If you found this interview helpful, you can help support us in 3 main ways: 1) Subscribe to this channel (its free / one click): bit.ly/UA-camMedCram 2) Visit us at MedCram.com for ALL our videos including CME / CE credits for medical professionals 3) If you use social media/Reddit, please consider sharing on those channels, or just tell a friend - thank you!
I am part of a community group that built two PC Fan Corsi Rosenthal boxes for every classroom in our local elementary school . We also provided flyers with information on how to increase natural ventilation. After the first semester, the teachers gushed about how much of a difference they saw not only in reduced absences due to illness, but also in the kiddos' alertness. 🙌 An immunocompromised teacher was also very grateful because it helped her come to work with less risk of serious illness.
I love this! Indoor air quality is such an underrated aspect of healthy living. As a piano teacher I have to share a building with other music teachers with each of us in tiny rooms with little ventilation. The priority is sound insulation so leaving the door open isn’t an option. Air purifiers and houseplants are a must! I heard a brilliant saying from the UK back in 2020 that didn’t seem to catch on as much here in the US: “hands, face, space, ventilate” (wash your hands frequently, cover your cough or wear a mask, avoid crowded places or practice social distancing, and crack those windows!). It’s that fourth part that nobody is aware of. I live in San Francisco so it can get a little cold but it’s never freezing. I don’t know how many times in the last couple years I’ve walked into a business and asked why the door isn’t propped open. The response is usually confusion and I’m asked if I’m feeling too hot. There’s also a lot a simple fan can do for just moving the air around. Placement is key! I used to think putting it near a window facing out (to somehow suck the bad air out) but according to experts there’s a better way. If you put a small fan on the far side of the room pointed towards the center of the room you can get more movement of the air in the room. It changes the air in room more! Keeping any windows cracked as much as possible and leaving doors open is crucial. When others complain that they’re cold and shut doors/windows I’m always tempted to tell them to wear more clothes or stop being so sedentary. People aren’t so concerned with clean indoor air unfortunately.
Love this! Sad that it took a pandemic to encourage us to think about indoor air quality and its impact on our health/performance. But hopefully we'll start giving the air we breathe as much attention as we do the water we drink.
As a person who loves to eat, and cook, I have always been horrified and disappointed by kitchen exhaust fans in residential homes. When remodeling we put in a properly sized fan and the air is so much better. I wanted to be able to move the area above the stove, and in front of my face about 30sqft within a few seconds, for those times when cooking gets smoky. It can run lower most of the cooking time, but can get kicked up in an instant. My husband thought I was crazy to have such a big unit installed, but finally my food tastes great, and my lungs feel good. When it’s wildfire smoke season we just boil and steam, on electric, so all the cooking pollutants are contained in water and fall out of the air more quickly, and we don’t get oil in our lungs when we are relying on a smaller, more closed filter system.
I'm still a huge fan of open windows (grew up in Europe). My windows are almost always open between May and October (I live in a mid-Atlantic state) and during the cold season I still open up all windows for 20 min or so every day. Nothing can beat the fragrance of fresh air.
Thank you for this topic. Although I have no degree I am an expert at indoor air quality as 35 years ago I contracted MCS. Multiple chemical sensitivity. If you live in a small space with many people your air quality will be compromised faster as the co2 is way too high. Your home does not create oxygen unless you live in a greenhouse. We breath in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. The rate of air exchange will not keep up with the mounting co2. That stale smell in your bedroom in the morning…..not good, open your windows if you can. I live in Ottawa and experienced my first super toxic air from our fires. Not only do i have a hepa filtration on my furace I own an IQAir stand alone hepa filter which saved me big time. We had days of over 400 and our air is usually under 40. The only negative to the stand alone units and they are noisy. The one on my furnace is not, just the furnace fan. Use California standard offgassing standards on your indoor products….floors, cupboards furniture etc. Wilfire smoke is a big problem. Good guest info🇨🇦🙏. Also the best killer of viruses is ultra violet. You can get tubes to add to the filtration system. I had this in another home and no flu passed around the family very often
I appreciated this great discussion. Very enlightening. I disagree with the point about HVAC pressurizing a building though. That can't be done without bringing in fresh air. If there's smoke in the air, you don't want that. If the outdoor air is healthy, you do. But, few homes have been designed to control air intake and pressure. If your house is pressurizing from your HVAC, realize that air is coming from outside somewhere in the system - very possibly your attic if you have returns running through it and they have leakage because it's outside the house envelope.
3m Filtrete (1500 = MERV 12. 1900 = MERV 13). I make a sheet metal border filter retainer square around the intake grill on the front of the window AC unit so the air that is sucked into the unit must go through the filter. Example: Start with a 1 or 1.5 inch flat piece of thin sheet metal. Measure the outer dimensions of the intake grill for a good fit. Make a 90 degree bends in the border retainer so the filter is a tight fit. Cut a .5 inch at the corners so the border can bend around for a 90 degree corners. Then drill (carefully) small holes in corner to attach small screws to the retainer (or duck tape). Buy the biggest filter at the box store so you can to cut multiple filter for economics. Use tin snips or aviation snips to cut the filters. Done this for years. [ ]
I have a 7 month old baby in the house, and I live where wildfires occur perennially, so I have a Honeywell hepa filter just like the one pictured. We got it last year when I was pregnant and I replace the filters frequently. Our bedroom has 2 adults, 1 baby, and 2 dogs who all sleep in there, so we always either open the window or open the door to keep CO2 buildup low. Air quality permitting, we love to throw all the windows open.
I am just building a smart house system with fresh air intake controlled by co2 sensors, as well as automatic wildfire season air filters. Thank you so much for sharing this information, it will help me greatly understand the topic!
It's interesting you mentioned the charge depletion in electrostatic filter media. I once did an experiment with an N95 mask, a vacuum cleaner, and a culinary smoke gun during the height of covid because I had the same thought. It's true that sucking smoke through the mask quickly caused the mask to visibly start passing smoke through the media after it got saturated. But I also own a small Van De Graff generator that can recharge the media after placing the mask on the charging sphere for a few minutes (a nice side-effect of the process is that it also caused tiny corona discharges all throughout the plastic fibers that generated localized ozone and that did a really good job of killing viruses and bacteria that may have been inside the filter). It was able to trap additional particles afterward. I started recharging my 3M electrostatic mask after coming back from work everyday until I felt that breathability started becoming impacted or it had become too soiled.
Thanks for airing this (pun intended). Maybe next time you could include a section on which house plants are most effective in helping with AQ - I know there's been a reassessment of some plants, and (living in a home that sometimes measures high levels of CO2 when external air isn't advised) how to manage any carbon sequestration that plants might provide.
My central AC has a 5" MERV 16 filter along with two UV lights, one for the evaporator to prevent mold and one for the air passing through the manifold. I leave the fan on most of the day to circulate the air through the filter and UV light.
I cook outside as much as possible and have install a cooktop vent that vents to the outside and also brings in fresh air while the vent is turned on. I have a whole house fan and need to design a system that allows me to install a furnace filter on the windows to trap all the dust being sucked in by the whole house fan. I also bought back in 2018 P100 mask to filter out the wild fire smoke that was very heavy in 2018 in the west. These filters worked and were wonderful during the covid time too. Replacement filters were hard to get during covid, so buy now.
We have 2 Air Doctor 3000 air filters that do a good job. First one was for my wife's art studio to deal with VOCs. As well as it worked, we got a second one to move around.
There's also the particles emitted from furniture. Especially harmful, is the water proof protectant. I run a 20 x 20 box fan, with a 20x20x1 furnace filter sucked up to it. Low setting. It cuts alot of dust. Now I double it.
Home and even older commercial HVACS may not be able to handle MERV 11 or 13. Another portable option is the DIY Corsi Rosenthal box. Designed and tested by scientists Corsi and Rosenthal. They were thinking mostly of schools that needed cheaper but effective to reduce could risk in classrooms, but it's good at home, too.
Ikea has an air monitor for less than $100. For CO2, the only way to address that is ventilation. Air cleaners and MERV filters won't address that. I have an Awair air monitor and I open my windows whenever the CO2 gets high. Open windows brings up the PM in house, but using the monitor, I can manage that and only keep the windows open long enough to bring down the CO2.
Dear MedCram team, I am following this channel since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it helped me to understand medical issue way better. Can you make a video regarding immuno therapy for the cancer treatment. Thanks for the knowledge you share....
How does one know if they have a VOC problem? How would one measure VOCs to know whether they need a carbon filter? I live in the desert Southwest where opening windows in summer with 115+ degrees is impossible. What would be suggested in my case? We have a heat pump air conditioner/ heater. Thank you for this informative video😊
0:17: 💨 Indoor air quality is crucial for our health and productivity, but often overlooked. 9:26: ⚙ Using higher grade filters like Merv 13 can make the system work harder, but there's a point of diminishing returns when it comes to respiratory pathogens. 18:50: 🌬 It is recommended to have four to six air changes per hour in a typical home, but most homes in the US only get half an air change per hour. 28:23: ⚡ The speaker emphasizes the importance of saving energy while also prioritizing human health, and provides examples of buildings that have achieved both goals. Recap by Tammy AI
Carpet type, flooring type, is also important. Some cut loop carpet will absorb particulates, and bare flooring causes particulates to bounce. Also what about ionizers. Pulverized coal, fluidized coal power plants with mercury scrubbers and other cleaners can be like autos: the air coming out of a properly mantained catalytic exhaust system can clean dirty air. Fossil fuels are good, with good plants, bigger plants. Natural gas is also clean.
If the fans sold for home ventilation had larger motors, more efficient motors, they would have the energy to handle a HEPA filter. Since so many people get sick from infections acquired from their household members, it would seem prudent to have more durable fans installed in homes and buildings, and home improvement stores like Home Depot and Loews.
Wanted to add that if it wasn't clear the maximum MERV rating a furnace can handle is specific to the furnace. Maybe there is new information but my understanding was the safe maximum was MERV 11 unless otherwise specified by the furnace manufacture. I personally opted for a new furnace which can handle MERV 16 filters.
This was an excellent discussion, I still have questions, please see my comment about attack rates or infectivity rates of some airborne infectious diseases.
I would think any green plant, but my choice is any leafy green ones. They take in Carbon Dioxide during the day and give off Oxygen. At night though, they take in Oxygen and give off CO2, so best to keep out of the bedroom. 🙂
None, that's a myth that's been disproven. The original study was flawed because the number of plants required would need to basically fill the entire space.
I would love to use Merv 13 filters, but I am under the impression they’re too hard on typical home air-conditioning units. And could lead to expensive breakdowns and higher electric bills. No?
I wish medcram would do a series on mold & mycotoxins. There's so much misinformation out there. I hear parents of young children blaming their behavioral issues on mold, for example. I wish there were trusted sources for the layman to turn to.
All great advice, but regular filters should be changed at least every 3 months, not 6-12 months, as that's way too long, and the filter will be plugged.
Particle filters can be hoovered or tapped clean, depending on the filter, a good few times before they need changing. Active carbon filters need changing regularly.
How many Air Changes per Hour if the room is 500 Square Feet and has a variable number of people? Presumably a room that is a classroom or a dinning room with dinner guests needs more air changes per hour, and more ventilation. How does one factor in population density and shift from not shut considering Cubic feet per Minute or sizing an air purifier for a room based on square footage of the room to calculating it to include the attack rate of some airborne infectious diseases. For example suppose on of the six people at the dinner table in the 500 square foot room has COVID, or Influenza with an attack rate of 2. Or suppose it was measles in a classroom with an attack rate of 15. If tidal volume is 500cc, Respiratory Rate is 20 breaths per minute =10,000 cc =10 Liters per minute, X 60 = 600 Liter per Hour X number of people in the Room, roughly. But when one thinks about the concentration of virus particles being exhaled or coughed or sneezed, and I try to factor that into ACH or CADR, for the room size and the CFM of the fan , assuming high quality filters, I'm still puzzled as to how much CFM in an air purifier system is needed to significantly reduce the spread of airborne infectious disease with whatever the infectivity rate is for the virus in question.
Yep! If you switch the fan from "auto" to "on" and replace the HVAC filter (usually default merv 8) with a merv 13 filter, the fan will filter air through it continuously.
Outdoor air quality can exponentially multiply the indoor air quality due to air duct leaks. Use a thermal gun and find the thermal difference. There are 10 different things ive noticied. 1. Due to every election cycle its just a coincidence that the freon changes
Every year or so we get sand/dust from North Africa (Sahara desert) settling on our cars even here in Poland 😨 So yeah, sometimes you cannot escape the pollution even from very far away...
1) LOVE his enthusiasm! 🥰 "the MAJORITY of your exposure to outdoor air actually occurs INDOORS!" YES! More and more people are starting to realize the quality of the air we breathe affects us NOT just today but takes a toll on our health over DECADES, as well! Gotta control and clean that indoor air!👍 2) That said, I 100% DISAGREE WITH HIS OPINION THAT YOU DISREGARD ANY AIR PURIFIER THAT FILTERS BETTER THAN HEPA! He is assuming ALL the Air purifiers on the market that say "HEPA" on the box actually perform at a HEPA Level. OVER 90% of the 'HEPA Air purifiers' on the market DO NOT perform at a HEPA LEVEL, IMO - because the industry is NOT regulated closely for HEPA performance. He, like the vast majority of people on YT assume all these air purifiers filter the same - it is NOT TRUE! The IQAir HealthPro Plus filters BETTER than HEPA and so does the Aeris 3 in 1 and maybe even the Airpura Super HEPA filters. 3) OVER 90% of the particles in the air we breathe are SMALLER than HEPA + the MOST DANGEROUS particles we breathe are SMALLER than HEPA. They are called "UltraFine Particles" - this has been confirmed by the CDC and WHO and many other air quality organizations throughout the world and I am actually kind of shocked he doesn't realize/know about this. 4) CADR ratings are also NOT to be trusted. DO NOT base your air purification purchase on CADR Ratings... Some of the best air purifiers on the market do NOT have CADR Ratings. 😀
Winix 5500 and Coway Mighty are 2 decent air purifiers for particles @ $200 and less. I have used a Winix 5500 for 6 years in my son's room but just also bought the new version of the 5500 and a new Mighty as I will be doing reviews of them in the coming weeks. They cannot filter ultrafine particles as well as, the elite, more expensive units (IQAir) but they are a really good value for the money, I think.@@sl4983
I have an. April’s Air whole house system. These ware not cheap filters but never had on last a year 3 to 6 months even Merve 13. . What if your house is open in black which is 3/4 or 1025suare feet but the upstairs you can win up several upstairs. Built in 1985.
25:56 - - *Joseph Allen - - Dir. Harvard Healthy Buildings Program • Assoc Professor of Exposure Assessment Science* 25:32 - - outdoor-to-indoor air question (at odds w energy conservation?) 27:33 - - *WHERE DOES HE THINK THE GRID GETS IT'S ENERGY ???* (27:47) - - "all electric" buildings + cars *GET THEIR ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS* Click *...more* (above in header) for complete drop-down menu of topics w time-stamps.🙂
Really quite obvious that the Dr. is just repeating talking points he repeats all day, without really listening to your questions. Always sad when otherwise informative experts have been basically overused to that level.
@@addiecoelman1996 I disagree, i think he/she is adding something to the discussion. I agree with the observation, which is something we see in many fields regarding health. It is as though when a question is asked, they rummage around and find the recording the nearest to an answer, and press play. Mentioning it will help everyone involved understand how they are being perceived, they are then free to acknowledge it, or not, and make an effort to overcome it, or not.
If you found this interview helpful, you can help support us in 3 main ways:
1) Subscribe to this channel (its free / one click): bit.ly/UA-camMedCram
2) Visit us at MedCram.com for ALL our videos including CME / CE credits for medical professionals
3) If you use social media/Reddit, please consider sharing on those channels, or just tell a friend - thank you!
I am part of a community group that built two PC Fan Corsi Rosenthal boxes for every classroom in our local elementary school . We also provided flyers with information on how to increase natural ventilation. After the first semester, the teachers gushed about how much of a difference they saw not only in reduced absences due to illness, but also in the kiddos' alertness. 🙌 An immunocompromised teacher was also very grateful because it helped her come to work with less risk of serious illness.
This awesome to hear...cheers to you & your proactive team!😍🎉🕊
I love this! Indoor air quality is such an underrated aspect of healthy living. As a piano teacher I have to share a building with other music teachers with each of us in tiny rooms with little ventilation. The priority is sound insulation so leaving the door open isn’t an option. Air purifiers and houseplants are a must!
I heard a brilliant saying from the UK back in 2020 that didn’t seem to catch on as much here in the US: “hands, face, space, ventilate” (wash your hands frequently, cover your cough or wear a mask, avoid crowded places or practice social distancing, and crack those windows!). It’s that fourth part that nobody is aware of. I live in San Francisco so it can get a little cold but it’s never freezing. I don’t know how many times in the last couple years I’ve walked into a business and asked why the door isn’t propped open. The response is usually confusion and I’m asked if I’m feeling too hot.
There’s also a lot a simple fan can do for just moving the air around. Placement is key! I used to think putting it near a window facing out (to somehow suck the bad air out) but according to experts there’s a better way. If you put a small fan on the far side of the room pointed towards the center of the room you can get more movement of the air in the room. It changes the air in room more! Keeping any windows cracked as much as possible and leaving doors open is crucial.
When others complain that they’re cold and shut doors/windows I’m always tempted to tell them to wear more clothes or stop being so sedentary. People aren’t so concerned with clean indoor air unfortunately.
Finally, we're starting to put the focus on the importance of indoor air quality that it deserves.
Love this! Sad that it took a pandemic to encourage us to think about indoor air quality and its impact on our health/performance. But hopefully we'll start giving the air we breathe as much attention as we do the water we drink.
Agreed!
As a person who loves to eat, and cook, I have always been horrified and disappointed by kitchen exhaust fans in residential homes. When remodeling we put in a properly sized fan and the air is so much better. I wanted to be able to move the area above the stove, and in front of my face about 30sqft within a few seconds, for those times when cooking gets smoky. It can run lower most of the cooking time, but can get kicked up in an instant. My husband thought I was crazy to have such a big unit installed, but finally my food tastes great, and my lungs feel good. When it’s wildfire smoke season we just boil and steam, on electric, so all the cooking pollutants are contained in water and fall out of the air more quickly, and we don’t get oil in our lungs when we are relying on a smaller, more closed filter system.
Kyle, so good to see you-you look great!! Thanks for another great episode on healthy indoor air!
Thank you!! And glad you found the interview helpful
I'm still a huge fan of open windows (grew up in Europe). My windows are almost always open between May and October (I live in a mid-Atlantic state) and during the cold season I still open up all windows for 20 min or so every day. Nothing can beat the fragrance of fresh air.
.
Thank you for this topic. Although I have no degree I am an expert at indoor air quality as 35 years ago I contracted MCS. Multiple chemical sensitivity. If you live in a small space with many people your air quality will be compromised faster as the co2 is way too high. Your home does not create oxygen unless you live in a greenhouse. We breath in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. The rate of air exchange will not keep up with the mounting co2. That stale smell in your bedroom in the morning…..not good, open your windows if you can. I live in Ottawa and experienced my first super toxic air from our fires. Not only do i have a hepa filtration on my furace I own an IQAir stand alone hepa filter which saved me big time. We had days of over 400 and our air is usually under 40. The only negative to the stand alone units and they are noisy. The one on my furnace is not, just the furnace fan. Use California standard offgassing standards on your indoor products….floors, cupboards furniture etc. Wilfire smoke is a big problem. Good guest info🇨🇦🙏. Also the best killer of viruses is ultra violet. You can get tubes to add to the filtration system. I had this in another home and no flu passed around the family very often
I'm located in Montreal. Do you have any recommendations for a stand-alone unit?
@@chandelie4 IQAir, Amaircare. I have both
Radon
I appreciated this great discussion. Very enlightening. I disagree with the point about HVAC pressurizing a building though. That can't be done without bringing in fresh air. If there's smoke in the air, you don't want that. If the outdoor air is healthy, you do. But, few homes have been designed to control air intake and pressure. If your house is pressurizing from your HVAC, realize that air is coming from outside somewhere in the system - very possibly your attic if you have returns running through it and they have leakage because it's outside the house envelope.
3m Filtrete (1500 = MERV 12. 1900 = MERV 13). I make a sheet metal border filter retainer square around the intake grill on the front of the window AC unit so the air that is sucked into the unit must go through the filter. Example: Start with a 1 or 1.5 inch flat piece of thin sheet metal. Measure the outer dimensions of the intake grill for a good fit. Make a 90 degree bends in the border retainer so the filter is a tight fit. Cut a .5 inch at the corners so the border can bend around for a 90 degree corners. Then drill (carefully) small holes in corner to attach small screws to the retainer (or duck tape). Buy the biggest filter at the box store so you can to cut multiple filter for economics. Use tin snips or aviation snips to cut the filters. Done this for years. [ ]
If you make all that effort to reduce the harmful effects of air pollution, it is worth buying a roll of active carbon and adding that.
14 x 20 x 1 Is a Filtrete good?
Also, doesn't a higher merv rating just put more strain on the ac system?
I have a 7 month old baby in the house, and I live where wildfires occur perennially, so I have a Honeywell hepa filter just like the one pictured. We got it last year when I was pregnant and I replace the filters frequently. Our bedroom has 2 adults, 1 baby, and 2 dogs who all sleep in there, so we always either open the window or open the door to keep CO2 buildup low. Air quality permitting, we love to throw all the windows open.
I am just building a smart house system with fresh air intake controlled by co2 sensors, as well as automatic wildfire season air filters. Thank you so much for sharing this information, it will help me greatly understand the topic!
It's interesting you mentioned the charge depletion in electrostatic filter media. I once did an experiment with an N95 mask, a vacuum cleaner, and a culinary smoke gun during the height of covid because I had the same thought. It's true that sucking smoke through the mask quickly caused the mask to visibly start passing smoke through the media after it got saturated. But I also own a small Van De Graff generator that can recharge the media after placing the mask on the charging sphere for a few minutes (a nice side-effect of the process is that it also caused tiny corona discharges all throughout the plastic fibers that generated localized ozone and that did a really good job of killing viruses and bacteria that may have been inside the filter). It was able to trap additional particles afterward. I started recharging my 3M electrostatic mask after coming back from work everyday until I felt that breathability started becoming impacted or it had become too soiled.
Thanks for airing this (pun intended). Maybe next time you could include a section on which house plants are most effective in helping with AQ - I know there's been a reassessment of some plants, and (living in a home that sometimes measures high levels of CO2 when external air isn't advised) how to manage any carbon sequestration that plants might provide.
My central AC has a 5" MERV 16 filter along with two UV lights, one for the evaporator to prevent mold and one for the air passing through the manifold. I leave the fan on most of the day to circulate the air through the filter and UV light.
This was truly fascinating & empowering...thanks, much appreciated!🤔🎯🕊
I cook outside as much as possible and have install a cooktop vent that vents to the outside and also brings in fresh air while the vent is turned on. I have a whole house fan and need to design a system that allows me to install a furnace filter on the windows to trap all the dust being sucked in by the whole house fan. I also bought back in 2018 P100 mask to filter out the wild fire smoke that was very heavy in 2018 in the west. These filters worked and were wonderful during the covid time too. Replacement filters were hard to get during covid, so buy now.
Great info and very helpful for those of us that have to live with a summer smoke season.
We have 2 Air Doctor 3000 air filters that do a good job. First one was for my wife's art studio to deal with VOCs. As well as it worked, we got a second one to move around.
Can you have someone on to discuss mold in homes. With the tighter homes, more favorable conditions for mold growth. And effects of mVOC.
Thanks
There's also the particles emitted from furniture. Especially harmful, is the water proof protectant. I run a 20 x 20 box fan, with a 20x20x1 furnace filter sucked up to it. Low setting. It cuts alot of dust. Now I double it.
Home and even older commercial HVACS may not be able to handle MERV 11 or 13.
Another portable option is the DIY Corsi Rosenthal box. Designed and tested by scientists Corsi and Rosenthal. They were thinking mostly of schools that needed cheaper but effective to reduce could risk in classrooms, but it's good at home, too.
Ikea has an air monitor for less than $100.
For CO2, the only way to address that is ventilation. Air cleaners and MERV filters won't address that.
I have an Awair air monitor and I open my windows whenever the CO2 gets high. Open windows brings up the PM in house, but using the monitor, I can manage that and only keep the windows open long enough to bring down the CO2.
Dear MedCram team, I am following this channel since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it helped me to understand medical issue way better. Can you make a video regarding immuno therapy for the cancer treatment. Thanks for the knowledge you share....
Thank you for your support and topic suggestion
Whenever i leave my new build place i feel better! I fixed the pollution part, however i feel like circulation is bad! CO2 levels rise indoors often
How does one know if they have a VOC problem? How would one measure VOCs to know whether they need a carbon filter? I live in the desert Southwest where opening windows in summer with 115+ degrees is impossible. What would be suggested in my case? We have a heat pump air conditioner/ heater. Thank you for this informative video😊
Thank you, this is very helpful! Kyle, you look great.
Thank you!! Good intel! 😊
0:17: 💨 Indoor air quality is crucial for our health and productivity, but often overlooked.
9:26: ⚙ Using higher grade filters like Merv 13 can make the system work harder, but there's a point of diminishing returns when it comes to respiratory pathogens.
18:50: 🌬 It is recommended to have four to six air changes per hour in a typical home, but most homes in the US only get half an air change per hour.
28:23: ⚡ The speaker emphasizes the importance of saving energy while also prioritizing human health, and provides examples of buildings that have achieved both goals.
Recap by Tammy AI
Carpet type, flooring type, is also important. Some cut loop carpet will absorb particulates, and bare flooring causes particulates to bounce. Also what about ionizers.
Pulverized coal, fluidized coal power plants with mercury scrubbers and other cleaners can be like autos: the air coming out of a properly mantained catalytic exhaust system can clean dirty air. Fossil fuels are good, with good plants, bigger plants. Natural gas is also clean.
If the fans sold for home ventilation had larger motors, more efficient motors, they would have the energy to handle a HEPA filter. Since so many people get sick from infections acquired from their household members, it would seem prudent to have more durable fans installed in homes and buildings, and home improvement stores like Home Depot and Loews.
Wanted to add that if it wasn't clear the maximum MERV rating a furnace can handle is specific to the furnace. Maybe there is new information but my understanding was the safe maximum was MERV 11 unless otherwise specified by the furnace manufacture. I personally opted for a new furnace which can handle MERV 16 filters.
Yes I was wondering if at some point it's a strain to the ac system if the merv is too high?
Any recommended air purifiers that meet the CADR criteria? I haven't been able to find any
This was an excellent discussion, I still have questions, please see my comment about attack rates or infectivity rates of some airborne infectious diseases.
Did I miss the part regarding indoor plants? Which ones are most effective in cleaning indoor air.
I would think any green plant, but my choice is any leafy green ones. They take in Carbon Dioxide during the day and give off Oxygen. At night though, they take in Oxygen and give off CO2, so best to keep out of the bedroom. 🙂
None, that's a myth that's been disproven. The original study was flawed because the number of plants required would need to basically fill the entire space.
@@wendyeames57583 waist high plants per person
Fresh air & sunshine 🌞 are important 400 cfms residential and 800 cfms commercial.
I would love to use Merv 13 filters, but I am under the impression they’re too hard on typical home air-conditioning units. And could lead to expensive breakdowns and higher electric bills. No?
Wondering also
I've installed CO2 sensors in the entire house. I am extremely surprised how hard it is to keep the levels below 1000ppm if the furnace fan is off...
I wish medcram would do a series on mold & mycotoxins. There's so much misinformation out there. I hear parents of young children blaming their behavioral issues on mold, for example. I wish there were trusted sources for the layman to turn to.
Multiple smaller portable air cleaners for a large room can be better than one larger portable unit.
All great advice, but regular filters should be changed at least every 3 months, not 6-12 months, as that's way too long, and the filter will be plugged.
Particle filters can be hoovered or tapped clean, depending on the filter, a good few times before they need changing. Active carbon filters need changing regularly.
Hmm 🤔 So, minimum every 3 months, or vacuum it
What about the study showing essential oils in the air being beneficial for cognition?
My small Bissell doesn't have a CADR 😐
Are there MERV13 rated filters for swamp/evaporative coolers?
How many Air Changes per Hour if the room is 500 Square Feet and has a variable number of people? Presumably a room that is a classroom or a dinning room with dinner guests needs more air changes per hour, and more ventilation. How does one factor in population density and shift from not shut considering Cubic feet per Minute or sizing an air purifier for a room based on square footage of the room to calculating it to include the attack rate of some airborne infectious diseases. For example suppose on of the six people at the dinner table in the 500 square foot room has COVID, or Influenza with an attack rate of 2. Or suppose it was measles in a classroom with an attack rate of 15. If tidal volume is 500cc, Respiratory Rate is 20 breaths per minute =10,000 cc =10 Liters per minute, X 60 = 600 Liter per Hour X number of people in the Room, roughly. But when one thinks about the concentration of virus particles being exhaled or coughed or sneezed, and I try to factor that into ACH or CADR, for the room size and the CFM of the fan , assuming high quality filters, I'm still puzzled as to how much CFM in an air purifier system is needed to significantly reduce the spread of airborne infectious disease with whatever the infectivity rate is for the virus in question.
18:50 is the air change rating given for the air purifier unit when it is on its max fan speed?
What does an air filter hooked up to my furnace do in the summer? The furnace isn’t running. Do i need the fan on?
Yep! If you switch the fan from "auto" to "on" and replace the HVAC filter (usually default merv 8) with a merv 13 filter, the fan will filter air through it continuously.
Outdoor air quality can exponentially multiply the indoor air quality due to air duct leaks. Use a thermal gun and find the thermal difference. There are 10 different things ive noticied.
1. Due to every election cycle its just a coincidence that the freon changes
Every year or so we get sand/dust from North Africa (Sahara desert) settling on our cars even here in Poland 😨 So yeah, sometimes you cannot escape the pollution even from very far away...
1) LOVE his enthusiasm! 🥰 "the MAJORITY of your exposure to outdoor air actually occurs INDOORS!" YES! More and more people are starting to realize the quality of the air we breathe affects us NOT just today but takes a toll on our health over DECADES, as well! Gotta control and clean that indoor air!👍
2) That said, I 100% DISAGREE WITH HIS OPINION THAT YOU DISREGARD ANY AIR PURIFIER THAT FILTERS BETTER THAN HEPA! He is assuming ALL the Air purifiers on the market that say "HEPA" on the box actually perform at a HEPA Level. OVER 90% of the 'HEPA Air purifiers' on the market DO NOT perform at a HEPA LEVEL, IMO - because the industry is NOT regulated closely for HEPA performance. He, like the vast majority of people on YT assume all these air purifiers filter the same - it is NOT TRUE! The IQAir HealthPro Plus filters BETTER than HEPA and so does the Aeris 3 in 1 and maybe even the Airpura Super HEPA filters.
3) OVER 90% of the particles in the air we breathe are SMALLER than HEPA + the MOST DANGEROUS particles we breathe are SMALLER than HEPA. They are called "UltraFine Particles" - this has been confirmed by the CDC and WHO and many other air quality organizations throughout the world and I am actually kind of shocked he doesn't realize/know about this.
4) CADR ratings are also NOT to be trusted. DO NOT base your air purification purchase on CADR Ratings... Some of the best air purifiers on the market do NOT have CADR Ratings. 😀
Thank you for this info!
What is a good lower priced cleaner? I have a Bissell My Air but I don't know that it's doing much.
Also I have a couple of R95 masks to use if needed, in car and at home What do you think of that?
U R welome - there is an OCEAN of information in the air purification industry and a lot of it is also changing over time. @@sl4983
Winix 5500 and Coway Mighty are 2 decent air purifiers for particles @ $200 and less. I have used a Winix 5500 for 6 years in my son's room but just also bought the new version of the 5500 and a new Mighty as I will be doing reviews of them in the coming weeks. They cannot filter ultrafine particles as well as, the elite, more expensive units (IQAir) but they are a really good value for the money, I think.@@sl4983
I have an. April’s Air whole house system. These ware not cheap filters but never had on last a year 3 to 6 months even Merve 13. . What if your house is open in black which is 3/4 or 1025suare feet but the upstairs you can win up several upstairs. Built in 1985.
Doesn't a higher merv rating just put more strain on the ac system?
25:56 - - *Joseph Allen - - Dir. Harvard Healthy Buildings Program • Assoc Professor of Exposure Assessment Science*
25:32 - - outdoor-to-indoor air question (at odds w energy conservation?)
27:33 - - *WHERE DOES HE THINK THE GRID GETS IT'S ENERGY ???* (27:47) - - "all electric" buildings + cars *GET THEIR ENERGY FROM FOSSIL FUELS*
Click *...more* (above in header) for complete drop-down menu of topics w time-stamps.🙂
awesome episode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well a fan motor will work less with a more air blocking filter. This is how fans works. Not the reverse, as he says.
No talk of air ionization for smoke.
After we've cleaned the air so well will we run into what happened with the peanut allergies?
It think that is very possible.
No mention of plants??? I am shocked. It’s been proven that there are many air-cleaning plants that improve air quality.
There are many low cost FAKE air quality sensors/monitors.
17:23
Radon
he only talked about particles, the LEAST damaging effect. no mention of vapors, gases, or radon.
@@DaveG-qd6ugYes, and why is that?
Does he have a mini Burj khalifa on the shelf?
Finally something good coming out of Harvard
@Rene-uz3eb - your purpose is to bash Harvard not add value through your comment. Why?
@@addiecoelman1996they're obviously ignorant of all the good that has come out of Harvard.
Everything is toxic nowadays
and solution is nuclear energy :)
Really quite obvious that the Dr. is just repeating talking points he repeats all day, without really listening to your questions.
Always sad when otherwise informative experts have been basically overused to that level.
@aenorist2431 😂 ok air quality expert. Whiners add nothing so shush
@@addiecoelman1996 I disagree, i think he/she is adding something to the discussion.
I agree with the observation, which is something we see in many fields regarding health. It is as though when a question is asked, they rummage around and find the recording the nearest to an answer, and press play.
Mentioning it will help everyone involved understand how they are being perceived, they are then free to acknowledge it, or not, and make an effort to overcome it, or not.
So Cal: Pollution is Life.
you failed to address Mold. Clearly and far away the biggest issue with aging schools of which filters do nothing for