Replacing a radon mitigation system is something I never thought I’d be doing. Honestly, when I first bought the house we live in now, I didn’t even know what a radon system is.
The realtor kept making a huge deal out of this radon system and how great it was that the system was already installed in my house.
My thoughts were, “eh, my parents never had one, what’s the big deal about this house having one?”
What is Radon?
As it turns out, radon is a radioactive gas that can cause cancer. Radon is naturally found in the environment. The issue arises within houses and buildings.
Radon can enter into a house through cracks in the foundation and then become trapped inside the house. This will raise the level of radon in the house. For more information, check out the EPA radon website, which is what I used to find my information on radon when I was researching it.
Unlike carbon monoxide, which would cause issues immediately. Radon will cause issues by being continuously exposed to it. Similar to carbon monoxide, radon is a gas that doesn’t have a smell and you can’t see it.
How to Know if You Need a Radon Mitigation System
Since radon can’t be detected by a person, the only way to know if you will need a radon mitigation system is to have your house tested.
One option is to find an at-home test kit. Again, the EPA has excellent information on how to find at-home test kits.
The other option is to hire a professional to test your home.
For radon testing, there is both a short-term and long-term test. The short-term test will need to remain in your home for at least 2 days, whereas the long-term test will have to stay for at least 90 days. The EPA Radon Guide is a great place to find out even more information on the testing options.
What to do if your test shows you need a radon mitigation system?
If you have done a radon test and it comes back with high levels of radon, showing that you need a radon mitigation system, it is time to have one installed.
This is something I recommend hiring a professional to do.
Installing a radon mitigation system involves digging into the concrete basement floor to put a pipe into it that will flow all the way through your house into the attic and out the roof.
Unless you have significant experience, this looks like a large undertaking that would best be done by a professional.
How to tell if your radon mitigation system is working?
One way to tell if your radon mitigation system is working is to go downstairs by the main pipe and put your ear to it. If you hear a humming noise and possibly feel some vibrations, then you know the system is working.
Some radon mitigation systems come equipped with a U-Tube. When the liquid in the u-tube is uneven on each side of the tube, that means the system is working correctly. The U-tube detects pressure to indicate that the radon system is working correctly.
If the liquid within the U-tube is even on both sides, then you know the system is not working correctly, because there is no pressure in the tube.
Our Radon Mitigation System Problem
Our radon mitigation system was still working in the ways that I mentioned above. It had a different problem – its fan had gotten obnoxiously loud.
Our radon fan is located in the attic. Typically, you couldn’t hear the fan in the garage of our house.
All of a sudden one day, ours got really loud. You could hear humming in the kitchen and it was even louder outside the house.
How to Replace Your Radon Mitigation System
Replacing our radon mitigation system turned out to be easier than I thought. Here are is the step-by-step process I used to replace the radon system.
1. Determine the Right Radon Mitigation System Replacement
The first step is to go to where the fan portion of the radon mitigation system is and get the model number off of it. The fan part of the system is usually located either in the attic or outside the house.
Ours was in the attic and I took a picture of the model number sticker to bring down with me.
All I had to do then was type the model information into Google and I found the manufacturer website
Our specific version was several models outdated, but thankfully the website I had found kept on linking me to the newer model, so eventually I ended up in the right spot.
The main points to look for in the replacement model are to verify that the tube size matches what you have now and the wattage is similar to what you have now.
2. Unplug the Fan
3. Loosen the Hose Clamps Above and Below the Fan
Ours had bolts on them that could be removed using a drill with a nut driver on it or a flathead screwdriver.
4. Pull Rubber Couplings off the Fan Unit
Once the clamps are off, you need to pull the rubber couplings to make the fan unit come loose from the PVC pipes.
When the fan comes off, there will be a bit of a stinky smell, which is from the water that came into the pipe on the roof over the years.
The rubber couplings also had a lot of buildup in them, so I cleaned them off with some paper towels.
5. Remove the Appliance Plug from the Old Fan Unit
The new unit we purchased didn’t come with an appliance power cord attached to it. This means we had to remove the cover on the electrical box on the fan and remove the attached appliance power cord.
To do this, I had to remove the screws from the terminal block. Once the screws were loose or removed from the terminal block, I pulled the wires out from the terminal block.
When the wires were out of the terminal block, I was able to remove the entire appliance cord from the old radon fan unit.
6. Insert the Appliance Power Cord into the New Radon Fan Unit
Insert the end of the appliance power cord without the plug through the hole in the electrical box.
You will notice that the terminal box on the new fan has two open spots, which is where you will be inserting the loose ends from the appliance power cord.
7. Clean Up the Ends of the Wires
The ends of the black and white wires (the hot/line and neutral, respectively) were looking a little grimy on ours.
My husband cut the end of these wires off. I then used a wire stripper to remove the outside casing of the wire off to expose clean wire below it.
8. Insert Wires into Terminal Box
The next step is to insert the now clean wires into the terminal box.
These were the only instructions included with our radon fan.
Personally, not knowing much about electrical, these meant nothing to me.
Thankfully, my husband knows a lot about it, so he was able to decode the image for me.
The N on the instructions stands for “neutral”, which means that is where the white wire should go.
The L on the instructions stands for “line”, which means that is where the black wire should go.
He tells me that this is pretty standard marking for anything electrical – who knew?
I inserted the wires into their proper spots as indicated by the picture above and screwed the screws in until they were tight enough to hold the wires.
Once that was done, I placed the terminal box into the electrical box and screwed the top back onto the electrical box.
On the outside, I had to clamp in the appliance plug-in cord on the outside to keep it tight.
9. Insert New Fan into Rubber Couplings and Re-Attach to PVC Pipe
One of the last steps is to place the new radon fan in the place where the old one was. Make sure the rubber couplings are attached to the PVC pipes on the top and bottom of where the fan goes.
Also, make sure the pipe clamps are where they need to be on the rubber couplings.
Place the radon fan in between the couplings and re-attach to the PVC pipes, paying attention to the airflow marking on the unit, airflow should be flowing up and away from the basement.
Slide the rubber couplings down over the top and bottom parts of the radon fans.
10. Tighten the Hose Pipe Clamps
The next step is to tighten the pipe clamps using either the flathead screwdriver or drill with the nut driver.
11. Plug it in
The final step is to plug the radon fan back in.
You should then hear the fan fire back up.
If you want to double-check that it is working, go to the pipe downstairs and listen to make sure you hear the humming noise.
Alternatively, if you have the U-Tube installed on your radon mitigation system, check to make sure that the liquid inside the tube is uneven.
Congrats! You’ve just finished replacing your radon mitigation system.
Next Steps
Radon is definitely a gas that you do not want in your house. If you do not have a radon mitigation system, follow the steps above in the EPA guidance to get your home tested to see if you need one.
If you end up needing one, find a reputable company in your area to have one installed.
Alternatively, if you have a radon mitigation system that is working well, you have nothing to worry about.
But, if you suspect your radon mitigation system isn’t working quite right, because the airflow pressure isn’t there or it sounds off, follow the steps above on how to replace a radon system.
Good job keeping up to date on your family’s radon mitigation needs and keeping them safe.
