The relationship of indoor air quality and health have been the subject of much attention. Although serious health-related problems are possible, there is a common perception that poor indoor air causes poor health. But, most people are unaware that the causes and possible effects are not always completely understood.
Indoor air quality is good when it is odor and dust free, has adequate air movement and has a comfortable temperature and humidity. When indoor air quality (IAQ) is poor, most health-related complaints may mimic cold or flu-like symptoms such as headaches, sinus problems, nausea, fatigue or irritation of the eyes, nose or throat.
Potential sources of contaminants in office buildings include cleaning supplies, pesticides, new building materials, furnishings, dusts, cosmetics, molds, mildew and human by-products such as carbon dioxide, dander, perspiration and food or garbage not disposed of in an appropriate and frequent manner. Almost all of these are present in a building environment to some degree and only become magnified when concentrations become excessive.
Poor indoor air quality often occurs when ventilation is inadequate to keep contaminant concentrations at acceptable levels. The heating, ventilation, and air condition system should not only control contaminants, but must also provide a comfortable environment. The perception of unmoving or stale air, odor, draftiness or exorbitant temperature and humidity can lead to discomfort and the beginning of an indoor air quality complaint.
You may experience health effects from indoor air pollutants soon after exposure or, even years later.
Immed
iate effects may show up after being exposed initially...or after repeated exposures. These include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Such immediate effects are usually short-term and treatable. Sometimes the treatment is simply eliminating the person's exposure to the source of the pollution, if it can be identified. Symptoms of some diseases, including asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and humidifier fever, may also show up soon after exposure to some indoor air pollutants.
The likelihood of immediate reactions to indoor air pollutants depends on several factors. Age and preexisting medical conditions are two important influences. In other cases, whether a person reacts to a pollutant depends on individual sensitivity, which varies tremendously from person to person. Some people can become sensitized to biological pollutants after repeated exposures, and it appears that some people can become sensitized to chemical pollutants as well.
Certain immediate effects are similar to those from colds or other viral diseases, so it is often difficult to determine if the symptoms are a result of exposure to indoor air pollution. For this reason, it is important to pay attention to the time and place the symptoms occur. If the symptoms fade or go away when a person is away from the home and return when the person returns, an effort should be made to identify indoor air sources that may be possible causes. Some effects may be made worse by an inadequate supply of outdoor air or from the heating, cooling, or humidity conditions prevalent in the home.
Other health effects may show up either years after exposure has occurred or only after long or repeated periods of exposure. These effects, which include some respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer, can be severely debilitating or fatal. It is prudent to try to improve the indoor air quality in your home even if symptoms are not noticeable.
While pollutants commonly found in indoor air are responsible for many harmful effects, there is considerable uncertainty about what concentrations or periods of exposure are necessary to produce specific health problems. People also react very differently to exposure to indoor air pollutants. Further research is needed to better understand which health effects occur after exposure to the average pollutant concentrations found in homes and which occur from the higher concentrations that occur for short periods of time.
Indoor air contaminants are undesirable, occasionally dangerous materials in the air. Indoor air pollution is among the top four environmental health risks. Generally the best method to address this risk is to manage or even get rid of the actual sources of contaminants, and to ventilate a home with clean outside air. The air flow technique may, nevertheless, end up being restricted through weather conditions or unwanted amounts of pollutants included in outdoor air. In the event that these types of steps tend to be inadequate, an air cleaning system might be helpful. Air cleaners are designed to get rid of pollutants from indoor air. Some air cleaning devices are designed to be set up in the ductwork of a home’s central heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system to clean the air in the whole house. Portable space air cleaners may be utilized to clean the air in an individual room or particular places, however they are not designed for whole-house purification. In following blogs, I will inform you of different types of air cleaning devices and how they work.
Indoor Air Pollutants
Pollutants which may have an effect on air quality within the house fall into the following categories:
Air particle matter consists of dirt, cigarette smoke, plant pollen, pet dander, cigarettes smoke, contaminants produced through combustion home appliances such as cooking ovens, as well as particles connected with tiny microorganisms such as dust mites, molds, bacteria, and viruses.
Gaseous contaminants come from combustion procedures. Sources include gas cooking stoves, automobile exhaust, as well as cigarettes smoke. They additionally come from building materials, home furniture, and the use of products such as adhesives, paints, varnishes, cleaning items, and pesticide sprays.
What Kinds of Contaminants Can a good Air Cleaner Remove?
There are a number of types of air cleaners available, each designed to get rid of particular kinds of contaminants.
Particle Elimination
Two kinds of air cleaners can get rid of contaminants through the air — mechanical air filters and electronic air purifiers. Mechanical air filters remove contaminants through capturing them on filter materials. High efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are in this class. Electronic air cleaners such as electrostatic precipitators utilize a procedure called electrostatic attraction to trap charged particles. They pull air through an ionization area where contaminants acquire an electrical charge. The charged particles then build up on a series of flat plates known as a collector that is oppositely charged. Ion generators, or ionizers, disperse charged ions into the air, similar to the electronic air cleaners but without a collector. These ions attach to airborne particles, giving them a charge so that they attach to nearby surfaces such as walls or furniture, or attach to one another and settle faster.
Gaseous Pollutant Elimination
Gas-phase air filter systems remove gases as well as odors by using a substance known as a sorbent, such as activated carbon, that absorbs the contaminants. These types of filter systems are usually designed to remove one or more gaseous pollutants from the airstream that passes through them. Because gas-phase filters are particular to one or a restricted quantity of gaseous contaminants, they will not diffuse concentrations of pollutants for which they were not designed. Some air cleaners with gas-phase filters may rid a portion of the gaseous contaminants and a few of the related hazards temporarily. Nevertheless, none are expected to get rid of all of the gaseous pollutants present in the air of a normal home. For example, carbon monoxide is a dangerous gaseous pollutant which is created whenever any fuel such as gas, oil, kerosene, wood, or charcoal is burned, and it is not easily captured using currently available home gas-phase purification items.
Pollutant Destruction
Some of the air purifiers utilize ultraviolet (UV) light technology designed to destroy pollutants in indoor air. These types of air cleaners are known as ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) cleaners and photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) cleaners. Ozone machines which are sold as air cleaners deliberately create ozone gas, a lung irritant, in order to destroy contaminants.
UVGI purifiers use ultraviolet radiation from UV lamps which may destroy biological pollutants such as viruses, bacteria, allergens, and molds that are airborne or growing on HVAC surfaces , such as found on cooling coils, drain pans, or ductwork. They should be applied with, but not as a replacement for, filtration systems.
PCO cleaners utilize a UV light together with a substance, known as a catalyst, that reacts with the light. They are intended to kill gaseous pollutants by converting them into safe products, but are not really designed to get rid of particulate pollutants.
Ozone machines use UV light or an electrical discharge to intentionally create ozone. Ozone is actually a lung irritant which can trigger adverse health effects. At concentrations that do not exceed public health requirements, ozone offers little impact in getting rid of the majority of indoor air pollutants. Therefore, ozone generators are not always safe and efficient in managing indoor air pollutants. Buyers ought to rather utilize techniques verified to be both safe and effective to decrease pollutant levels, that consist of getting rid of or controlling pollutant sources and increasing outdoor air ventilation.
Go to www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html for more information on ozone machines sold as air cleaners.
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