Indoor Air Quality Strategies for your Building

What We Know About COVID-19
It can spread through respiratory droplets when an infected person talks, coughs or sneezes.

Protect Your Employees
As managers and business owners, we have a responsibility to make a safe work environment. Managing the air quality is an important part in the overall strategy to protect the health of your employees.

There is no “one size fits all” solution to increase the indoor air quality in your facility. Pleune Service Company can assist you and your team to determine the best course of action to address your indoor air quality concerns.

HEPA Filters:

These filters typically filter down to a size of .3 microns (for comparison a human hair is 50 microns) when using high quality HEPA filters. The COVID virus is .125 microns in size, or three times smaller than the best HEPA can filter out. The virus is usually attached to a carrier like the aerosols from a cough or sneeze. Those tend to be larger in size and large enough that some of it might be filtered out.
What you need to know:
• No standard HVAC system can use HEPA filtration. Modifications are necessary in order to accommodate HEPA.
• Restriction of airflow of rooftop equipment is a plausible risk. High filtration means less airflow. The blower has to work harder to push it through the filters. This translates to less capacity in both heating and cooling modes.
• HEPA filters may not be able to be retrofitted into all HVAC systems; however, side stream equipment is available.
• HEPA filters are often delicate and must be handled with care to prevent damage. They must be sealed properly into filter racks.

UV-C Lights:

The letters “UV” relates to the magnetic wavelength spectrum which is known as UltraVoilet light. The “C” is the short wave in the wavelength spectrum. UV-C inactivates viral, bacterial and fungal entities as it passes in front of the lights. The first penetration is roughly 66% effective and with the air recirculating through the equipment, it becomes 99.9% effective after a few cycles.
What you need to know:
• The lights are installed in the blower section of the equipment and are activated anytime the blower is on. The fan needs to run continuously while the space is occupied in order to obtain the best results.
• The bulbs have a usable life of approximately two to three years.
• The wiring is low voltage and the installation is fairly fast.
• Applications: UV-C lights are in-duct air, upper-air and in-duct disinfection.

Bi-polar Ionization:

High voltage electrodes create reactive ions in the air the react with airborne contaminates, including viruses. The ions interact with Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s), bacteria and viruses by disrupting their ability to reproduce and neutralizes them. This method is like ‘fogging” a room with ions as opposed to waiting for the air to travel back up through the equipment.
What you need to know:
• The bulbs need to be replaced every two to three years.
• This device mounts in the systems air stream and it generates both positive and negative ion’s that are then carried into the space by the air movement.
• This is considered new technology and peer review studies do not currently exist. Manufacturer data and claims should be carefully considered.

Contact Pleune Service Company today to find out what air filtration strategy is best for your business.

1-800-447-6907
pleuneservice.com