Breathing, 'riting, and 'rithmetic: Fixing IAQ Problems In School

Engineered Systems, March, 2001 by Caroline Fuller

The indoor air environment in schools is as important to helping children learn as are good teachers and technology. Several engineers from around the country have tackled ventilation problems head-on and have come up with some surprisingly creative solutions. In a country where education reform is prized, each school should earn an "A" in IAQ.

Ventilation continues to be a big concern at schools teaching K-l2 students across the nation. How to deal with it is open to interpretation, and solutions can vary from changing filters, to installing new equipment to take care of the problem, to avoiding problems before they even start.

THE SURVEY SAYS...

Heery International (Atlanta) a design, engineering, and construction management firm that has been involved in nearly 45,000 classroom projects, recently commissioned a survey to look at what impact the design and condition of school facilities have on teacher retention and learning.

Those surveyed included 1,350 teachers and principals in nine cities such as Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Baltimore/Washington, Dallas, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Seattle.

The results were hardly surprising. Sufficient heating and air conditioning were the two most important issues that affected the quality of education, followed by technology: 91% of respondents feel that these issues have a strong impact on the overall quality of education; 81% say it has a strong impact on self-esteem; and 71% say that classroom design and condition has a strong impact on test scores.

Specifically, teachers want the ability to control the temperature in their classrooms. According to the conclusions reached by the survey, "Several participants complain that they do not have the ability to control the temperature in their own rooms. When the heating and cooling are controlled at some central location, it is virtually impossible for a teacher to maintain a comfortable temperature in his or her room. And when teachers and students are uncomfortable, learning is difficult."

This sentiment is echoed by an anonymous Atlanta teacher who said, "We have absolutely no control over the heating or air in our room. It's controlled at a central panel in the front office. My room might be ...really cold and across the room it's like a sauna. I think that's kind of ridiculous."

HUMIDITY BREEDS MOLD, A LOT OF MOLD

Paul Garrison, P.E., director of environmental services with Virginia Beach City Public Schools, has had several problems with high humidity in several schools, in general due to the fact that the buildings, on average, are only open for 180 days a year, and during that time there is a high concentration of people in the buildings. He is chiefly concerned with humidity control.

"We are required by code to provide a lot of outside air," he said. "The trick is to provide enough ventilation, but moisture is being dumped into the air. Unfortunately, during our humid seasons, this outside air contains a lot of moisture that we are dumping into the buildings. It's a catch-22 for us," he said. Other problems encountered included outside air dampers that may not open properly.

To fix the problems at several schools in Garrison's area, decoupled systems were installed: existing heat pumps were reused that provided only heating and cooling, teamed with separate rooftop units which provide the code-dictated amount of dehumidified, highly filtered outside air; dry, diluted air; and filtration.

One major problem was occurring every summer.

"Custodians will mop the floor and close up the school. When they come back [in the fall] everything is green," Garrison said. This led to policy formation. "We developed guidelines to reduce humidity in unoccupied school buildings," he said to thwart this mold growth.

Mold growth is what John Williams, Jr., a controls technician with Carrier, Inc. (Syracuse, NY), was faced with when a school called him to fix a ventilation problem in its library. "One hundred percent fresh air will cause books to mildew," he said. The library in question lacked exhaust so he recommended a makeup air unit to fix the problem. "It was an easy, inexpensive fix," he said.

Stale air, in William's opinion, is the most common ventilation problem in schools. "Bacteria build-up develops on books and the old-style chalkboards."

Bacteria growth in schools is also a major concern for K. Scott Roberts, Honeywell Commercial Air Products (Niceville, FL).

Many schools have too few air changes per hour to provide comfort and these low ventilation rates don't clean the air of germs and contaminants or provide adequate dehumidification, Roberts said. He recommends energy recovery ventilators that provide direct ventilation to the room and exhaust stale air, and using high-grade HEPA or gas-phase filters. "These control biocontaminants and mold and keep microbes in check," Roberts said.

TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS = COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

The United States Environmental Protection Agency implemented a program in 1995 called "Indoor Air Quality Tools For Schools" which is designed to allow schools to instigate their own indoor air quality improvements.