Most homeowners in Manitoba have heard the word radon before, but not everyone understands why it matters or how much it affects the air they breathe. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that builds up inside homes without any warning. Manitoba has some of the highest radon levels in Canada, and if you live here, testing your home isn’t something you can afford to skip.
Radon forms when uranium in the soil breaks down. You can’t see it, smell it, or taste it. It gets into homes through cracks in foundations, sump pits, floor drains, and gaps around pipes. Once inside, it gets trapped — especially in basements and lower levels — and that’s where the problem starts.
Manitoba’s geology has higher concentrations of uranium than most of Canada, which means there’s more radon being produced in the soil beneath your home. Add in our long winters where every window and door stays sealed for months, and radon has nowhere to go but up through the foundation and into your living space.
Homeowners from Brandon to Minnedosa regularly discover radon levels far above the national guideline. According to the Government of Canada Radon Guideline, any home measuring over 200 Bq/m³ should be mitigated. A lot of Manitoba homes blow past that number without the owner having any idea.
Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers and the second leading cause overall, behind smoking. The radioactive particles break down lung tissue slowly over years. There are no symptoms. No headaches, no coughing, no warning signs at all. You just breathe it in, day after day, and the damage accumulates.
If you work from home, spend a lot of time in your basement, or have kids who play down there, the exposure adds up faster.
DIY test kits are out there, but they don’t always tell the full story. Professional testing uses calibrated, certified equipment placed in the right locations to capture what’s actually happening in your home — not just a snapshot from one afternoon.
At Westman Radon, our radon testing service uses both long-term and short-term measurement methods depending on the situation. We place specialized monitors in key areas, collect data over a defined period, analyze the results against certified standards, and hand you a clear report showing your exact radon levels.
You walk away knowing your number. From there, we can advise on whether mitigation is needed and what that looks like for your specific home. If levels are high, our radon mitigation services can bring them down quickly.
Electronic radon monitors have gotten popular over the last few years. You can buy one online for a couple hundred bucks and plug it in yourself. The question is: can you trust the number it gives you?
The Canadian National Radon Proficiency Program (C-NRPP) tests these devices regularly and publishes performance reports. Their 2024/25 report makes a few things very clear — consumer monitors cannot be professionally calibrated and are not approved for use by radon measurement professionals. They’re meant to give homeowners a general sense of their levels, not replace a certified test.
Not all consumer monitors are created equal. C-NRPP found that only six devices on the market actually passed their performance testing:
| Make / Model | Stated Accuracy | How Often It Reads | Display | Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airthings Corentium Home | ±10% after 7 days at 200 Bq/m³; ±5% after 2 months | 12h / 24h / 7-day intervals (first reading takes 24 hrs) | Short-term and long-term averages on the monitor | Battery |
| Airthings View | ±10% on 7-day avg; ±5% on 2-month avg (at 200 Bq/m³ after 30 days) | Hourly | Short-term on display, long-term through the app | Battery or USB-C |
| Aranet RN+ | ±8% on 24h, 7-day, and 30-day averages | Adjustable — 10 min, 24h, 7-day, or 30-day | Short or long-term on device depending on setting; long-term on app | Battery |
| Ecosense EcoQube | ±10% at 370 Bq/m³ after 10 hours | Every 10 minutes with an hourly rolling average | Hourly levels on LED; averages and data points through the app | Plug-in |
| Ecosense RadonEye | ±10% at 370 Bq/m³ after 10 hours | Every 10 minutes with an hourly rolling average | Hourly on OLED screen; averages through the app | Plug-in |
| SunRadon Luft | ±10% after 7 days at 200 Bq/m³ | Hourly (first reading takes about 90 minutes) | Averages shown in the app; color-coded indicator on the device | Plug-in |
Source: C-NRPP 2024/25 Consumer-grade Electronic Radon Monitor Performance Report
If you’re going to go the DIY route, stick to one of these six. Anything not on this list either hasn’t been tested or didn’t make the cut.
Even with an approved device, C-NRPP warns that you need to follow specific guidelines or your results won’t mean much:
Short-term readings from these monitors can swing wildly — showing levels way lower or way higher than your actual average. That’s why C-NRPP recommends at least 3 months of data before making any decisions. A lot of homeowners buy a monitor, check it after a week, see a low number, and assume they’re fine. That’s a mistake.
C-NRPP also publishes a list of monitors that failed testing or were recalled by Health Canada. If you own one of these, the readings are unreliable and you should not trust them:
| Brand | Model | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Air Steward | — | Recalled by Health Canada |
| Bootu | RN-80 | Not approved |
| Boyd Gresham | Radon Detector | Recalled by Health Canada |
| CRADTEC | PRM-02H | Not approved |
| CRADTEC | PRM-03H | Not approved |
| Funny Kitchen | HRDM-02 | Recalled by Health Canada |
| HAKINAKU | Smart Radon Gas Detector | Not approved |
| Hanchen | Home Radon Detector | Recalled by Health Canada |
| INKBIRD | Home Radon Meter | Recalled by Health Canada |
| INKBIRD | INK-RD2 | Recalled by Health Canada |
| LifeBasis | LCARM001 | Recalled by Health Canada |
| LifeBasis | RN-55 | Recalled by Health Canada |
| Radon Guard | — | Recalled by Health Canada |
| Spolehli | Radon Detector | Recalled by Health Canada |
A lot of these were sold on Amazon. If you bought a cheap radon detector online and it’s not one of the six approved devices above, there’s a real chance it’s giving you bad data.
Consumer monitors have their place — they’re fine for ongoing monitoring after you’ve already had a professional test done. But relying on one as your only source of radon data has some real gaps:
A $200 gadget can give you a ballpark. But when you’re making decisions about your family’s health and potentially spending money on a mitigation system, you want a number you can trust.
Even after a radon mitigation system is installed, levels can shift over time. Soil conditions change, foundations settle, and seals wear out. Periodic retesting confirms that your system is still doing its job. At Westman Radon, we offer radon measurement services so you’re never left guessing.
Radon gets ignored because it’s invisible. There’s no alarm that goes off, no smell, no stain on the wall. You can live in a home for 20 years and never know you’ve been breathing it in every single day.
And it’s not just old homes. New construction, renovated properties, and energy-efficient builds can actually trap more radon because they’re sealed up tighter. The age of your home doesn’t matter. The design doesn’t matter. Manitoba’s soil is producing radon underneath all of them.
If you live in Manitoba, your home sits on soil that produces elevated radon. Testing is straightforward, it’s affordable, and it gives you information that can protect your family’s long-term health.
Your home should be the safest place you spend time. Make sure it actually is.
Westman Radon offers certified radon testing across Manitoba. If you want to know what’s in your air, book your professional radon test today.
