Home Improvement → Re: Educate me on Radon

I had a (no joke) squirrel drop an acorn down mine. I watched the little f--ker do it too from my deck. By the time I got to the basement to turn off the breaker for the fan it had started to smoke and was toast. However they replaced the fan for free at that point.

They are pretty adamant that any vent cap that would restrict or redirect the air laterally at the roof exit is bad for a variety of reasons based on my google readings. However, I think you can put a few (two or so) feet more on the height to make it less friendly for a squirrel to do that. I did see one site where they put a wire mesh screen (approx 0.5" squares) over the exit. Not sure if that passes muster or not, but I saw an image of it.

Yeah, I'd think that a single layer of galvanized hardware cloth wouldn't be any more restrictive than a couple of extra feet of pipe.

Look at the manometer that measures the subslab pressure before and after adding the screen. There should be a limit on it, make sure the screen doesn't make the pressure rise above the limit.

This is the website where I saw the weather resistant screen installed yesterday.
»wpb-radon.com/Radon_inst ··· tos.html
I note, however, that this installer seems to have also put a tee type rain deflector at the top of the exhaust. That's the part that seems to most controversial based on other readings as it has the potential to redirect the air for possible reintroduction instead of maximizing the dispersal with a straight shot. I dunno.

Thanks to all who replied and to sempergoofy for that installation link.

The "condensation bypass" seems a little odd. I understand the explanation, but I would think that the drain holes in the cap below the tee would slightly compromise the fan's ability to keep a vacuum under the slab. Most of the systems I've seen don't have that feature; perhaps it's only required in colder climates?