I wrote about radon fans here already. The origin story of why we even know about it—crazy coincidences and all—are below.
The last basement I remodeled was in a house that was about 10 years old. As the article linked to above states, radon fans last only seven to eight years. I didn’t know to check back then. I know those customers would have loved it if I suggested a systems check to them. Even if it lead nowhere.
After seven or eight years, the fan, which is already mainly inaudible, just goes silent while cancer-causing radon builds up in the home. As professionals taking good care of our customers and their houses, I think it’s at least worth keeping it in mind the next time you’re looking at a job or posting on social media.
Which is part of what I have in mind for this article. To keep the idea in front of you.
While you can read the full story of the radioactive Stanley Watras here, a few of the amazing coincidences of why we even know radon is a killer are below.
Stanley J. Watras was a construction engineer at the Limerick nuclear power plant in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. A monitor was installed at the plant to check workers to make sure they did not accidentally accumulate an unsafe dose of radiation at work.
One day, on his way to work, Mr. Watras entered the plant and set off the radiation monitor alarms…Safety personnel checked him out, but could not find the source of the radiation. Interestingly, because the plant was under construction at the time, there was no nuclear fuel at the plant. [Editor’s note: The underline is mine–so there was no way for Mr. Watras to have been exposed at work.]
Eventually, they discovered that Mr. Watras was … bringing [the radiation] from home!
It had nothing to do with Mr. Watras’ job. The entire family was living in an environment roughly equivalent to smoking a couple of hundred packs of cigarettes per day. They moved out of the house immediately, while the problem was being fixed.
