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Air Quality in the Doctors Office Part 1

Professional Office Building IAQ Study

Allergist Waiting Area

Most Professional Office Buildings are located near a Busy Street, Highway, or Freeway.

Traffic seen through the doctor's office window

Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Air Pollution near the Doctor's Office is caused by Auto and Truck traffic. The greatest concentration of outdoor air pollution PM 2.5 occurs between 8:30 am and 9:00 am each morning when people drive to work.

The Flags shows that the prevailing winds blow the Freeway Air Pollution in the direction of the office building.

How does Outdoor Air Pollution Enter the Building

Outdoor Air Pollution enters the building through the front and rear entrance doors.

State Laws requires outdoor air be brought into the building through an air duct to dilute the CO & CO2 gasses. This fresh air - makeup air represents 10%-20% of all the air in the building. It takes the building MERV 7 air filters 1 - 3 hours to filter the >0.5 micron particle from the morning auto emissions.

This automatic door opener keeps the door open for 20 seconds. Opening this door brings in the car pollution into the building.

Normally building engineers are more concerned about hot humid air being brought into the building than air pollution.

Positive Air Pressure at the Front Door

Positive air pressure at the front door prevents the outdoor air pollution from coming into the building. Tested here with tissue paper. This occurs when the air conditioning / heating system is ON.

Negative Air Pressure at the Front Door

Negative pressure at the front door sucks the outdoor air pollution into the building. In just 20 seconds, the indoor air near the door gets twice as dirty. This occurs when the air conditioning / heating system is OFF.

When the front door and the rear door of this building are open the air tunnels through the building. A lot of air pollution is sucked into the building.

This Delivery Man keeps the front door open. He leaves his truck idleing while he is in the building.

100's of Allergy Patients park in the front of the building and enter through the front door for quick 20 minute allergy shots during the day.

Houston TX Allergy Clinic Waiting Area Indoor Air Quality

Houston TX Allergy Clinic

Those working near freeways breathe the dirtiest air from cars and diesel trucks.

The EPA has an Outdoor Air Monitor near the Allergy Clinic measuring PM 2.5 particles. About 10 days each month the Outdoor Air Quality is pretty bad and the PM2.5 is about 15 micrograms / m3.

Today's Texas Air Quality Forecast

http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/compliance/monitoring/air/monops/forecast_today.html

EPA PM2.5 monitor station Houston, TX

Texas Air Quality PM 2.5

Find out how Clean the Air is at your Clinic http://www.scorecard.org/

There is a direct relationship between the outdoor air quality PM2.5 and the >0.5 micron particles/ft3 particle count in the Allergy Clinic Waiting Area.

MERV 7 Building Air Filters are 10% efficient on >0.5 micron particles.

The Building uses a MERV 7 Polyester - Link Air Filter.

This filter is 40% efficient on particles >1.0 microns. My test data shows that the air filters performed good to excellent even when the air pollution was very high outdoors.

This MERV 7 air filter protects the air conditioning equipment not your lungs.

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MERV 7 Poly-Link Polyester Air Filters

MERV 7 Poly-Link Polyester Air Filters used in most commercial air conditioning systems.

This graph shows that the  MERV 7 Poly-Link Polyester Air Filters used in most commercial air conditioning systems are 40% efficient on >1.0 micron particles and only 10% efficient on >0.5 micron size particles. It takes the building MERV 7 air filters 1 - 3 hours to filter the >0.5 micron particle from the morning auto emissions. This MERV 7 air filter is designed to protect the AC equipment not your lungs.

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Aerodynamic Diameter (micron) > 9.0 6.0 to 9.0 4.6 to 6.0 3.3 to 4.6 2.15 to 3.3 0.41 micron to 2.15 micron	Likely Region of Deposit Filtered by nose Pharynx Trachea / Primary Bronchi Secondary Bronchi Terminal Bronchi Alveoli

Problem to Address

Allergy Clinic needs a better building air filter MERV 8 / 11 or a  portable room air cleaner for those 10 days out of the month when the car emissions from the outdoor air pollution is high. When the building’s air filters do not remove the particles from the air,
the occupant’s lungs become the filter.

TUESDAY 4/22/2008 POOR OUTDOOR AIR QUALITY Outdoors a 12 year old child would breath in 10,009 asthma trigger particles in each breath @ >0.5 microns reaching the Alveoli. Reading 10009 x 100 = Outdoor Air Quality is 1,000,900 particles / ft3 > 0.5 micron size

The data shows that on >0.5 microns lung damaging dust size particles that the air quality in the doctor's office was Poor to Fair Monday through Friday.

The data shows that on Saturday with very little traffic the >0.5 microns air quality in the doctor's office was Very Good.

	TUESDAY 4/22/2008 POOR Indoor Air Quality Waiting Area Reading 1533 x 100 = 153,300 particles/ft3 @ >0.5 MICRON
	SATURDAY 4/26/2008 (No car traffic) VERY GOOD Indoor Air Quality Waiting Area Reading 137 x 100 = 13,700 particles/ft3 @ >0.5 MICRON

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Houston TX Allergy Clinic Waiting Area Air was tested Monday through Saturday at ~ 9:00 AM. There is a direct relationship between Higher Outdoor Pollution and Higher Indoor Pollution for Particles >0.5 Micron in size.

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Indoor Air Quality Data for Houston TX Allergy Clinic

>0.5 micron particles / ft3 &

>1.0 micron particles / ft3

DAY	IAQ RATING	MONDAY 4/21/2008	TUESDAY 4/22/2008	WEDNESDAY 4/23/2008	THURSDAY 4/24/2008	FRIDAY 4/25/2008	SATURDAY 4/26/2008
INDOOR AIR QUALITY @ >0.5 MICRON LUNG DAMAGING DUST		FAIR-POOR IAQ 99,000 @ >0.5 MICRON	POOR IAQ 153,300 @ >0.5 MICRON	FAIR IAQ 89,700 @ >0.5 MICRON	FAIR IAQ 41,100 @ >0.5 MICRON	FAIR IAQ 54,800 @ >0.5 MICRON	VERY GOOD 13,700 @ >0.5 MICRON
INDOOR AIR QUALITY @ >1.0 MICRON		VERY GOOD 3100 @ >1.0 MICRON	GOOD 7600@ >1.0 MICRON	EXCELLENT 2100 @ >1.0 MICRON	VERY GOOD 2900 @ >1.0 MICRON	VERY GOOD 4600 @ >1.0 MICRON	EXCELLENT 1000 @ >1.0 MICRON

Indoor Air Quality in the Doctor's Office Part 2

AMERICAN ALLERGY SUPPLY HOME PAGE | IAQ

06/01/2008