy DIY

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsi–Rosenthal_Box

 

or leave for a few months as others have suggested

[SiSePuede419]

On 12/29/2024 at 7:00 PM, Old Curmudgeon said:

Is there anything else that would have benefit?

Yes!

Tickets for flying to Hua Hin or Koh Samui, Phuket or Krabi from 1 Feb 2025 to about 15 May 2025 (approximately 3 1/2 months), depending on when the rains stop the burning and the PM2.5 goes < 100.

I recommend Krabi if you like over touristy beaches (Railay Beach/Phra Nang Cave Beach) and Dim Sum (Krabi has at least 8 dim sum restaurants ---why?!?)

Or HH if you don't.

Samui is good if you like to take your life in your hands by crossing the ring road on foot or by making a right turn during morning or evening rush hours.

Koh Phagnan is good if you like to smoke weed in bars or restaurants.  Only saw one place that said don't smoke weed you buy from other places here (they sold weed there), 555.

 

Yeah, you could hunker down with air filters going in every room. We tried that last year.  Worked good until the air pollution got really high and it smelled like an ashtray outside, must have been 400+ that day-- the air filters couldn't keep up and the lowest they got was 180ppm that day--indoors with air filters running 24/7.

No sir, that's only a temporary relief.

You need to accept you can't control it.

You can only avoid it.

Get the hell out of Dodge, Pilgrim.

Come back in Mid May and live in the best part of Thailand for the next 8 1/2 months (The North).

Why is the North the best?

"Cool season"

The South only has two seasons.

Hot Dry and Hot Wet.

Chiang Mai has that plus Cool.

So cool it's almost cold sometimes at night and you forget all about the other 9 months of holy hell you just went through to get to the grand finale of the cool season.

In the South, you can't forget the heat 

It's in your face every <deleted> day. 😳

[khunJam]

14 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

I take the same approach to air purification as I do to air conditioning.

 

It all has to be silent and cover the whole house including corridors, the only exception is the garage which is air conditioned but there are no air purifiers there.

 

To be silent the air purifiers have to be large, we have several Xiaomi MAX units that run very quietly.  My bedroom has 2 large Toshiba units, the kitchen/diner/family room has 2 Xiaomi MAX units, the living room has 2 and the entrance foyer and corridor has 4 units, this is the center of the house, it’s very leaky keeping this purified and cool and makes a huge difference over the entire house.

 

We are able to keep the whole house around 30ppm CD2.5 quietly on the most polluted of days.

 

If I was starting again from scratch, I would buy nothing other than the Xiaomi MAX units.  They are expensive but a far superior unit and very quiet.

 

 

A little overkill you think? Or is your house drafty? Our house is 160 square meters 2 purifiers is all that is used but usually only have one running is all is needed because the house is sealed tight.

[koolkarl]

Air pollution goes everywhere, even if you hid in your closet.  And it exists in the Chiang Mai area all year.  Go get a lung xray if you have been in the area a long time.  Best solution is to leave Thailand.

[KhunLA]

All you need is a vehicle, and follow the map ... to anywhere south of, and chill for 6 months, mid Nov to mid May:

 

 

 

[FolkGuitar]

We chose Chiang Mai as our home. We have no need or desire to leave it every year because of repeated occurrences. Problems can be solved.
Our solution to the yearly pollution... and its worked well for us for the past 25 years without any feeling that we need to leave...

- Two small Hitachi air purifiers, 1000B each for the house keep the numbers in single digits inside. No need for us to hermetically seal the house to achieve that.

- N95 masks when we go outside.
- PMA
To date, living through the smoke for the past 25 years, we just don't find it that big a deal!  Sorry. I know that will upset some people.

[Tazmo]

Hospital admissions for chest related conditions increases in Chiang Mai,  during that time of the year.

I use that as my indicator to leave for a couple months. It’s hard to measure when you’re preventing and protecting yourself against any health threats, thus improving the quality of your life.

 

”Cheap Charlies “ would never leave, I know a few, some no longer with us. But some understandably need to stay for job or other relevant reasons.

 

The TAT never warns tourists about such dangers or even prevent large gatherings.

An International tournament was held last April when the AQI was dangerous. It may not affect young active athletes, but there were many Seniors, here for the cheap beer, cigarettes and sunshine, so they believe.

 

Each to their own. I counted my years and discovered that I now have less time left to live than I had lived until now.

I feel like the kid who won a pack of candy; he ate the first few with pleasure, but when he realized there were few left, he began to savor them deeply.

 I no longer have time to put up with absurd people who, despite their chronological age,  have not grown up.

The essential is what makes life worth living.

 I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch people’s hearts…

We have two lives, the second one starts when you realize that you have only one….

 

A rather long winded way to stress the importance of our health!

[JBChiangRai]

10 hours ago, khunJam said:

A little overkill you think? Or is your house drafty? Our house is 160 square meters 2 purifiers is all that is used but usually only have one running is all is needed because the house is sealed tight.

 

The house itself is not particularly drafty, but it has a glass lift between floors on the back of the house and that lets a draft in, I have sealed it as much as possible but the door design could do with improvement.  The house is on the large size, it's 600m2.

 

I don't think what we have is overkill. My friends and neighbours typically have a few air purifiers screaming away when it's highly polluted, I prefer to have double or treble the quantity but running quietly.  Most people seem to think you buy one small air purifier and then expect it to produce miracles.  I'm a big fan of Xiaomi, but all the models except the MAX are very noisy.

[Lacessit]

I would add an independent air quality monitor to the OP's list, the meter on the air purifiers can be somewhat optimistic. Easy to buy on Lazada.

 

Water misting does assist in reducing particle pollution, as they attach themselves to the water and are knocked out.

 

IIRC that's why the Thai government wanted to use a fleet of helicopters with water bombs over Bangkok, although it always was a half-assed idea due to logistical problems.

[KannikaP]

On 12/30/2024 at 12:22 PM, newbee2022 said:

Why not leave and come back after the burning season? We do this since more than 15 years already and move to our beach house. Last year it was necessary up to June

I just wish I could afford a Beach House.

[KannikaP]

5 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

'm a big fan of Xiaomi, but all the models except the MAX are very noisy.

My 3C is very quiet. 

[Thailand]

Been sucking it up for over 20 years now and don't do anything special to alleviate the situation as not really found it necessary.

Do everything much the same as I would in the rest of the year, love Chiang Mai and not going anywhere else.