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- The readings of my Geiger counter (Radiascan-701, Pancake probe, should be able to detect alpha, beta and gamma) climb continuously the longer I stay in my basement. Even after going back to "normal" environment the reading only slowly decreases over several hours.
Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum, so I hope my question fits into this category.
Yesterday I wanted to check if I could measure any radiation from Radon in my basement with my Radiascan-701 Geiger counter which features a pancake-style probe that should be able to handle alpha, beta and gamma radiation just fine. To distinguish between different types of radiation the Geiger counter has a removable back cover with a copper inlay to block alpha and beta radiation and to enhance the efficiency of gamma detection. With this cover on I was not able to measure any significant increase over normal gamma background (~0.1 to 0.15 uS/h at my place, according to the Radiascan), but without the back cover the reading immediately increased to just over 0.3 uS/h. At first I was not too surprised because I live in an old house built on rocky ground, but during the next ~15 min of me checking various corners of my basement the reading constantly increased, reaching just over 0.8 uS/h before I finally left.
What surprised me however was that even in an environment where the Geiger counter showed normal background before, the reading did not drop below ~0.5 uS/h, regardless of whether the back cover was on or not. Also the frequency of clicks was much higher than before. I left the Geiger counter with the back cover open on my desk for the next few hours, regularly checking the reading it was giving, and found that after about 2 to 3 hours it was back down to just over normal background.
I am now wondering what could cause such a behaviour. Maybe you guys have an idea? Just as side information: my basement is rather wet (so the humidity could easily be around 80% or even higher) and a bit dusty, but I'm not really sure if that matters.
Regards, Erik.
Yesterday I wanted to check if I could measure any radiation from Radon in my basement with my Radiascan-701 Geiger counter which features a pancake-style probe that should be able to handle alpha, beta and gamma radiation just fine. To distinguish between different types of radiation the Geiger counter has a removable back cover with a copper inlay to block alpha and beta radiation and to enhance the efficiency of gamma detection. With this cover on I was not able to measure any significant increase over normal gamma background (~0.1 to 0.15 uS/h at my place, according to the Radiascan), but without the back cover the reading immediately increased to just over 0.3 uS/h. At first I was not too surprised because I live in an old house built on rocky ground, but during the next ~15 min of me checking various corners of my basement the reading constantly increased, reaching just over 0.8 uS/h before I finally left.
What surprised me however was that even in an environment where the Geiger counter showed normal background before, the reading did not drop below ~0.5 uS/h, regardless of whether the back cover was on or not. Also the frequency of clicks was much higher than before. I left the Geiger counter with the back cover open on my desk for the next few hours, regularly checking the reading it was giving, and found that after about 2 to 3 hours it was back down to just over normal background.
I am now wondering what could cause such a behaviour. Maybe you guys have an idea? Just as side information: my basement is rather wet (so the humidity could easily be around 80% or even higher) and a bit dusty, but I'm not really sure if that matters.
Regards, Erik.