Indoor air quality receives more focus in pandemic era

Mar. 6—Although deep cleaning has always been part of spring for many, the past year has made the concept of a clean home or working environment even more important. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there has been more emphasis placed on limiting the spread of airborne particles, routine cleaning of surfaces and even requests for more services having to do with indoor air quality.

Roy Layes, installation manager of B&L Heating and Air Conditioning in Stillwater, said there has been more demand for upgraded indoor air quality, as well as other requests such as UV lighting in ductwork, during the course of the pandemic.

"Dentist offices have bought a lot of the UV lights and different filtering systems because of the pandemic," Layes said. "We went all over the state for one dentist who had 10 or 12 different locations and we put UV lights in those locations. We've done a lot of that for residential customers, also."

UV lighting in a filtration system can help prevent the build up of microbes of viruses, and can help better prevent viruses such as COVID-19.

"The lower the concentration, the less likely some of those viral particles can be inhaled into your lungs; contact your eyes, nose, and mouth; or fall out of the air to accumulate on surfaces," according to the Centers for Disease Control. "Protective ventilation practices and interventions can reduce the airborne concentration, which reduces the overall viral dose to occupants."

Many newer homes are built with higher quality of air filtration, and some older homes have received retrofitting to improve indoor air quality.

Macy Devereaux with Advantage Heating and Cooling in Stillwater, said during the beginning of the pandemic, some customers expressed concerns with having workers coming to homes to do repairs. She said people were very concerned, but that Advantage has taken extra precautions during the pandemic such as wearing face coverings, routine sanitation and social distancing.

Deveraux said Advantage has also had a lot of requests for UV lighting in a duct system. She said it would be wrong for a guarantee to be made such as those improvements killing the coronavirus, but that they do provide a more definitive cleaning to ductwork.

"We've seen a lot of UV lights go in," Deveraux said. "We have a few different ones. We have the iWave, which I just learned last week that those are in the U.S. Capitol. We are a Lennox dealer, and they have a product called the Pure Air, and that fits in your system and it's a full filtration system. So the air goes through it and it cleans the air. The clean air then goes through all the ducts. They are put there by the return, so everything that goes in there gets cleaned. So it's going through your ductwork and not dirtying up your ducts.

"We've seen a lot of that. There's so many different products out there, and none of them make promises. But there are a lot of good options that will take care of people's allergies. There's a couple out there that do say they kill the coronavirus. We would never say, 'Oh, it's guaranteed to kill COVID,' but there are some out there with a really good chance that they will kill the virus."

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, increased indoor air quality with proper ventilation can help with the spread of airborne viruses such as COVID-19. But proper ventilation doesn't wholly stop the spread of the virus. The best way to mitigate the spread of the virus even with optimal indoor air quality is still through the use of masks, social distancing and proper hand washing and surface cleaning, according to the EPA.

There are ways to also improve the natural ventilation of a home or business. According to the CDC, the following ventilation improvements may include the following:

—Increase outdoor air ventilation, using caution in highly polluted areas.

—When weather conditions allow, increase fresh outdoor air by opening windows and doors. Do not open windows and doors if doing so poses a safety or health risk (e.g., risk of falling, triggering asthma symptoms) to occupants in the building.

—Use fans to increase the effectiveness of open windows. To safely achieve this, fan placement is important and will vary based on room configuration. Avoid placing fans in a way that could potentially cause contaminated air to flow directly from one person over another. One helpful strategy is to use a window fan, placed safely and securely in a window, to exhaust room air to the outdoors. This will help draw fresh air into room via other open windows and doors without generating strong room air currents.

—Decrease occupancy in areas where outdoor ventilation cannot be increased.

—Ensure ventilation systems operate properly and provide acceptable indoor air quality for the current occupancy level for each space.

—Increase airflow to occupied spaces when possible.

—Open outdoor air dampers beyond minimum settings to reduce or eliminate HVAC air recirculation. In mild weather, this will not affect thermal comfort or humidity. However, this may be difficult to do in cold, hot, or humid weather.

—Improve central air filtration: — Increase air filtration as high as possible without significantly reducing design airflow. — Inspect filter housing and racks to ensure appropriate filter fit and check for ways to minimize filter bypass. — Check filters to ensure they are within their service life and appropriately installed.