21 Comments
User's avatar
Hugh Vuillier's avatar

Did the eggs taste better though?

CasualPhysicsEnjoyer's avatar

absolutely scrumptious

Jack's avatar

Looks like you have an electric hob, isn't gas more likely to cause dangerous air quality ?

CasualPhysicsEnjoyer's avatar

not sure - would love to do a test

Jack's avatar

Fair, would be interested to see the results

Tom's avatar

We have an Awair and a gas stove top. It definitely notices when we cook, especially something like bacon. And the Awair is a floor away though the space is lofted. As for the fan, at least in the US, many of them aren't connected to the outside and simply move the air around.

CasualPhysicsEnjoyer's avatar

This is good information, thank you

Luis's avatar

Yeah, I believe extractor fans in older homes don't really do much. They're too leaky.

CasualPhysicsEnjoyer's avatar

i need to figure out why mine sucks!!!

Tom's avatar

Not literally though, right? Otherwise it’s a vac.

Mario Pasquato's avatar

The amount of particles you get really depends on what you cook and how. Sauteeing vegetables is the worst.

CasualPhysicsEnjoyer's avatar

that's pretty interesting - i'll try this next

Jeff Geerling's avatar

Or burn something in the frying pan! That'll definitely get a bit of a spike. If you see a lot more smoke coming off something, it usually bumps up the PM2.5 a bit.

ook's avatar

Off amazon? Been there. Buy 4 of these and compare their readings, you might be unpleasantly surprised. Or better yet, buy/build an AirGradient and/or compare with the readings coming from the PMS5003 that they link to...

Jorge's avatar

I've obsessed about this topic a lot, I have the same instrument at home and cook an insane amount. Frying one egg is not going to increase PM2.5 significantly. You need to cook something that requires a lot more heat to start seeing an increase!

In my experiments, one of the best predictors of PM2.5 accumulation is cooking temperature. I own a Breville Control Freak. When I cook animal protein (say, salmon or some steak) at a temperature higher than 320F, the PM2.5 concentration quickly and significantly hikes up to very unhealthy levels (>500 ug / m^3). When I cook salmon at 280-300F for longer time, PM2.5 stays in healthy (<50ug / m^3) levels.

So, the higher the temperature you cook at, the higher the pm2.5 growth rate. It's possible to get it to increase in other setups —I have in many occasions— but in my experience temperature is a key contributing factor. That being said, I think you'd even struggle to see noticeable effects even if cooking a single egg at high temperature (380-400F)!

Tom's avatar

I have paid way to much attention to how it all works (plus we have a Rabbit air cleaner that has strong opinions about clean air) so if you need a weirdo to run experiments, I got you fam.

More Coffee's avatar

Thank you for posting this. Next check with a GAS stove!

Bryce Thornton's avatar

Try cooking some bacon. That's what really kills our indoor AQI.

Fcpk's avatar

If you really fry with hot temperature(pan fry or deep fry) you will see particle levels skyrocket.

ItsAllFluff's avatar

What if you used a non-stick or non-coated pan? would that make a difference?