During the upcoming wild fire season, it’s important to take the necessary precautions to keep your indoor space healthy. Fire smoke can enter your building, negatively affecting your indoor air quality. This results in health issues for the people inside. When outdoor air becomes unhealthy to breathe, it’s important to insure that the indoor air quality is free of health damaging particulate matter.
Wildfire Affects Air Quality
It’s well known that wildfire smoke has negative effects on your health. These fires burn materials that cause particles and gases to contaminate the air we breathe. These particulates can enter our body and cause major health concerns, both long-term and short-term. When these particles enter your building, it drastically lowers your indoor air quality, however, there are steps you can take to help decrease the pollution to your air inside, keeping your indoor air quality healthy.
How Outdoor Air Enters Your Building
With the wildfire season approaching, it’s important to know where the particles enter your building. Common entrances for particulates are through natural ventilation, mechanical ventilation, and air leakage.
- Natural Ventilation
- This entrance introduces lower quality outside air into the building through windows and doors.
- Mechanical Ventilation
- This is common when outside air is introduced through HVAC systems incorporating fresh air into the building. This setup became more common during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because outside air helps dilute the contaminated indoor air. However, during a wildfire, you do not want outside air inside your building because of the health damaging particulates.
- Also, outside air can enter your facility through vent fans, etc.
- Air Leakage
- This is where contaminated air/particulates enter your building through window cracks and door cracks or any small openings.
By knowing how polluted air can enter your building, you can take the necessary actions to help remediate these issues.
How To Increase Indoor Air Quality
Be sure to keep windows and doors closed at all times to keep wildfire smoke and polluted air out of your building. Upgrading your air filters and using air purifiers can help increase the indoor air quality. Activated carbon air filters can help reduce odors cause from smoke and help make your air feel cleaner. As mentioned in a previous post, wildfire smoke can affect gas turbines and power plants. If you have an air handler that needs carbon filtration products, we offer activated carbon vbank filters, activated carbon vbank socks and cubes, and activated carbon air filtration rolls and media. If you require a custom solution, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Advanced Filtration Concepts offers HVAC services that help you achieve the best in clean air.
Airthinx Indoor Air Quality Monitor
If you’re looking for a tool to measure indoor air quality, take a peak at the airthinx indoor air quality monitor. This tool provides real time data on IAQ. It measures the following:
- Particulates
- VOC
- CO2
- CH2O
- Air Pressure
- Humidity
It gives you real time measurements so you can take action to increase the health of your building. Healthy indoor air quality is important, not just during wildfires, but at all times.
Conclusion
Wildfires are terrible and we try our best to prevent them, but sometimes, they just happen. They cause destruction to anything in it’s path, as well as, contaminate the air for miles and miles around it. Using quality air filtration products and taking steps to seal off ventilation and leakages can help keep your indoor air quality healthy. If you have any questions on how to better equip your building with the necessary filtration products, please don’t hesitate to contact us.