Published Articles

Articles Originaly Published in Indoor Environment Connections (With the Permission of OEHCS)

May 2006:

HVAC Humidifier Contamination in Unsold Homes

Excerpt:

It is well known that commercial and institutional HVAC humidification systems require acceptable water quality to function properly. Many of these systems use steam that is generated from filtered deionized water. In homes, however, proper water quality for humidifiers is not as well controlled and can be a significant health issue. The health literature contains numerous cases of "humidifier fever" in residential and commercial buildings. This is generally a health condition caused by exposure to various bacteria, endotoxins and fungi that are found in humidifier water reservoirs, air conditioning system evaporator coil drip pans, and even some aquariums. Recently, we were called in on what might be considered the worst-case scenario for residential humidifier water quality. The factors that created this scenario are not uncommon, and it disturbs us greatly that cases like this might be occurring nationwide. There is an old saying, "A rolling stone gathers no moss." However, an unused water supply inside a vacant house can grow all kinds of things.

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December 2006:

The Winter Solstice and the Future of IAQA

Excerpt:

The winter solstice is celebrated by most cultures today as a religious holiday. Historically, this time of year was celebrated as the start of a new solar cycle that eventually brought warmer days, spring rains and, hopefully, bumper crops. Each year, we use this time to reflect on what we have accomplished and what we hope to see in the coming year. The start of a new year brings new opportunities for the field of indoor air quality. There are many challenges and unanswered questions still facing this industry. As a result. There are a number of things we, as IAQ consultants, would like to see happen in the IAQ industry during 2007 to address these challenges.
Often heard at this time of year, the song "Twelve Days of Christmas" lists a dozen gifts. In that spirit, here are 12 gifts for the IAQ industry that we would like to see materialize in 2007. We would love to see consulting firms, laboratories and trade associations working together to make some of these wishes come true

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February 2007:

QUANTIFYING BACTERIA LEVELS IN CATEGORY 1, 2 & 3 WATER

Excerpt:

In any water intrusion situation, typically, one of the most important questions to answer is: What was the quality of the intruding water? The IICRC S500 "Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Water Damage Restoration" contains qualitative, descriptive definitions of intruding water, dividing the substance into three categories.

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INTER-LABORATORY VARIABILITY IN SPORE TRAP ANALYSIS

Excerpt:

The two main methods used for microbial air sampling today are culturable and total spore air samples. The culturable method, which collects spores on an agar plate, has been used for over 150 years. Similarly, spore impingement on a glass slide dates back to the 1870s. For each of these sampling methods, the samples are analyzed by a laboratory and a trained microscopist.

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October 2007:

ARE YOUR HEPA FILTERS DOING WHAT YOU EXPECT THEM TO?

Excerpt:

The term HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) Filter usually instills a level of comfort and confidence in those in the asbestos. lead, mold and radon remediation industries. HEPAs can be found in our AFDs (Air Filtration Devices) often used as air scrubbers and NAMs (Negative Air Machines), HEPA vacuums and even in our respirator filters. Basically, we use them anywhere that contaminated air is being moved. However, we recently found one instance where the HEPAs were the remediator's worst enemy !

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November 2007:

A Large Scale Study of Real World Comparisons

Excerpt:

In theApril, 2007 issue of IE Connections, we presented the results of a research study on the Inter-laboratory Variability in Spore Trap Analysis. That research study involved seven differentAIHA EMPAT- “proficient laboratories reviewing the same four spore trap slides collected in a mold-contaminated condo. A comparison of the laboratory analysis showed significant variability of at least 50-75 percent in the reported spore counts.

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June 2009:

Draft IESO Standard for Testing HEPA Filtered Devices

Excerpt:

Since their development many years ago, most users of portable air filtration devices equipped with HEPA filters had the impression that these devices filtered air at near HEPA filtration efficiency. However, in actual use, this is more an exception than actual practice.

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October 2009:

Indoor Air Quality Standards- Historical Data Research Project

Excerpt:

Indoor air quality standards are not new. They have been in existence for over 150 years. The first indoor air quality standard was developed by German scientist Peter Koffer. His standard targeted carbon monoxide. The reason this gas was targeted had to do with the technology used for indoor lighting at that time.

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January 2010:

Assessing The Cancer Risk of Indoor Environments

Excerpt:

The indoor environment is host to many actual and perceived ills including allergies, asthma, headache, fatigue and others. There are also concerns regarding the presence of cancer-causing chemicals that can increase an occupant's risk of contracting cancer. There are various estimates of the percent of cancers that are environmentally-related. These estimates range from a low of 4% to a high of 30%.

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PHEAF TRAINING SESSIONS START WITH A HISTORY

Excerpt:

In a number of my previous articles, I have discussed the history behind mold, bacteria and indoor air quality standards. Technical history has always fascinating to me, especially when it shows that we used to know something and then somehow forgot it. The history of PHEAF device testing follows the same pattern. We might think that counting particles to test the efficiency of a HEPA filter is a new idea. In fact, the methodology has been in practice for over 50 years at NASA and the US Navy.

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May 2010

HEPA Filtered Air Filtration Equipment may not be HEPA Filtered

Excerpt:

I recently attended the EIA meeting in LV. During this meeting, there was a very interesting presentation on in field testing of HEPA filters that are used on mold, asbestos, lead and other abatement projects.

The first published article justifying the need for in-field testing of asbestos abatement HEPA filters was published in 1990 by the National Asbestos Council. Clearly, this 'historical' article was prophetic. For the past 3 years, the requirement for in-field testing of HEPA filtered air moving equipment has been written into project designs for asbestos abatement projects in northern California. This requirement was an outgrowth of the problems with naturally-occurring asbestos that was identified in California a number of years ago. After all, serpentine asbestos is the California State rock.

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ARTICLES ORIGINALY PUBLISHED IN MYCOLOGIA IN PRESS (With the permission of OEHCS)

June 2010

A MULTI LABORATORY COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SPORE TRAP ANALYSES

Excerpt:

Fungal spore trap analyses currently are being marketed to the medical and environmental industries as a means of evaluating fungal bioaerosols. No studies comparing the results of these analyses have been conducted among laboratories providing these services. In the current study we compared the results from seven such laboratories with four different commercial spore trap cassettes with samples from four environmental conditions. The conditions included indoor air from a single location in a building under low, moderate and high agitation, and a sample from outside the same building.

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July 2011

Comparison of In-Field Efficiency of 3 Different Types of Portable HEPA filter Equipment by Laser Particle Counter, Condensation Particle Counter and Light Microscopy Particle Counting.

Excerpt:

This study was conducted in April 2010 at OEHCS's facility in Las Vegas. The test chamber was specifically constructed to collect only the exhaust air from the PHEAF devices being evaluated.

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