Recycler.com : Indoor Comfort Evaluation

Recycler.com : Indoor Comfort Evaluation

Long Summer Over So Quickly

It's already September and my last post was in June. How the time flies when you're working on an old farm house! My wife and I purchased a quaint farm home in lovely Fair Grove Missouri. It sits on 5 acres, on a small rise and has a beautiful view. The original part of the house was built in 1876 and the rest of the main house seems to be in the early 1900's. There was a rear addition more recent. This home had all kinds of IAQ issues with it. We ran one of our Fresh Air units for a while till the major remodeling started with all the dust and debris. We then let the natural ventilation of open windows and fans take care of cooling and getting rid of dirty air. I often wonder how much we would actually waste in energy if we just let our homes breathe?
I plan on designing as much "green" ventilation into our home as possible--from the crawl space to the attic and the living space in between. It seems already the house has a better feel to it after being pretty much open all summer.  The winter of course will be a different story--then we will probably need our green air purification technology once again.
I would invite any ideas on attic ventilation to compare to my own designs to get a better idea.

Thanks for reading--till next month.

Pollutant Sources

There are many sources of indoor air pollution in any home. These include combustion sources such as oil, gas, kerosene, coal, wood, and tobacco products; building materials and furnishings as diverse as deteriorated, asbestos-containing insulation, wet or damp carpet, and cabinetry or furniture made of certain pressed wood products; products for household cleaning and maintenance, personal care, or hobbies; central heating and cooling systems and humidification devices; and outdoor sources such as radon, pesticides, and outdoor air pollution.

The relative importance of any single source depends on how much of a given pollutant it emits and how hazardous those emissions are. In some cases, factors such as how old the source is and whether it is properly maintained are significant. For example, an improperly adjusted gas stove can emit significantly more carbon monoxide than one that is properly adjusted.
Some sources, such as building materials, furnishings, and household products like air fresheners, release pollutants more or less continuously. Other sources, related to activities carried out in the home, release pollutants intermittently. These include smoking, the use of unvented or malfunctioning stoves, furnaces, or space heaters, the use of solvents in cleaning and hobby activities, the use of paint strippers in redecorating activities, and the use of cleaning products and pesticides in house-keeping. High pollutant concentrations can remain in the air for long periods after some of these activities.

Sick Building Syndrome

Sick Building Syndrome
Sick-building-syndrome is any building that causes health problems such as allergies, skin rash, respiratory ailments, loss of concentration, and headaches. Most illnesses are the result of poor ventilation (Bahnfleth et al., 2005). When ducts aren't cleaned regularly, they can release dust and fibers. Energy efficiency has limited the amount of fresh air circulated through the buildings, you still need.
Microbial contamination of indoor air represents a major public health problem and source of sick-building-syndrome. Mold for example, is a major factor in sick-building-syndrome becoming an ever increasing concern to many home owners and businesses. In addition to being unattractive to see and smell, mold also gives off spores and mycotoxins that cause irritation, allergic reactions, or disease in immune-compromised individuals (Bahnfleth et al., 2005).
Prevention of Indoor Air Pollution: Ventilation and Air Cleaners
The U.S. EPA (1990) lists three main strategies for reducing indoor air pollutants: source control, ventilation, and air cleaning. Source control is considered the most effective and eliminates the sources of pollutants or reduces their emissions. Regrettably, not all pollutant sources can be identified and practically eliminated or reduced.

Air Purifiers

Now we are into a subject that has a lot of controversy. I will be attaching report links for ozone, ionization, and UV light over the next couple of weeks. I have had the best experience with a unit that uses ozone, ionization, UV light and active pure technology. I will not mention the brand here, but if you want more information go to my website www.rlenvirocare.com . Sharper image used ionization only for years, which works fine for just dust particles--doesn't do much for bacteria.
There are a few brands out there right now. What you want is to eliminate dust from your breathable air, kill odors, kill bacteria on surfaces, and clean the air of other VOC's and pollutants.
Look for links over the next few weeks.

Electronic Air Cleaners

Hello again,
Most people feel that electronic air cleaners will be the most efficient air filtration there is. On the surface this is correct. The EAC (electronic air cleaner) will remove about 90%-95% of the particulate matter in your air using a process of prefiltering through some aluminum filters and then ionization to charge the dust particles so they will stick to the plates. This of course only happens to the air passing through the EAC itself.
These are great for keeping the dirt out of your airflow. The price tag is about 600.00--800.00 for most of them plus installation.
These need to be cleaned every 30 days on schedule. Most of the newer ones have a reminder alarm of some sort to help home owners remember. It is critical that the cleaning is done--otherwise dirt can get into the contacts and components. This will burn the components out and the repair price tag is quite expensive.
There are many models out there--every manufacturer seems to have their own--Honeywell, Carrier, Trane, Lennox etc.
Study the specifications carefully--watch for the efficiency drop per hours of use.
Next time air purifiers.

Electrostatic Filters

We have discussed disposable filters, pleated filters, and washable filters. Now I want to address the electrostatic filters. There is much hub-bub about these filters. One school of thought says they are too restrictive, while the other praises their efficiency in removing particulate from the air. Here is my experience: I have found the electrostatic filter to be very efficient (90%) in removing particulates and pollen from the airflow, however they need to be washed frequently--sometimes every two weeks because of the larger dust that will clog the surface and cause air restriction. This can be very harmful to furnace heat exchangers and cause freezing on air conditioning coils. The electrostatic filter needs to be washed frequently and sized in such a way to allow plenty of air flow through the return air ducting. I used Lifetime Filters in many installations and had great success with them. I was also able to get free replacement if the filter malfunctioned, clogged or came apart.
Bottom line check your filters, or better yet schedule changes based on filter type and use.
The best solution is of course a maintenence program from a reputable HVAC contractor.
Next time we'll look into electronic air cleaners.