Air Pollution Meter

If you searched for an air pollution meter, read this before you buy anything from us.

What we sell measures carbon dioxide, not pollution

Our two monitors, the palm sized CO2 Meter and the Jumbo CO2 Monitor, read carbon dioxide in parts per million, temperature and humidity. That is all they read. They do not measure particulate matter (PM2.5 or PM10), volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, smoke or any other pollutant. An earlier version of this page said otherwise, and it was wrong.

What a CO2 reading is good for

Carbon dioxide is a proxy for ventilation. People breathe it out, so in a room with too little fresh air coming in the level climbs through the day. Outdoor air sits around 400 to 420 ppm. A room with air moving through it usually stays under 800. Once a reading sits above about 1000 to 1500 ppm, the room is recycling the air already in it. A CO2 monitor tells you that, and it tells you whether opening a window actually clears the room.

If you need particulate measurement

Wood smoke, traffic, dust and wildfire haze are particulate problems, and a particulate meter is a different instrument with a different sensor. We do not stock one. For outdoor air quality where you live, the EPA's AirNow service at airnow.gov reports current conditions and forecasts by ZIP code.

Where to start

If the question is whether a classroom, an office or a bedroom is stuffy, a CO2 monitor answers it. Both of ours are on the CO2 monitors page, and every specification we publish is on the product page with the manufacturer's figures marked as theirs.