From Sensor Data to Better Decisions
Having a PM2.5 sensor at home is a good start, but real-time data alone is insufficient for long-term air quality management. Analyzing historical data and trends reveals hidden patterns — such as why indoor PM2.5 spikes every Thursday, or why the home office has worse air quality than the living room on the same floor.
Grafana Dashboard: Long-Term Air Quality Visualization
Grafana is open-source visualization software that works with Home Assistant and InfluxDB to display historical sensor data. A well-designed Air Quality Dashboard should include per-room PM2.5 graphs over 24 hours, 7 days, and 30 days; CO2 graphs highlighting peaks during high-occupancy periods; a heatmap showing which hours of the day have the worst air quality; a comparison between indoor PM2.5 and outdoor AQI from the IQAir API; and accumulated air purifier runtime since the last filter replacement.
Outdoor-Indoor Correlation: Understanding Pollution Sources
Comparing indoor PM2.5 with outdoor AQI identifies where infiltration is occurring. When indoor PM2.5 closely tracks outdoor AQI, the home has significant air infiltration — window seals, door draft stoppers, and structural gaps should be investigated. When indoor PM2.5 spikes each morning despite normal outdoor AQI, morning cooking is the primary source — a more effective range hood and open kitchen door policy should be considered. When indoor PM2.5 drops more slowly than outdoor AQI improves, the air purifier CADR is insufficient for the room volume.
Predictive Filter Replacement
Rather than replacing filters on a fixed calendar schedule, measuring actual filter load from sensor data enables timely replacement based on real conditions. An automation can monitor both filter runtime hours and measured purification efficiency, triggering a LINE notification when runtime exceeds 2,000 hours and efficiency drops below 85% simultaneously.
Circadian Air Quality: Clean Air Throughout the Day
Good air quality management follows the day’s rhythm — closing ERV before dawn if outdoor AQI is elevated and running bedroom purifiers before wake time, activating kitchen hood during morning cooking, enabling ERV during the day when outdoor AQI is acceptable, running purifiers at higher speed during evening cooking, and switching to Quiet Mode for undisturbed sleep.
Conclusion
A truly dust-free home requires data and analysis, not just equipment. Grafana and InfluxDB transform accumulated sensor data into actionable insights for timely filter changes, pollution source identification, and dynamic strategy adjustment based on real AQI conditions.