The first quarter of the year passed fairly quickly. How are you doing this spring? Allergies acting up?
Finding yourself congested when waking up? There is much information on the quality of our indoor environments. I want to tackle a few things starting from the outside of the home and working inward.
1-Look at the exterior drainage-does the water drain away from your home or toward it?
2-Does moisture gather under your home?
3-Are your windows sealed around them to keep moisture intrusion out?

Next time I will raise some more questions on the home.....then we will look at some solutions in a couple of weeks.

Welcome to a New Year.

Hello Everyone,
I took some time off from writing to spend time ramping up the marketing in my company. I am starting a new schedule with renewed interest in keeping you, my readers, healthy. We will look at many new ideas, some old ones, and discover products to keep you healthy and comfy in your indoor environment.
 I want to deliver great content so I will share other great information from the leaders in the industry. 
So thanks for reading and I hope you will share the information with those you care about.
See you next time.

Condensate Drains

The primary condensate drain lines normally drains into the household sewer system through an open connection to an active p-trap. In some cases, these active p-traps are the bath tub or bathroom sink p-trap; should this be your case, be sure to read the special instructions in maintenance, below. Should the evaporator coil's primary drain line become clogged or should the primary drain develop a leak, condensate should overflow or leak into the emergency drain pan thence into the emergency drain line. The emergency condensate drain line, drain line, drains to a conspicuous place outside the home. Water dripping from the emergency drain line is a warning indicator that something is drastically wrong with primary condensate drain
system. You should not delay in calling a service technician.

Problems- With primary condensate drain lines stem form plant pollen, fungus spores and other particulate matter entrained in the air stream passing over the wet evaporator coil. They are captured by the condensate draining off the coil and are carried into the drain system. There they produce algae, mildew, and fungus growths which can clog the primary drain system. While the emergency drain lines are normally dry and clear, they are open to the atmosphere. Wasps, called "mud-daubers", are known to nest in these open drain lines, there by rendering them useless; always at the wrong time.

Maintenance- Test both the primary and emergency drains with water. If a restriction is detected, he or she clears the obstruction with compressed air. Blowing out a drain line will usually open a clogged drain line, but it cannot remove growing algae or other deposits from the pipe wall. Our technician will place algicide tablets in the primary drain pan. While algicide is used prevent algae buildup, algicide kills any existing algae. The dead algae may slough off the pipe wall and pass into the sewer system or drift down stream to a restriction and accumulate there resulting in a clogged drain.

Special Instructions- Bathtub or bathroom sink p-traps. If the active p-trap in your system is the trap for a bath tub or bathroom sink, there is the possibility that material flushed from the condensate drain system may combine with bathroom debris already in the trap, to begin formation of a clog. Should one of these plumbing drains clog, condensate will fill the sink or tub and overflow without any warning such as water dripping form the emergency drain line. After any work on your condensate drain system, the drainage of the sink and tub should be observed. If either drains slowly or backs up, plumbing maintenance is needed.

Other measures our technician may recommend are the installation of a float switch in the emergency condensate drain pan and an Easy Klear clean out valve. Should both the primary and emergency drain systems fail, the float switch functions to turn off the air conditioning system, stopping the production of condensate until the clog is cleared and the drain pan emptied. The Easy Klear helps improve drain line maintenance.
Despite all of these precautions, there can be no guarantee that your condensate drain system will remain clear. Your condensate drain system can become clogged at anytime and should be watched closely after it has been serviced, especially when algicide has been applied. Older systems with accumulations of algae can become clogged anytime algae breaks loose from the pipe wall and drifts downstream to a restricted point. At a restriction, algae will accumulate and grow unit it blocks the drain pipe. These restrictions can grow into a fully clogged drain line in less than one month.
Should a problem occur or our technician detect a problem with the p-trap or plumbing drain line (household sewer system), he or she will recommend the services of a licensed plumber. In our opinion, blowing out a large diameter plumbing drain line is not and effective repair. The household sewer system, beginning at the open connection to the condensate system, is the domain of the licensed plumber.

Liabilities- Whenever the air handling unit of an air conditioning system is located in an attic or the upper stories of a building, the risk of water damage due to drain stoppage and condensate overflow is inherent and unavoidable. Proper design and installation coupled with timely and consistent maintenance can minimize the probability of an overflow, but cannot absolutely prevent it. Therefore, our warranties specifically exclude liability for water damage due to condensate overflow, and special, consequential or incidental damage caused by stoppage of a condensate drain system.

My Property Went Underwater Now What?

We will continue on condensate drains next time. I came across this interesting article on "The Great Indoors Blog" on IAQNet--by Bob Krell an IAQIH.
It does bring out some great information.

My Property Went Underwater...Now What?
If you were one of the unfortunate people that was flooded by Hurricane Sandy yesterday, here are a basic list of considerations for helping you get safely back on your feet:

1. Don't Go Back Into Your Property Until Emergency Officials Give the OK - As bad as things might seem, rushing back into a recently flooded building may be a significantly worse idea!  In addition to any damage to your contents, the water may have caused structural damage that could make it unsafe to enter your property.  Another concern is a potential electrical hazard. Once power is restored to your area, your electrical wiring may still be wet and dangerous!  It is best to have all potentially water-damaged electrical components checked by a professional electrician prior to any re-energizing or re-occupancy of the building to reduce the risks of electrical shock or electrical fires.
2. Contact Your Insurance Carrier - Begin the process of creating a claim for losses that are covered under your insurance policy. 
3. Document, Document, Document! - Take photos and video detailing the extent of the damage to both the structure and the contents. Hopefully you have pre-loss photos/video, as they can be helpful with establishing the extent of the damage. If not, definitely begin photo documentation ASAP! 
4. Get It Dry, Get it Clean - This may clearly be easier to say than actually achieve under the circumstances, but whatever you can do to get your building's structure and it's contents dry fast will help to minimize your subsequent damage. Try to salvage irreplaceable items like family photos, rare collectibles, etc, and get them to a safe place where they can be dried out. Gypsum board (AKA sheetrock) doesn't fare well when submerged, despite what some insurance adjusters would like you to believe. Once saturated, it can be structurally compromised, and very prone to subsequent mold growth. When in doubt, tear it out! The same goes for any wet fiberglass insulation, carpeting, or upholstered furniture, bedding and any unsealed food items. Floods are considered Category 3 (Black Water), since they are contaminated with sewage and other unsavory contents. For a period of time after a significant flood event, the risk of bacterial contamination is greatest, so protect yourself from exposure if you're going in (PPE or Personal Protective Equipment is strongly recommended, including respirator, gloves, eye protection at minimum).
5. And Then, There's Mold? - If all this wasn't bad enough, the fungal invaders may start appearing anywhere from a few days to several weeks after the flooding. Mold tends to attack processed wood products and leather goods quickly, but can colonize on virtually any surface with sufficient nutrients and moisture--so pretty much any dirty and damp material will do!  Let it suffice to say that I won't be warning of "Deadly toxic black mold", but rather offering a more objective viewpoint in lieu of the hysterical approach. Mold growing outdoors-normal. Mold growing indoors-NOT normal.  I really don't get into fungal racism; pretty much any species of mold growing indoors in quantity is undesirable, period. It needs to be addressed. And not with bleach! 

For more information contact us:
R&L Envirocare
417-942-2451
800-526-4978

Cold Humidity Solutions -Part 2

The other problem creating "cold humidty" is leaky ducts. If the air is leaking out of your ducts, chances are good that humid unconditioned air is leaking in when the system is off. The other problem is that if the return air ducts are leaky, you are sucking in air from an unconditioned space like attic or crawl space--yucky stuff!
The leaks can be manifested with a smoke bomb placed in either plenum. The simplest would be just to seal every exposed joint with a duct mastic. If there are doubts hire a professional duct leakage testing company.
Next time we will cover condensate drains and how much this can affect your system.

Cold Humidity Solutions 1

To help combat humidity getting back into home via the metal ducting one should do the obvious--insulate the ducting. The cleanest and easiest method is to use an insulation called "Reflectix" which is a foiled backed bubble wrap. All you need is enough to cover your ducting, spray adhesive, duct tape, and possibly some baling wire for certain sections. Measure diameter of ducts or measure around the circumference with a string, add about 3 inches and cut, put wrap up on duct, spray wrap (inside) and duct, let set for a couple of seconds and put pressure to wrap it around. You can add baling wire around long sections, and tape the seams. It will be a clean job and definitely not "itchy". Next time we'll cover checking the air leakage.

Mold In The News

Take a look at this video from 2009.  Keep in mind it was a new home at the time. Our energy efficiency

standards hurt our health.

Fox News report - mold sickens family

Fox News reported that a Virginia family was sickened by mold in their new, custom built, home. Watch it here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5tXlKN5uFA

If you come across any recent issues with mold please share them here. Next week we will discuss how to deal with this low temp high humidity problem we are having in Southwest Missouri.