A VOC Meter Gives Powerful Information

For many years, the hardest part of living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) has been the uncertainty. Every new item from a piece of clothing, a household product, or even something as simple as homework papers carried a risk. The only way to know if it was safe was to bring it into my home, try it, and wait to see if I had a reaction.

That constant guessing game often ended badly with asthma attacks, infections, sinus and ear congestion, incredible pain and many other serious reactions.

It seemed easier to never try anything new but that was impossible. Our spare bedroom alarm broke, our cutting board got moldy, Keith's cell phone cover broke, my iPad keyboard quit working.

I found myself wanting to avoid fighting and coughing to breathe from asthma so we had so many things in our garage waiting for me to test them.

It kept me from using things I needed and made everyday life feel like walking through a minefield.

Then something wonderful happened

I suddenly realized that the issue was harmful VOCs, so I posted in the three MCS groups I belong to asking if anyone had found a device that could measure VOCs (volatile organic compounds). Only one woman said she had one and used it. On her recommendation, Keith and I bought the Airthings 2960 View Plus

I bought it from Amazon since returns are easy. I am now calling them whenever a product arrives scented to complain. I do not want to be silent about something so harmful.

The blue and white envelopes are the worst. Amazon can have such a great impact. They can use cardboard or paper for all their shipping and stop the use of harmful fragrances.

I lost my sense of smell in 1976 so I asked Keith about it. He told me not all packages from Amazon have a scent but most do. They all smell the same which means it is not from their drivers or workers, they are producing it. They are causing harm to their employees, customers and our Earth.

Please note, it takes one week for the Airthings 2960 View Plus to calibrate. Until then you can't be sure the numbers reported are correct.

At first, we placed the device in a big plastic box and put items inside to test them. One of the very first things we checked was a razor I had just bought from a health food store. I had gotten asthma after using it in the shower and couldn’t figure out why. The device told the story immediately. The razor sent the reading into the yellow zone, above 250. That was the answer. I now knew that any product that tested in the yellow zone which is above 250 would give me asthma. I also realized that since I react to products in our home, not secluded in a box, there was no need for the plastic box.

From then on, everything changed

Suddenly, we had a way to test the items sitting in our garage that I had been too afraid to bring inside. My grandson’s homework papers passed, so I could safely bring them in and enjoy them. An alarm clock passed too, now I finally had one for the spare bedroom. Cell phone chargers, on the other hand, failed badly with a score of 709, so out they went.

The relief was overwhelming. For the first time, I wasn’t gambling with my health. When the device said something was safe, I could use it with confidence and I didn’t get sick. Shoes that failed at first could be set out in the sun, retested later, and sometimes passed. Other items cleared right away. Each safe test felt like a victory.

The only exception I have found is polyester. Polyester passes as safe, however I have found it gives me asthma. An example is a pillow that passed our VOC test with no issues. However, the next morning I woke up with that feeling of no air in my throat and my chest was tight. I looked at the label of the pillow and it had a polyester cover. I have since removed every polyester item in our home and the result was amazing! I had been noticing my lungs doing worse and worse when I did my peak flow meter test. Now they were improving!

This is the only issue we have found with our VOC meter - that polyester tested safe, but still seriously affects my health. I believe this is because polyester off gasses at such a low rate. It still off gasses since it affected my health. I’ve learned the meter isn’t a replacement for listening to my body but it is a powerful tool that dramatically reduces my risk of harmful reactions.

Such an Important Key for Health

Since starting our VOC testing my health has steadily improved!

Oh Mother's Day 2026 I woke up with zero symptoms. No sinus congestion, no ringing ears, no watering eyes, no coughing, no pain and most importantly, no violent asthma.

This is because now I know what is safe, I know if there is something in our home that is affecting me.

Today the three meters in our home were all green, I was totally safe!

I am so thankful!

How we do our testing

We do all of our testing in our laundry room. If there is an issue we can remove the product quickly through our garage.

Normally, the air purifier in our laundry room runs on high, but during testing we turn it down to low. We’ve found that running it on high interferes with accurate results.

We close the laundry room door during tests so that cooking or other household activities don’t affect the readings and this reduces the chance of toxins going into the rest of our home.

We run each test for at least 8 hours to allow enough time for results to appear. Some products take longer to react, especially at lower temperatures, so we extend the testing time if needed. If the numbers continue to rise steadily, the meter will eventually turn yellow, indicating the product is not safe for us.

I check the results at first in fifteen minutes and then every half hour and increase the time I check on it if I see that the numbers are not going up quickly.

During testing, we place what we want to test next to the meter.

Some surprising and shocking results

Here are a few items that passed our VOC testing:

We have bought four pairs of Whiten shoes and they all passed easily - they do have synthetic material, however, since our shoes are always in the garage, or outside, or in our car and truck with the air on recirculate with a HEPA filter we decided that they are fine. I have not noticed any reaction from them and they have surpassed every other shoe we have tested. The pair I bought is leather with a rubber sole. It does have some synthetic cloth inside but everything else in this shoe is biodegradable! Keith's three shoes are synthetic, I have not had any reaction to them.

These shoes are amazing. They are very reasonably priced. They were so comfortable from the first day, they felt like wearing slippers. They are totally flat so the feel is very different. They are wide so they do not affect my bunions in any way. Keith went to a convention where he walked for miles every day on concrete and his feet were fine. We have hiked for miles in them with no discomfort. They are very flexible so your feet can grip to boulders and uneven surfaces making them very stable, they work as well as any hiking shoe. You can feel rocks through the shoes but it is not uncomfortable . We absolutely love them! These are the only shoes we use.

Preserve toothbrush passed at 165. I wasn't using toothpaste then, it tasted bad so now I wash them with Dr. Bronner's baby soap ONLY before use. This is the one we now use, the only one that passed our tests. You can return them so they can be made into more toothbrushes! I wish they used cardboard to package them but they do not. I will probably write them about this.

Triquetra Plant Iodine whole food passed at 160.

Here are some products that failed:

Humble toothbrush failed at 311.

Vivago bamboo toothbrush failed at 389.

OraMD toothbrush failed at 316.

Aloe Vera plant failed at 590. It must be the potting soil or a fertilizer used on it.

Redmond Real Salt failed at 550. This was shocking.

Two Pact Pillow Cases failed at 960! Even more shocking. I do not beleive you can wash out VOCs. When they are washed will they contaminate my other products? Even if I put them in the sun will they ever truly be safe for me? It is not worth the risk to me. We returned these.

What surprised us most was not just what failed, but what passed. Shoes we expected to be problematic passed. Yet, Whiten shoes not only passed easily, they caused no reactions and turned out to be the most comfortable shoes we’ve ever worn. Just as unexpected was discovering that a plant, something widely believed to be “healthy” was actually one of the most toxic items we tested.

Even more shocking were everyday essentials. Toothbrushes. Salt. Products we use without a second thought failed our testing entirely.

These results completely changed how we look at our environment and that’s why a VOC meter is such a powerful tool. It reveals what our senses can’t, turning assumptions into facts and giving you the ability to test your space, your products, and make decisions based on real data rather than labels or marketing.

Once you start testing, you may be just as surprised by what you find.

High VOCs can be upsetting

To do testing of products your home needs to be in the green which is below 250.

If you use fragrances your home probably will not be green.

Seeing a high VOC score may be stressful, but it is also the most important step forward. Measurement turns the invisible into something you can address. Once you know what you are working with, you can take clear, manageable steps toward a healthier indoor environment.

Other Important Air Quality Results Provided by Airthings

Temperature - this is important to know, because as temperatures go up, VOCs can increase causing air purifiers to get overwhelmed as more VOCs are released. A solution can be to lower the temperature if VOCs get too high.

Radon - this is important to know since there is no way to detect radon without a test and it can cause lung cancer. Radon is high on occasion in our home but this is only an issue if it is high for a month or more.

CO2 - to solve CO2 issues the recommendation is ventilation. However, sadly, running fans, opening windows and other ventilation solutions can bring in air pollution from outside, wildfire smoke, fragrances from dryer sheets or laundry soap, fertilizers or weed killers from our neighbors. The result is asthma and other severe issues for me. We also found that opening the windows and running vents never improved the VOCs long term. The VOCs would go to 46 but as soon as the windows were closed the VOCs went up. The toxins from outside would mix with toxins in our home and explode even higher and take days to get back to where we were. We decided to only take action in regard to CO2s if we had symptoms. We have not had any symptoms from high CO2.

If you have intense VOCs, if you use a lot of fragrance, toxic cleaning products, the air in your home may be worse than outdoors and it that case it may help to open your windows.

Humidity - Phoenix often ranks among the top cities for mold sensitization, even as high as #2 or #3. For this reason the humidity is not a factor for us, we don't want to use a humidifier or a dehumidifier. The most important issue for us is VOCs.

PM2.5, PM 1, temperature, Humidity, Pressure Airthings will warn you about high or low humidity, high temperature, high CO2 which adds stress. We found these factors not important so we turned off the notices. You will constantly be directed to open doors, windows. We never found any issues from these, only from high VOCs.

⚠️ Important VOC Testing Warnings: Please Read Carefully

Through our own testing and lived experience, we’ve learned several critical facts about VOC testing that can help protect your health and your home. We have tried many other solutions, they did not work.

If a product enters the yellow zone, remove it immediately. Even brief exposure can escalate quickly and raise VOC levels throughout your entire home.

Once a product has gone yellow, it is no longer safe even if it later returns to green. We learned this the hard way. A pair of “organic” jeans initially tested at 711 (yellow) and later dropped back into the green zone so we thought they were safe. They were not, I began experiencing severe back pain, felt extremely ill, and even noticed red mucus when coughing. It took several days to realize the jeans were the cause. Once I stopped wearing them, all symptoms disappeared.

At the start, check VOC readings every 15 minutes, then every 30. Early monitoring helps you catch problems before they spread. Only when you see the numbers are not going up fast, you can begin to monitor every hour. Never test items when you are away from home or overnight, when you won't be able to immediately remove a product that turns yellow.

Always run an air purifier on low during testing. If a product goes yellow, remove it immediately, move the purifier to the area and switch it to high right away to remove toxins as quickly as possible. We have had rooms and our lives destroyed by very toxic products. I have had to wear my respirator to survive because of toxins that spread everywhere in our home.

In the case of a high spike turn every air purifier you have on high. In spite of the risks we test because there is no other way to see what is safe for me.

The safest air purifier I have found. I have tested many air purifiers that gave me almost instant asthma. The only safe one I found is Airdoctor. The first 2200 Airdoctor gave me asthma, even the owners manual gave me asthma until I removed it from our bedroom and washed the place it had been. I noticed the filter was different than on the 5500. I contacted the owner. The owner replied! He said he can provide a special filter for sensitive people like me. I asked how we would buy it. He never answered. Later I bought another 2200 and had no issues! Had he changed the product or was the one I bought simply contaminated because it had been used? I never learned the answer but the only air purifiers we use are the Airdoctor 5500 and 2200.

The Airdoctor comes with an ionizer. I never use it and I do not recommend it even though Google reports that it does not emit dangerous ozone. It cannot be accidently turned on since it takes two steps to do this.

Airdoctor packages their air purifiers in cardboard, so much better for us and our Earth. Another indication of what a great company they are!

Do not run your Airdoctor on auto. You need it on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for it to be effective.

The power of Airdoctor! Our home is not ideal for someone with MCS. We have wall to wall carpeting, Formica counter tops, fake leather furniture, old books, so many things, furniture that was in our last home that had black mold and my desk that surrounds me is made from particle board and glued on wood. Yet our home is safe for me thanks to our Airdoctors. We have one in each room.

If you have an issue with an Airdoctor air purifier return it quickly and order another one. I order mine from Amazon since returns are fast and easy. I use my Airdoctors as soon as they arrive with no issues.

Be aware: it takes time for VOC levels to return to a safe green zone. You can watch this happen using your VOC meter.

I love that you can use your phone or the internet to see all the data over time from your Airthings 2960. This data can also be exported and then printed. This is so helpful for research, seeing how things are doing over time.

Once VOCs spike, clearing them from your home may take hours or days to improve depending on the cause.

You can use your VOC meter not only to test new products you need but also to monitor the VOCs in your home. We have three meters - one for my office, one for our master bedroom, one for the living room area. This way we can monitor what is causing high VOCs.

Test, test, test everything!

We have had times when our home VOCs were dangerous for me and we needed a product. In these cases if we felt a product was safe, we introduced it. Do not do this!

I have also trusted a company so much that I did not test a product. Never do this either!

These actions have resulted in severe toxins in our home causing me to have severe symptoms and our clothing, bedding, blankets, sheets and even bed getting contaminated and giving me asthma. Don't trust anything until you test it!

Test even a new product from a company that has been reliable. The risk is too high.

Make sure the testing is done correctly.

Recently some products we tested passed our test that caused asthma and severe reactions. How did that happen?

We realized the problem.

Because I could not find safe products and had been reacting so strongly to clothing, blankets, and sheets, we kept our home at 67 degrees to manage my reactions.

Yet we needed to test to find safer clothing.

Our dining room, the area where we were testing, had two large air purifiers running on high and bowls of Bob’s Red Mill baking soda placed throughout the room to absorb VOCs.

Only when body heat was introduced did VOCs rise enough to reveal the truth.

That taught us something important:

Our testing process needed to change.

We learned:

• No baking soda near testing areas

• Only one air purifier on low

• 67 degrees is too cold for accurate testing

• Always do our testing for 8 hours minimum unless it is clear the product is toxic, then abort the test. If a product is off gassing at an unsafe level it takes time for it to overcome our air purifiers although we have had products fail the test very fast even in this condition. It is frightening the amount of toxic VOCs we are all being exposed to every day. High VOCs are harmful to everyone.

We had been working so hard to protect my health as well as keep our home safe during testing that we interfered with the results.

We learned something else so important:

How powerful our Airdoctor air purifiers and our bowls of Bob's Red Mill Baking Soda are at overcoming VOCs! Wow, how impressive!

If VOC's are spiking rapidly you can lower the temperature in your home to bring the VOC levels under control.

A temperature of 67 works well. Don't raise the temperature until you see the VOCs at safe levels. Raise it slowly 1 degree at a time to avoid more VOC spikes.

If the spike is very high, you can raise the temperature 1 degree a day to be safe.

Baking soda in bowls works great to control VOCs.

Only use Bob's Red Mill Baking Soda. All others are made in a lab and give me asthma. The reason is left over chemicals from the process and anti caking chemicals. I put 2 tablespoons of baking soda in each bowl. If VOCS are very high you can use more bowls.

When VOCs are high

We have had some catastrophes happen in our home such as my story about Carvana.

When VOCs are already high we found that additional VOCs from cooking, peeling an orange, juicing lemons can make the VOCs go up. Even though it is from a natural source it seems to mix with the toxins and my symptoms get worse. During these times we make sure to do our cooking on our patio, put orange peels in our garbage under the sink rather on the counter and we use fresh lemon juice right away or put it in our refrigerator with a lid on it.

Clothing

If your clothing gets contaminated by a product it may be better to discard it if you had a severe reaction to the product. An example is clothing exposed to plugin fragrance.

These precautions can make a meaningful difference in protecting your health and preventing long-lasting contamination in your home or workplace.

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I am never an affiliate for any product I recommend. I share these recommendations only because they have genuinely helped improve my health, and I hope they can do the same for you.

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I have had miracles happen, so many miracles and I am so thankful. I am working to share with you what I have learned with my blogs, social media posts and YouTube so that you can also heal.

Yet now, I find myself faced with increasing toxins in America that is making it so difficult for me to stay healthy and this is true for each of us and our Earth. 

We need to work together to solve this issue. Our lives and our planet depend on this.

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