Indoor Air Quality
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Indoor Air Quality
Having good Indoor Air Quality has always been important, but over the past couple of years with the outbreak of SARs-CoV-2, it has taken on even more important in our daily lives. There are many things that can help improve your indoor air quality. Some of the major items to pay attention to regarding indoor air quality are as follows:
Bringing in the correct amount of outside air.
Outside air is used primarily to bring in additional oxygen into the building as humans breathe the indoor air. Human respiration takes oxygen out of the air and produces CO2. Outside air is brought into the building to help flush out the CO2 and bring in fresh air that has oxygen in it.
Outside air is also used to help flush other harmful contaminants out of the air. Carpets, paint, glue, upholstery, and other items inside the building emit Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). High enough levels of VOC’s can cause harm to humans. Making sure enough fresh air is circulated in the building will help keep these VOC levels low enough that they do not impact humans. Outside air is utilized to help clean out molds, bacteria, and viruses as well.
Cleaner Air for Healthier Living
You might ask why not just bring in enormous amounts of outside air so that these harmful components will never be a problem. The answer is that bringing outside air into a building typically is one of the highest uses of energy that exists in the HVAC system. If the building is in a hot and humid climate, you need to reduce the temperature and wring out the humidity of the outside air to bring this air into the building and deliver it at the temperature of the building. If you are in a cold climate, you must heat the outside air before it is introduced into the space. Outside air is also where most of the moisture/humidity enter the building. Proper HVAC design should be engineered to bring in the required outside air to keep the air in the space healthy, but not bring in too much outside air because the building would consume too much energy and potentially cause a loss of humidity control.
Building code requires that a commercial building bring in outside air while the building is occupied. This means that the fan on your thermostat must be in the “on” position (not auto). If the fan is not “on”, there will not be any outside air coming into the building.
iAIRE Products
iAIRE makes the following products that help improve indoor air quality:
Dedicated Outside Air System (DOAS)
iAIRE’s makes a Dedicated Outside Air System (DOAS). DOAS are HVAC units that are specifically designed to bring outside air into buildings. Learn more about iAIRE’s DOAS offering.
Airflow Monitoring
iAIRE has a line of airflow monitoring devices. Monitoring the amount of outside air coming into the building guarantees that the correct amount of outside air is coming into the building. These devices provide feedback on the amount of outside airflow enabling the user to bring in enough outside air to keep the indoor air clean but limit extra outside air to help minimize utility costs. Learn more about iAIRE’s airflow monitoring equipment.
Filtration
The use of proper filtration has been shown to help capture and reduce the effects of viruses, mold, mildew, bacteria, and other airborne pathogens. The smaller the particle, the easier it is to get into the human system. HEPA filters have been the standard by which hospital operating rooms have had their air filtered for years. By using high efficiency fans, iAIRE can change out the standard blowers in a packaged or split system, install a new high efficiency fan and add HEPA filters to most packaged or split systems. Learn more about HEPA and Fan Installation to learn more about selecting the proper filtration and fans for a building.
Ionization
Ionization can be used with a properly designed HVAC system to help further reduce airborne mold, mildew, bacteria, viruses, and VOCs in a home or building. Making sure ionization is properly sized and installed will ensure the ionization device will deliver optimum performance. iAIRE recommends utilizing a VOC sensor in the occupied space. This will both ensure the ionization device is actively cleaning the space and will allow you to know if the ionization device stops working. Learn more about iAIRE’s ionization and sensor products.
UV Lights
UV lights have been shown to help keep the evaporator coil clean by preventing molds and bacteria from building up on the coil. Keeping the coil clean helps keep the indoor air clean. Learn more about iAIRE’s UV Light installation.
Controlling Humidity
Controlling humidity in a building has been shown to help reduce the spread of mold, mildew, bacteria, and viruses as well as helping maintain customer comfort in the space. Learn more about humidity control and iAIRE’s equipment to help control humidity in a building.