soil sampling Archives - EON Products, Inc.

Soil Sampling

Soil Gas Vapor Sampling Systems: Points vs. Probes

EON Products offers a variety of soil gas vapor sampling systems and equipment to help environmental consultants and project managers collect and sample soil gas vapor from shallow depths, either by using temporary soil probes or permanent soil gas points.

Soil Vapor Points

Soil Gas Vapor Sampling Systems: Points vs. Probes - EON Products

Soil vapor points are a low-cost option for soil gas vapor sampling. They are small, dedicated stainless steel points that are configured with vapor ports for gas inlet and a hose barb on the backside for sample tubing.

These devices are installed into a small drilled hole or pushed into place with extension rods and left in-place indefinitely. The ports are protected from debris by a screen and are shielded from failing soil debris by an optional umbrella disk.

Soil vapor points are ideal for obtaining samples from beneath the soil’s surface or beneath slabs when monitoring hydrocarbon spills, tank and pipe leakage, landfills, hazardous waste sites, and intrusive vapors.

Soil Gas Vapor Probes

Soil gas vapor probes are reusable stainless steel devices that can temporarily extract vapor from up to four feet below the soil’s surface.

The probe is manually pushed into place with a rigid extension rod and a T-handle or drive hammer. Inner rods prevent soil from entering the sample during driving and are removed for sampling. Sample tubing is attached to the top rod to extract the vapor sample. The probe is removed after sampling.

Soil gas vapor probes are useful instruments for checking beneath the soil surface when monitoring hydrocarbon spills, tank and pipe leakage, and hazardous waste sites.

No matter the project, EON provides a selection of the finest-quality soil gas vapor sampling systems that can be used in many applications.

To learn more, contact our experts today.

Soil Sampling

The Dangers of Soil Vapor Intrusion

Soil vapor intrusion is the process by which volatile chemicals move from a subsurface source into the indoor air of overlying buildings.

How does it work?

Soil vapor or gas is the air found in the pore spaces between soil particles. Because of a difference in pressure between the vapor in the soil and the interior of the building, the vapor enters buildings through cracks in slabs or basement floors and walls, as well as through openings around pipes and electrical wires. Heating, ventilation or air-conditioning systems may also create a negative pressure that can draw in the contaminated vapor.

The Dangers of Soil Vapor Intrusion - EON Products

Soil vapor can become contaminated when chemicals, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), from subsurface sources enter the soil. Subsurface sources may include contaminated soil and groundwater. If contaminated vapor enters a building, indoor air quality may be affected.

What chemicals are involved?

VOCs are the most likely group of chemicals found in soil vapor. These may include solvents used for dry cleaning, degreasing, and other industrial purposes. Petroleum-related VOCs include benzene, toluene, styrene, hexane, and xylenes.

VOCs are also found within many household products, including paints, glues, aerosol sprays, air fresheners, new carpeting or furniture, lubricants, refrigerants, and cigarette smoke.

These commonly used products may find their way into the soil from industrial spills, leaking underground storage tanks and pipes, illegal dumping, and improper drum storage. At the consumer level, disposing of used motor oil, paint and cleaners on the soil or into a stream can create and contribute to soil vapor contamination.

What are the risks?

Current and potential exposures are considered when evaluating vapor intrusion at a site that has documented subsurface sources of volatile chemicals. However, exposure to VOCs does not mean health effects will occur. Health effects depend on various factors, including inhalation exposure, the length of exposure, the frequency of exposure, and the toxicity of the chemical.

How is it investigated?

To properly investigate and examine the extent of vapor contamination on a site, four types of environmental samples can be collected: soil vapor samples, sub-slab samples, indoor air samples, and ambient air samples.

EON Products offers several types of soil vapor sampling systems and equipment to help you collect and sample vapor from shallow depths, either by using temporary soil probes or permanent soil gas points. We also provide environmental field supplies, including samples bags, gloves and more.

For more information on EON’s high-performance environment equipment for your soil sampling project, contact our team today.

Soil Sampling

The Importance of Soil Sampling

Soil sampling and analysis can provide useful information about the chemical and physical conditions of soil in a specific location.

This information can be used to optimize plant growth, assist in solving soil-related problems, or determine the extend of contamination for a remediation plan.

The Importance of Soil Sampling - EON Products

For agriculture, soil sampling results can indicate problems that may include soils having excess salts, high or low pH, problematic soil texture, adverse nutrient levels, and detrimental contaminant levels in the soil and soil vapor. The results obtained from sampling can be useful for guidance in soil and crop management decisions.

Soil areas can be contaminated naturally or from manmade sources. Proper soil testing methods can detect hazardous containments like arsenic, barium, mercury, cadmium and lead. Dangerous levels of these contaminants in soil pose health hazards to people and local wildlife and work or play in the dirt, breathe the polluted wind-blown dust, or eat the plants grown in the contaminated soil. Water sources that flow over or through contaminated soil can affect the health of species further away that drink, or bathe or are nourished, by the water as it flows downstream.

Soil sampling over time allows environmental consultants and government regulators to determine the type and extent of contamination. Project managers and field technicians use a variety of tools and instruments to collect samples over a wide area and conduct basic screening for contaminants. When contamination is detected, samples are sent to a laboratory for detailed testing. This data is useful to find the source of contamination, to track the progress of remediation effort over time and to determine if unfavorable or unhealthy trends are occurring.

EON Products, Inc. provides a selection of the finest-quality soil and soil gas sampling tools and kits that can be used in many applications. Whether the user needs to recover vapor, identify and measure elements in the field, intact cores, sludge or other materials, our sampling kits allow quick and easy sampling of soil.

To learn more about our soil hand augers, coring instruments, XRF analyzers or vapor probes, contact EON today.