Impacts of Air Cleaners on Indoor Air Quality in Residences Impacted by Wood Smoke

[Emily]

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es503144h

Impacts of Air Cleaners on Indoor Air Quality in Residences Impacted by Wood Smoke
Amanda J. Wheeler, Mark D. Gibson, Morgan MacNeill, Tony J. Ward, Lance A. Wallace, James Kuchta, Matt Seaboyer, Ewa Dabek-Zlotorzynska, Judith Read Guernsey, and David M. Stieb
Environmental Science & Technology
Residential wood combustion is an important source of ambient air pollution, accounting for over 25% of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions in Canada. In addition to these ambient contributions, wood smoke pollutants can enter the indoor environment directly when loading or stoking stoves, resulting in a high potential for human exposure. A study of the effectiveness of air cleaners at reducing wood smoke-associated PM2.5 of indoor and outdoor origin was conducted in 31 homes during winter 2009?10. Day 1, the residents? wood burning appliance operated as usual with no air cleaner. Days 2 and 3, the wood burning appliance was not operational and the air cleaner was randomly chosen to operate in ?filtration? or ?placebo filtration? mode. When the air cleaner was operating, total indoor PM2.5 levels were significantly lower than on placebo filtration days (p = 0.0001) resulting in a median reduction of 52%. There was also a reduction in the median PM2.5 infiltration factor from 0.56 to 0.26 between these 2 days, suggesting the air cleaner was responsible for increased PM2.5 deposition on filtration days. Our findings suggest that the use of an air cleaner reduces exposure to indoor PM2.5 resulting from both indoor and ambient wood smoke sources.

 

[AnnaLisa]

Re: Impacts of Air Cleaners on Indoor Air Quality in Residences Impacted by Wood Smoke

Good to hear this! We were hoping the HEPAs would allow me to keep my wood heat while allowing my grandson to have clean air.

 

[Emily]

Re: Impacts of Air Cleaners on Indoor Air Quality in Residences Impacted by Wood Smoke

AnnaLisa, the conditions in the study may not replicate the conditions in your home and guarantee that your air supply is safe for your grandson. (Or that your neighbor's air is safe.)

They just note that those particulates studied, (one component of wood smoke pollution), were reduced. How polluted the air remains is relative to the smoke/hepa filter ratio. Health impacts can vary with the status of individuals exposed, and duration of exposure.