Is Fresh Air Fresh?

We say it all the time – I’m going outside for some fresh air or, open the window to let the fresh air in. But is that air fresh? It is a question with many answers and we are going to take a look at some of them.

First, what is fresh air? As defined by the Google Oxford Languages dictionary it is “the air outside as opposed to that within a room or other enclosed space.” Great so as long as we are outside the air is fresh – case closed, thanks for reading. Well we think it is a little more involved than that. We know that the air inside a home or office can be 5 times more contaminated than outside air so does that confirm that outside air is fresh?

Here is where it gets a little complicated. What is in the outside air? If you live in a city with a lot of air pollution from cars, businesses and so forth, it is hard to call that fresh. Now let's go the opposite direction to a rural area. That air has to be fresh – right? While it might not have the man-made contaminates, there could be a host of other contaminates like pollen, dust, and more.

Great, so we know that the air inside is bad and the air outside might not be any better, what do we do? Here is where we take a step back, relax and realize we can’t control everything so let's concentrate on what we can. The reason the air inside our homes can be so bad is because it takes everything and concentrates it. Even the “polluted” outside air is going to have less concentration of contaminates than the indoor air (unless you are standing right next to a car tailpipe or under a building exhaust system). You have contaminates you generate (cooking, showering, breathing, and just living) plus contaminates coming in from the outside. Without a mitigation strategy they build up and linger inside the home. A very easy solution is a properly operating ventilation system. Using exhaust fans in the bathrooms, a range hood in the kitchen and exhaust fans in any other areas where contaminates build up such as laundry and craft rooms. The ventilation system will take the bad air out but we still need to deal with the air coming in.

The air coming into the home will dilute the remaining contaminates that the exhaust fans do not get. The key is controlling the air coming into the home. Opening a window or door will definitely bring air in but you will not have any control over it. On days where the pollutants such as pollen, dust and so forth are high, you might not want to open the windows. Utilizing what is known as a mechanical solution puts the control into your hands. A mechanical solution is just a fancy term for a fan that brings air into the home. Some HVAC systems have an intake that pulls air in from the outside, which is then filtered as it goes through the system. Standard HVAC filters capture items like dust, dander, pollen, and larger contaminates. Upgraded filters can capture items like viruses. Read our “The Air Filter Debate – Is Too Much Too Much” blog post for more information about air filters. For HVAC systems that do not have an outdoor intake function or need more air, utilizing an air intake system with a filter is a great way to control the amount of air coming in as well as ensuring it is as “clean” as possible.

So where does this leave us? Is fresh air fresh? Maybe instead of using a generic term like fresh air we should be asking if the air is the best we can do? Having a good strategy in place for your home such as proper ventilation as well as air intake will allow you the peace of mind that you are doing everything you can to provide the best indoor air quality you can.

For information about fresh air, exhaust fan or range hood solutions visit the Air King website at airkinglimited.com.

Indoor Air Quality When Staying at Home

We are living in a very unique time in history. Now more than ever, indoor air quality (IAQ) along with fresh air has become a topic of much discussion. We have dedicated many blog posts to the importance of a properly ventilated home. In light of our current time we thought it would be good to re-visit these and highlight some benefits.

Before we get started we want to make one thing clear. Exhaust fans or fresh air do not kill viruses. Even a filter is not going to kill a virus. The information we are providing is to help you evaluate and think about the air you are breathing.

In times when we are being asked to shelter in place and not leave our homes, it can have some unintended side effects. One of them being our indoor air quality. When living indoors during a time of a pandemic there are some air quality issues to think about.

First is the overall quality of the air we are breathing. With many people working from home, staying home, and so forth, it is producing more pollutants inside the home. It is just simple math. The more you are in your home breathing, cooking, working – the more pollutants’ you will generate. If you do not have a plan to mitigate those pollutants there could be longer-term negative effects. A great way to mitigate is using natural as well as mechanical ventilation.

Natural ventilation is simply opening a window and letting fresh air come in. This will dilute the pollutants in the air and if you have a cross breeze will take the stale air out. Mechanical ventilation are items such as exhaust fans and especially range hoods. Sometimes opening a window is not an option, so making sure your range hood is running while cooking or your exhaust fan is running while in the bathroom is of utmost importance.

Second is dealing with spreading a virus. Historically, proper ventilation has been an effective way to lessen the impact of a virus. A 2019 study on tuberculosis showed a significant reduction in transmission just from making changes to the ventilation in hospitals. You can read the study here. The CDC and many state departments are also recommending opening windows and bringing in fresh air to reduce the spread. Stephen Morse, an infectious disease researcher and professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health says: “Changing the room air is a widely used measure for infection prevention and control. It replaces any virus-contaminated air with clean air. Opening windows is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to encourage this type of air turnover.”

Great, everyone open your windows and there is nothing to worry about – right. We really wish it was that easy, but as you probably guessed it is not. As we stated before, fresh air will not kill the virus. What is does is dilutes it to a point where it is not as contagious. There are ongoing studies to try and figure out at what point that is.

According to Erik Peper, a professor in the College of Health and Social Sciences at San Francisco State University. “People keep their windows closed to conserve heat and reduce heating-bill costs, but the lack of fresh-air circulation increases the viral density…. By increasing the fresh outside air circulation, you dilute the virus concentration that maybe shed by an infected asymptomatic or sick person,” Peper explains.

Again, fresh air and ventilation are unfortunately not the magic pill we are searching for and they need to be used properly. Here are a few considerations.

1.     If you do have someone in the house that either has a virus or thinks they might, give consideration of how the air is moving. For instance, if you have a fan in the room they are quarantined in, make sure it is pointing outside and not into the living area. Pushing the air towards the rest of the home could have the exact opposite effect and spread the virus, especially if you do not have enough fresh air coming into the home to dilute it.

2.    Understand where the fresh air is coming from. The outdoor air might be worse than the indoor air so using some type of air filter or air purifier will help. This is especially true in large city settings.

3.    There is also a concern about bringing virus-contaminated air into the home. Professor Morse says the risks of this sort of home invasion are probably minimal — with a few exceptions. “I think the possibility would be vanishingly small of a virus coming in through a window situated well above the ground,” he says. But if you have a ground-floor or basement window that looks out onto a sidewalk or some other pedestrian-trafficked area, it may be possible — albeit unlikely — for a virus to enter your home via a sick passerby, he adds.

While no one wants to be in the situation we are in, it does give us an opportunity to evaluate and learn. When it comes to our indoor air quality, there are items we can do right now as well as things we can do moving forward. What is your IAQ plan? What changes can you make now and in the future to improve?

To learn more about indoor air quality, ventilation options, and fresh air intake visit www.airkinglimited.com

Sources:

https://elemental.medium.com/the-germ-cleaning-power-of-an-open-window-a0ea832934ce

cdc.gov

https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-019-3717-9

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0764_article

What Has Happen to the Air We Breath?

There is a lot of talk lately about Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). You may have already read some of our other IAQ posts, but what has changed that it is getting even more attention? Why wasn’t this as important 5 years, 10 year, 30 years ago? That is a great question and one that has many answers.

They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To. Most of the time this is a negative for the newer item. That’s not the case here. Newer houses are constructed to a much tighter building standard that requires the house to be better insulated and more energy efficient. The biggest thing a homeowner will notice is that there are much less drafts. Here’s where it gets tricky. Less drafts are great from a comfort and efficiency standpoint but not good from an IAQ standpoint. The drafts you feel are outside air coming into the home and by default exchanging the stale air inside the home. Tighter homes do not have a natural way of exchanging the air, causing it to stagnate. Homeowners need to open windows or doors to accomplish this (not a great plan for those living in areas where it is 100 degrees outside or on the other end of the spectrum, minus 10).

Knowledge. We are getting smarter. Studies have found that the air inside our home can be up to 5 times more polluted than the outside air – yikes! That is from normal living. We have now learned that things like cooking, showering (creating mold and mildew if not properly ventilated), using cleaning chemicals or air fresheners and so forth are major contributors to bad IAQ. Just think how dusty your home gets and now realize that dust comes from somewhere and how much of that you have breathed in. We then go back to the first point and with a tighter home, there is even less chance for these pollutants to escape.

The Easy Factor. As we mentioned, a major contributor to bad IAQ are all the chemical products we use inside our homes. They are convenient and generally do the job. Included in these are air fresheners. There are two inherit issues with them. First is they are a chemical solution and second, why do you need them in the first place? Think of how much could be avoided by just having a properly ventilated home. Let something cook a little too long on the stove – a good range hood will take care of that. Kids clothing stinking up the house – a good exhaust fan plus fresh air coming into the home will take care of that. That spicy chili from last night causing an extended stay in the bathroom – rather then emptying a can of air freshener, a good exhaust fan will take care of that.

So are we all doomed? Nope, there is hope and it is actually an easy solution. As mentioned earlier, a properly ventilated home increase the IAQ dramatically – using bath fans, range hoods and other ventilation fans. That takes care of getting the bad air out of the home but you also want to bring fresh air into the home. When keeping a window or door open is not an option, a mechanical solution might be the answer. A product like the Air King QFAM provides a flow of filtered air into the home and can be set to account for humidity levels and temperature of the air coming in. Products like the QFAM can be installed in a non-intrusive location of the home and provide the fresh air that you need.

To learn more about IAQ and Air King’s solutions, visit www.airkinglimited.com