Community Radon Monitoring Initiative

ClearSkies

Continuous radon sensing for communities that can't afford to wait for a one-time test. Streaming live air quality data to anyone who needs it.

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CS-RD200 // UNIT-001

Johnston, Iowa

Live

Current Radon Level

0.0

pCi / L

24-hr Reading History · 10-min intervals

0 2 caution 4 EPA action 8+ pCi/L

Last Updated

--:--:--

Poll Interval

10 MIN

Sensor

RD200

Firmware

ESPHome

Illustrative example, not a real reading — see your device's live data on the dashboard.

The Problem

Radon is invisible, and almost always unmonitored

It has no smell, no color, no warning sign. It seeps through foundations and accumulates indoors, and most families live in it for years without knowing.

21,000

Deaths per year

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, responsible for roughly 21,000 deaths annually, according to the EPA.

<5%

Homes actively monitored

Despite being the leading environmental cause of lung cancer, the vast majority of American homes have never had a radon test, let alone continuous monitoring.

4.0

pCi/L: EPA action level

The EPA recommends mitigation when indoor radon exceeds 4.0 pCi/L. The national average is 1.3 pCi/L, but Iowa averages significantly higher due to its geology.

71%

of Iowa homes exceed the limit

Iowa has the highest rate of homes above the EPA radon action level of any state in the US, making continuous monitoring especially urgent here.

Radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the US, behind only smoking. It is responsible for more deaths each year than drunk driving, falls in the home, and house fires combined. The risk is real, concentrated, and almost entirely preventable with timely detection.

The Solution

Always-on radon monitoring, free to receive

ClearSkies units read radon every 10 minutes and stream the data live, so a spike at 2 a.m. doesn't go unnoticed until the next annual test. We give them out at no cost, funded entirely by donations.

Free

To receive

ClearSkies units are given out at no charge. Each node costs $124 to build (covered by donations), because no one should have to pay just to know if their home is safe.

10 min

Polling interval

The RD200 pulsed ion chamber sensor samples the air continuously and reports a fresh reading every 10 minutes, logged in real time to the cloud.

Live

Streaming dashboard

Data flows from the sensor straight into Firebase Realtime Database, which feeds the login-gated dashboard built right into this site for a live, time-series view of your indoor air.

One-time tests only show a snapshot. Radon levels fluctuate with weather, season, HVAC cycles, and soil pressure. A 48-hour canister test can completely miss spikes that a continuous monitor would catch within hours. The bar chart in the readout above illustrates exactly this: elevated readings that come and go, invisible to any single-point test.

Technical Overview

How a ClearSkies unit works

Each node is built from off-the-shelf hardware, with no proprietary cloud lock-in.

Step 01

RD200

Pulsed Ion Chamber

The RD200 sensor detects alpha particles emitted by radon decay, producing a count rate proportional to radon concentration.

Step 02

ESP32

Edge Processing

The ESP32 microcontroller reads the RD200 over serial UART, converts counts to pCi/L, and prepares the payload for transmission.

Step 03

ESPHome

Firmware & Wi-Fi

ESPHome YAML config handles the 10-minute polling cycle, Wi-Fi connectivity, and pushes readings to the cloud endpoint.

Step 04

Firebase

Live Dashboard

Readings land in Firebase Realtime Database, and the dashboard on this site reads it directly, rendering a live, per-device time-series view behind login.

Deployment

Currently active in Iowa

ClearSkies sensors are live and streaming in two Iowa communities, chosen for their elevated baseline radon geology and community partnership.

Units deployed

Communities

People protected