Canadian Wildfires Rage and Engulf NYC
We live in a Passive House and are fortunate to have fantastic air quality. One of the ways great air quality is achieved in our house is with an energy recovery ventilation system. This is built into our HVAC system which pumps fresh air into the house twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. When potential clients and friends ask us about how to optimize air quality, we always say “open the windows” which is something that we also do.
Unfortunately, last week opening the windows was not an option.
A cough-inducing, yellow-orange haze smothered New York City and created hazardous conditions caused by smoke blown from hundreds of Canadian wildfires. We were literally breathing pieces of burnt trees or carbon particles some of which are microscopic and burrow into the lungs. We found ourselves caught in a quandary navigating what to do. Afterall, our mechanical device would still be pumping fresh air into the house even with all the windows closed.
Fortunately, we have a monitor which measures the following:
Temperature: (64-77 degrees ideal)
Humidity: (40-50 percent recommended)
Carbon Dioxide: CO2 (400-600 ppm: parts per million)
Volatile Organic Compounds VOC’s: (0-333 ppb: parts per billion) toxic chemicals found in cleaning supplies and building materials
Particulate Matter: PM2.5 (0-15 micrograms per meter ug/m3) microscopic particles including carbon from smoke
The above items are measured constantly and result in a rating from 100 (perfect air quality) to 0.
A healthy house will score from 80-100.
What we did find out from our monitor was this particulate matter was beyond measure. No surprise since particulate matter includes carbon, and it was carbon from the fires that had turned the air color orange, and the air quality hazardous.
Our house, which typically scores in the 90’s, plummeted to the low 70’s when the debris from the devastating forest fires hit New York City. On any other day when our score goes lower than 90, we open a window, but last week we didn’t have that luxury.
Every household has a filter in its heating and cooling system, and the effectiveness of those filters varies. Our filter has a high rating and traps up to 85% of the particulate matter from the fires. We also turned our fan on (which blows the outside air through the filter) to its highest setting. Within several hours our score climbed back into the 80’s.
Awair is linked to your iphone and enables remote monitoring.
Not all of our clients elect to build a passive house and incorporate the items that result in healthy air. But there are simple solutions that any homeowner or apartment dweller can do without construction:
Make sure that the filter in your air supply unit is a high caliber (MERV 8-13) and is changed every three months.
Invest in a filtered vacuum cleaner; Dyson’s Gen5 Detect, for instance, uses a filter superior to the one in our house to filter dust, carbon, and mold.
When cooking, make sure your vent is on. Even the simplest cooking results in carbon particles in the air and venting is essential.
Invest in a supplemental air purifier and humidifier. Our choice again is Dyson’s Purifier Humidify + Cool Autoreact which allows you to manually set humidity levels.
On days when the air quality is good, open the windows!