Strategies For Indoor Air Quality Testing And Improvement
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that "indoor environments are highly complex and building occupants may be exposed to a variety of contaminants (in the form of gases and particles) from...
cleaning products, construction activities, carpets and furnishings, perfumes, cigarette smoke, water-damaged building materials, microbial growth...
insects..
..
" Other factors, including indoor temperature, humidity and ventilation levels, also impact the way an individual responds to an environment.
This is where the importance of indoor air quality testing comes in.
Indoor Air Quality Testing: Basic Strategies for Removing Pollutants Indoor Air Quality Testing helps in detecting indoor pollutants so that they could be removed before they cause any health problems.
Here are some strategies for removing indoor pollutants: Source control: Eliminating the sources of pollution or reducing their emission is the most effective way of improving the quality of interior air.
You can seal sources that contain asbestos or adjust gas stoves to reduce emissions.
Source control is the most cost-effective way of protecting the indoor environment.
Ventilation improvement: Increasing the amount of outdoor air entering the room is also a good way of reducing indoor pollutants.
Not all heating and cooling units allow fresh air into the room.
So, you can increase ventilation by opening the windows, operating window fans, or running an air conditioner with its vent control open.
You can also install exhaust fans in the bathroom and kitchen to remove contaminants.
These are particularly important when you engage in activities which generate pollutants, such as painting or paint stripping, using kerosene heaters, cooking, welding, or soldering.
Ventilation improvement increases your energy costs by only a few dollars.
Air cleaners: Air cleaners may be relatively cheap tabletop models or costly whole-house systems.
While most cleaners are effective at particle removal, most air cleaners are not designed to eliminate gaseous pollutants.
The efficiency of a cleaner can be measured by the amount of pollutants it removes from the interior air and the amount of air it passes through the filtering element.
A highly efficient device with a low air circulation rate or vice-versa will not prove worthwhile.
A balance between these two functions has to be achieved for achieving good quality inside air.