A lot has been made recently about gas stoves and indoor air quality. Claims are being made that gas stoves can cause health issues and should be banned. Not surprisingly this has create a divide with one side saying absolutely and the other with a no way no how.

One of the key issues at the heart of this debate is that gas stoves produce contaminates during the cooking process including nitrogen dioxide as well as PM2.5 (particulate matter). This is true – contaminates are produced. Now we are not doctors so we are not going to get into the debate of exactly what that means from a health standpoint. We will say this, allowing contaminates to permeate your home is never a good thing no matter what that contaminate is.

Here is where we try and take the middle ground of the two sides of this debate. We agree that gas stoves reduce the indoor air quality of the home, but cooking on electric stoves also produces contaminates (maybe not as many but contaminates are still produced). We also understand that gas stoves are the preferred method of cooking for many people. Our solution – ventilation. We realize your first reaction might be “of course, you’re a ventilation company”. Yes it is true we are a ventilation company but let's look at what is happening during the cooking process.

Our first question is would you set a fire pit in the middle of your living room? Crazy – right, the room would be filled with smoke within a matter of seconds causing you to have to evacuate the house immediately. When a gas stove is used, we are in essence doing the same thing. Now the big difference is that a gas stove is a cleaner burning energy compared to wood so there isn’t the immediate build-up of smoke but the contaminates are still being generated. What needs to happen is for those contaminates to be exhausted out of the house. This is where a properly sized and functioning range hood comes in. Simple – bad air with bad things out, good air in.

The next question we pose is if there is a properly sized and functioning range hood that exhausts to the outside over a gas stove, won’t that greatly reduce contaminate build-up in the home? Even in some of the “shocking” studies that are floating around currently, they agree that ventilation is a key way to improve the indoor air quality.

As we stated earlier, we are a ventilation company so we hope you didn’t expect to get through this entire post without us stating we have the perfect solution? Well we do. Air King produces a wide selection of range hood solutions but here is where we get into the “perfect” solution. Of utmost importance is that the range hood vents to the outside, otherwise it is just recirculating most of those contaminates right back into the home. Second is that the range hood is turned on every time the stove is used – even when baking. A big complaint is always the sound level of range hoods. Don’t worry we have that covered and are almost at that perfect solution we talked about. Third is that the range hood stays on long enough to clear any residual contaminates out that might be hanging around after the cooking is done. Now take any range hood (Air King or others) and you can solve for most of these as many range hoods have the ability to vent to the outdoors, some are on the quieter side and if you keep them on, they will clear the residuals. But we are not satisfied with “good”, we want perfect. Enter in the ECQ and LE series from Air King. Here is what makes them perfect. They vent to the outdoors and they operate at very low sound levels. On low speed they are about the sound your refrigerator makes. Even when you need the full power on high speed they are considerably quieter than other hoods. The “perfect” part is these series have a continuous speed that as named runs constantly. Why is that important? This allows the hood to take care of any residual contaminates that are hanging around as well as if there are any slight leaks from a gas stove. The best part is the sound is barely audible at <0.3 sones (what is a sone – click here). These series are ENERGY STAR® certified and also solve for ASHRAE 62.2 which is an indoor air quality code regarding ventilation of homes.

To bring this all to a close, we fully understand that the debate of gas stoves and indoor air quality will probably rage on for a while. Our request/hope is that we look at all the factors involved before we make wide spread decisions based on some knowledge but perhaps not all the knowledge. Main point, vent your range hood and turn it ON!

For more information about the indoor air quality of your home and how you can improve it, please read through the many articles we have written over the years. For information regarding Air King Range Hood solutions click visit airkinglimited.com.

How Is the Air In Your Office or School?

As we turn the calendar to a new year, we unfortunately are not turning the page on the COVID era. While almost all schools and offices have returned to a somewhat normal (however you now define normal) operation, the question still remains – how is the air in the office or school you are working in or sending your children to?

As our knowledge of COVID has increased our methods of combating it have also gotten better. Long past are the days where people in hazmat suits with foggers are going through public space after someone walks in. There has however been some good things. A focus has been placed on the indoor air quality of our homes, our workplaces and our schools. We are also now understanding that increased indoor air quality not only helps in the battle against COVID but also other viruses like the flu and colds.

So what is your workplace or school doing to improve the health of the working or studying environment? These are great questions to ask but, before you storm down to the HR department we want to encourage you to take a minute to stop, relax, and think of how you can be a part of the solution, working with your company or school rather than just demanding answers.

As we have navigated through all of this there have been some things that have been effective and some we thought were going to be effective but were not (Plexiglas dividers, the magical 6 feet, foggers, and so on). The challenge is always to do the best you can with the knowledge you have at the time, then use the test of time to figure out if it is effective. Through all this ventilation, fresh air and filtration have stood out as very effective ways to fight it. These “technologies” have been around for thousands of years so we think it passes the time test.

So using those test of time technologies lets take a look at what your office or school may be doing our could be doing.

Ventilation: Simply defined it is moving stale or contaminated air out of a given space. The most common way is exhaust fans. Many time people think they are only used in bathrooms or kitchens, but they should be used throughout all spaces. A test to see if the space is being properly ventilated is using a CO2 monitor. If you have a room full of people or kids, as they breath the CO2 level of the room will rise if it is not properly ventilated. Another way is the “human” test. Does the space feel stagnant, have smells and so forth. There are multiple ways a space can be effectively ventilated. Adding exhaust fans, air exchangers or utilizing existing infrastructure are some. Depending on the building there can be some low cost solutions or it might require a larger investment.

Fresh Air: Having a source that brings fresh outside air into the space to replace the exhausted air or at least dilutes it. There are basically two ways to do this. One is passive – doing things like opening windows or doors if it can be done without compromising the safety of the building. A second is mechanical – utilizing a fan to bring in fresh air. This can be done in a standalone unit or as part of the HVAC system. One thing to note about bringing in outdoor air is if you are in an area with very poor air quality such as near forest fires or locations with large air pollution, adding a filtration system to the incoming air is an almost must.

Filtration: Having a system in place that removes contaminates in the air, capturing them in a filter. All HVAC systems will have some type of filter with them. Filters are measured by what they can remove from the air. Filters are typically identified with a MERV rating. A quick explanation of the MERV number is the higher it is, the more effective it will be in removing particles from the air. Filtration is an extremely effective way to fight viruses as it removes them from the air. This goes back to our statement that if the virus is not there, it can’t infect you. We mentioned HVAC systems having filters but sometimes the system cannot handle higher MERV filters without compromising the effectiveness of the HVAC system. This is where portable air filters come into play. Generally room level air filters or air purifiers are very easy to add and in a lot of cases do not cost a lot of money. Utilizing something like the Lasko FF305 Air Flex is a quick and easy way to filter air in office spaces, classrooms or at home. There are additional technologies out there for improving indoor air quality but some of these have not be fully proven yet. You can read more about these in one of our earlier blog post.

Our goal is to give you the tools to create the best possible working, learning and living environments possible. If you have a good ventilation system with a source for air exchange (fresh air coming in) and are filtering the air within the space, you are well on your way. We encourage you to have open and productive conversations with your workplace, school board and so forth to find out what they are doing to ensure these items are taking place.

For more information about Air King’s line of ventilation solutions including exhaust fans, range hoods and fresh air intake, visit airkinglimited.com. Also check out our other posts about ventilation and indoor air quality.

Ventilation Past Present and Future

If you have ever been in Barcelona and have had the opportunity to visit La Pedrera (Case Milà) built by Antoni Gaudi in the early 1900’s, one of the interesting facts is how Gaudi integrated natural ventilation into his design. Gaudi was a man ahead of his time but he understood that ventilation, even in the early 1900’s was an integral part of the health of the home and it’s residents.

Internal courtyards were integrated into the design of La Pedrera. Each courtyard allowed the residents to open windows inside their apartment for a source of fresh air and cross ventilation as each apartment had access to a courtyard as well as an outside (façade side) window.

If we go back even further we see ventilation coming into play in the 17th century when King Charles I of England decreed that all ceilings must be 10 feet high and windows must be higher than wide to increase ventilation. I guess we can attribute the first building code to Charles the 1st. As we skip though time we see ventilation become more prominent with windows, open courtyards, additional chimneys and so forth.

Then came the big innovation – the advent of what is known as mechanical ventilation. This includes bathroom exhaust fans, kitchen range hoods as well as air intake to assist with the ventilation and balancing of the home. These items became code and are now commonplace in almost all homes across the United States and beyond. They are also required as part of the national building code, which is a great thing.

Unfortunately there has been a recent trend where the importance of ventilation was put to the side a bit as the importance of energy efficient homes was brought to the forefront. It wasn’t that ventilation was forgotten, it was just not as important. The issue was that to build a “tight” home, you didn’t want any air leakage in or out. If you were removing air, you had to replace it and replacing the air caused you to have to condition that air – using more energy. Thankfully it was recognized that while having a tight home with minimum air leakages is great for your energy bill it is not great for your health. Now we are understanding that we need a balanced approach to make sure we have proper ventilation while still maintaining the energy efficiency of the home. This means taking control of the air coming in and out of the home using exhaust fans and air intake products.

As we look to what is next for ventilation, it is great to see that the importance is permeating into our workspaces as well as our residences. More and more offices and public building are realizing there is a responsibility to provide a healthy and safe space. Part of that is making sure the air that is being breathed in those spaces is the best it can be. There have been many studies done showing that a properly ventilated office can actually increase productivity and decrease the number of sick days taken by employees. The interesting thread through the history of ventilation is the simplicity of it – remove the stale indoor air and replace it with fresh air. The methods have changed over the years but the principles have stayed the same.

For more information about Air King’s line of ventilation solutions including exhaust fans, range hoods and fresh air intake, utilize the menu links at the top of this page. Also check out our other posts about ventilation and indoor air quality.

You have probably heard it said one way or another that the first step in fixing a problem is identifying the problem. The same holds true with our home’s indoor air quality (IAQ). Home contaminate identification is the first step on the path to improving it. Here is a list of our top 5 contaminates:

1. It sounds a little silly but one of the largest sources of contaminates in our homes is us. We breath, we bring in contaminates from the outside on our clothing (pollen, dirt, dust, etc.), viruses and so forth. Other than never leaving the house and stopping breathing (not really an option), there isn’t much we can reduce. Maybe leave the dirty shoes outside before coming in the home but not much more. What we need to look at is how to mitigate. A regular cleaning schedule is a good start. Using natural cleaning agents that do not give off harmful gasses is a must, otherwise you might be doing more harm than good. Also a good vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter will prevent you from putting all the “bad” stuff right back into the room. Lastly, having a good system in place to ventilate the home as well as bring in fresh air is a must. The ventilation fans will help remove contaminates replacing them with fresh air coming in.
2. The kitchen and cooking. While there might be some out there that never use their kitchen, our guess is the vast majority do. Cooking is one of the top contributors to bad indoor air quality. You have steam, grease, smoke (some of us more than others) and all kinds of other contaminates generated during the cooking process. If these are not mitigated it cannot only be bad for the indoor air quality, it could also be dangerous. The good news is there is a simple answer – your range hood. Ideally, your range hood should vent to the outdoors rather than return the air to the kitchen after going through a filter. In previous blog posts we listed a lot of reasons why people do not use their range hoods. Moral of the story – USE YOUR RANGE HOOD!
3. You might say – wait, you just told us to clean our homes in the first point. You are correct, but we need to focus on the way to properly clean. Cleaning agents are some powerful things. If you have ever used toilet bowl cleaner, the smell can knock you back a bit. It does its job but it is also giving off more bad gases than you probably want to know about. The same holds true with a lot of the other items we use to clean – furniture polish, bleach, laundry detergent and the list goes on. So we know we need to clean but how do we do it without negatively affecting the IAQ of the home. There are a lot of “natural” cleaners on the market today. We are not necessarily endorsing these as so many make claims but after a little investigating are not as advertised. What we do advocate is utilizing the exhaust fans of the home when cleaning. Do you turn the bathroom exhaust fan on when you clean? If not you should. Even turning the kitchen range hood when you are cleaning in or around the kitchen will help. Slightly opening a window when you can is another easy and effective way to bring fresh air in, diluting the concentration of cleaners.
4. The bathroom. This is another area of the home that is a necessity but can also have a negative effect on your indoor air quality. When we shower it produces moisture. Moisture leads to mildew which leads to mold, which is bad. For the sake of those around you, please continue to shower but lets look at ways to reduce the moisture generated. The number one thing you can do is to properly utilize the exhaust fan. A properly sized and functioning exhaust fan will greatly reduce the amount of moisture in the room. Without moisture it is very hard for mold and mildew to grow. The key is making sure your fan is powerful enough and runs long enough. Exhaust fans have progressed a lot in the past few decades and now you can get them with integrated humidity sensors that automatically turn the fan on when the humidity rises and then turns off when the humidity drops. A mistake many people make is not running the exhaust fan long enough after a shower or bath. In some cases it might take more than an hour to clear out all the humidity that has built up. Air King has a full line of effective and affordable humidity sensing exhaust fans. Opening windows is another solution but you need to be careful. Not sure if you live in a northern state you want to open windows in the middle of winter, same holds true for southern states in the middle of summer.
5. Candles, incense, diffusers. This is probably the one that gets the most push back. We are writing this blog at the beginning of November right in the heart of pumpkin spice season. We enjoy a nice smelling candle as much as the next person but we need to stop and think about what is happening. When we light a candle, or more accurately, burn a candle it is releasing all types of contaminates as well as scents. At its root, we are burning something that releases carcinogens into the air. You might see “Clean burning candles” but generally all that means is the wax gets burned up with the candle instead of dripping all over everything. Another one is “naturally made”. This is great, but it still needs to be burnt. Wood is “naturally” made but if you light a bonfire in your living room, you’re going to have some problems (okay, maybe a little extreme but you get our point). Now if you still want to light candles, a way to lessen the impact on your indoor air quality is to utilize them in well-ventilated areas. Taking a bath? Make sure the exhaust fan is on. If using in the main living area, is there a way to have a flow of fresh air coming in to dilute it?

BONUS: Pets. Yes we love them as they are part of the family but they can be a menace to the indoor air quality of the home. There is the dander, the hair, what they bring in on their fur (pollen, dirt, etc.). Don’t get us wrong, we love pets but it is important to have a strategy to keep their impact on the indoor air quality of the home as little as possible. Oh and guess what, pets benefit from good IAQ as well. The good news is the strategy with pets is mostly the same as the other items we have been talking about, cleaning, proper ventilation and good airflow.

Now, if you have been paying attention, you probably noticed a common theme through all of these points on home contaminate identification – ventilation and fresh air. If you can properly ventilate your home while replacing the stale “bad” air with fresh, your indoor air quality will be the best it can. Now also add in regularly changing your air filters if you have central heating/cooling, you’re really going to see a noticeable difference.

For more information about Air King’s line of indoor air quality solution including exhaust fans, range hoods and fresh air intake, visit airkinglimited.com. Also check out our other posts about indoor air quality.

When is the Cooking Done?

You just finished making your favorite meal for the family and you are about to sit down to enjoy it, but is the cooking done? The first thing you might ask is, do you mean is the meat done or are the vegetables fully cooked? Those are good questions to ask but we are asking if the cooking process is done from a ventilation standpoint.

A mistake a lot of us make is that we immediately turn off the ventilation system as soon as the food comes off the cooktop. The problem with that is the pots and pans we have been using are still emitting contaminates into the air. Think about it, let's say you are sautéing vegetables in a pan. During the cooking process they are emitting items like grease, steam, carcinogens and so forth. All of those items are also gathering in the pan itself. Now you transfer the food to a plate and are done – right? Not really, the pan is still hot and still emitting those items. Sometimes it is really easy to see this playing out as steam or smoke is still coming off the pan even after we have taken everything out. Even the cooking surface it still going to be sending off contaminates as it is still at a high temperature.

Some will depend on what type of cooking you are doing but in general you want to keep your range hood running for 10 to 15 minutes after the cooktop has been turned off. This will give ample time for all of the contaminated generated during the cooking process to be ventilated out. It will also provide enough time for the pots/pans and cooking surface to cool to a point they are no longer producing contaminates.

So why do so many of us turn the range hood off immediately after the active cooking is completed? Our guess is it comes down to one main reason – sound. We get it. Most of the range hoods out there are just plain loud. Here is where we have some suggestions. First, if you are in the market to replace your range hood or are thinking about a kitchen remodel, there are a lot of quiet options when it comes to range hoods. Air King has models that are almost as quiet as your refrigerator.

If a replacement is not in the immediate future, look to use the speed control of your range hood. Almost all range hoods have at least two speeds. During the active cooking process you’ll probably want to use a high setting to effectively clear out as much of the contaminates as possible. Once the active cooking is done, there are less contaminates being released so you can go down to a lower/quieter speed while still effectively ventilating. For the ultimate in kitchen ventilation, Air King offers continuously operating range hoods that operate at an almost silent sound level then have higher settings to effectively clear the air. You can learn more about them here.

A second reason some might be quick to turn the range hood off is energy usage. If the range hood is running, it is using electricity. This is true but once again, we have some answers for that. In general range hoods are fairly efficient as far as appliances go. The good news is that there are many models on the market today that are ENERGY STAR® certified and use a significantly less amount of energy than a traditional range hood, in some case up to 30% less. The lighting can also make a measurable difference. An ENERGY STAR certified range hood is going to use LED lighting, which is usually not more than 11 watts. A traditional hood might use up to 100 watts or more. Now here’s more good news. Even in a traditional hood, changing the lighting to LED is a simple process that can reap immediate benefits without a full kitchen remodel. While the ventilation should run for additional time, the lighting does not need to. You can turn the lighting off at anytime you want, it will not affect the exhaust function of the range hood.

So we come back to the question of when is the cooking done? Our goal of this post it to get you thinking about all the factors that go into ensuring good indoor air quality within your living space as well as getting you to look a little deeper into how you utilize the tools you have.

For more information about Air King’s line of quiet and efficient range hoods, visit airkinglimited.com. Also check out our other posts about continuous operating range hoods and the benefits of range hoods.

Do Fans Cool?

The topic of do fans cool is one that has been debated for decades. As with all debates there are two sides to it. When we say fans, we are referring to products like box fans, pedestal fans, pivoting fans, window fans and so forth. Let’s also get this out of the way from the start – we are a fan manufacturer so our opinion might be slightly bias. What we hope to do in this post is to give you the information to make your own determination.

Why People Say Fans Do Not Cool

This is a fairly simple answer. You will hear fans referred to as “air circulators” because that in essence is what they are doing – circulating the air. The types of fans we are talking about do not have any refrigerant or “cooling” devices attached to them, they simply move the air from one area to another. Because of this there is no temperature change in the air itself. This is more of a scientific answer to the question of do fans cool? So when they say that fans do not cool, technically they are correct. Before you stop, read on for the rebuttal.

Why People Say Fans Do Cool

Scientist make a strong argument that fans do not cool but there are two ways that we hope to show you that they do indeed cool. The first is in a room. In this scenario we can actually use scientific methods to show that fans do cool a room. Here is how they accomplish that.

1. In any room heat will build up in certain areas – generally in the upper parts of the room as heat rises. Utilizing a fan to distribute the cool air and to disperse the hot air in the room can have an overall effect of cooling the room. This could be an actual temperature change that can be measured or could be a perceived temperature change (more of temperature perception later). Once again, the fan is not cooling the air, it is using the cooler air in one part of the room to cool the warm air in another.
2. Another way that fans can be used to cool a room is by bringing cool air from one part of the home to another. A prime example of this is when fans are used in harmony with air conditioning. Most air conditioners including central air systems are going to have variations from room to room. Think about your home, is there one room that is always hotter than another? Just like in our first point, using a fan to move that cooler air from one room to another will give you a consistent temperature in your home. In theory this should actually lower your cooling cost. Generally if you have hot and cold rooms, you need to over cool some rooms in order to make the other “warmer rooms” livable. If you have a consistent temperature throughout the home, your AC unit(s) will run less.
3. The last way a fan cools a room is utilizing cooler outdoor air. Window fans are a great example of this. During the daytime, the temperature of the home will rise and it will either be very hot inside, or you will need to run your AC unit. During the evening and nighttime hours however the temperature outside might drop below the temperature inside the house. The issue is just opening windows generally doesn’t bring the outside air in quickly enough to make a significant change. Using a window fan speeds the process along. As we have a theme going, the fan is not cooling the air, it is bringing the cooler outdoor air and exchanging the warmer indoor air.

Next we move to perceived cooling. Perceived cooling is simply making your body think it is cooler. A perfect example of this is if you stand outside on a hot, sunny day and there is no breeze. It probably doesn’t take long for your body to tell you it’s hot. Now stand out in those same conditions but now a nice breeze starts to blow and all of a sudden your body feels cooler. The temperature of the air hasn’t changed – it’s the same but for some reason your body feels cooler. Now there is a scientific reason for this in that the air is removing the warm moisture (sweat) build up on the skin which is how your body is cooling itself. We’re not going to get too far into that – a Google search can help you understand that process. The point is that our bodies perceive that it is cooler even though the temperature is not. Using a fan is the “breeze” that tricks our bodies into thinking it is cooler, making it more comfortable.

So where does this leave us in the debate of Do Fans Cool? We agree that if you want to get down to the technical level, fans do not cool. However we hope we have given you enough information to combat that argument with a yes, but….

To learn more about the air circulating fans that Air King offers including box fans, pedestal fans, window fans as well as industrial grade fans and more, visit airkinglimited.com.

Is Your Home Clean?

Seems like a simple question – Is your home clean? Many of us would say yes, for the most part it is clean. There might be a loose sock or two lying around and the kids might have just dragged some grass or dirt in, but its not like there is an inch of mud on the floors. Asking if your home is clean is a bit of a loaded question because the answer always NO. Now we are not here to judge your house but we are here to help you understand what factors make it not clean. Notice we are not saying dirty. While dirt does contribute to the uncleanliness of a house, it is not the only factor.

When we refer to a clean house we are looking at things you can see as well as things you can’t. Some are easier than other. For instance when your white rugs look closer to brown than white, they are not clean. If there is dirt and dust all over, it is easy to see that the home is not clean. Where it gets tricky is when you are dealing with unseen or very hard to see contaminates. These would include things floating around in the air like viruses, particulate matter and so forth. Even something like dust is actually hard to see until it piles up on surfaces.

There are numerous items that cause our homes to not be clean. Just daily living in your home is going to cause it to not be clean. Add in pets, kids, guests and so forth and the battle to keep it clean increases exponentially. Here is where we can go one of three ways. First is to ball up in a fetal position and tell yourself you're doomed. We don’t recommend that. Second is to try and clean everything constantly, hose off the dog and kids every time they come in from outside and basically drive yourself crazy. Again, not what we recommend. Third is to create a strategy to minimize contaminates and increase your indoor air quality. How do you do this?

1. Look at your home and what activities are causing contaminates. As we have spoken about at length in other blog posts, cooking is one of the top contributors to contaminates in the home. If you are finding grease or other build-up on or around the cooktop that is an indication that you haven’t been using the range hood, don’t have one, or need a better one that vents to the outdoors.
2. Are you using your bathroom exhaust fans? Exhausting contaminates including moister decreases the possibility of mold and mildew from forming. They also help to remove any off-gassing from things like cleaners.
3. Do you make everyone take off their shoes when they come into the house so they don’t drag dirt in? Do you brush the dog regularly to decrease the amount of hair floating around (large dog owners we understand, this can be a full time job with a shedding dog in the summer months – do your best).
4. Do you burn candles? They can be a major contributor to poor indoor air quality. You can read more about that here.
5. Do you have a regular cleaning routine. We talked about obsessive cleaning and it being a bit unrealistic, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be part of a regular routine. When using cleaners look for ones with low VOC’s and utilize the exhaust fans of the home (bathroom fans as well as kitchen range hoods) to exhaust any of the cleaning chemicals that are released into the air during the process. On good air quality days, opening a window is also a good option.

So we come back to the first question – Is your home clean? The answer is always going to be no, but hopefully we have given you some things to consider and look for to increase the cleanliness of your home which will have a positive effect on the overall indoor air quality of your home.

For information about exhaust fans, range hoods and fresh air solutions visit www.airkinglimited.com