Air Quality

TURNER BUILDING SCIENCE LLC.

Design Services

Air Quality

We provide a range of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) testing. Some of these are indoor air chemical testing, dust loading (particulate) testing, indoor ventilation rate evaluations, exhaust plume entrainment analysis, and evaluation of existing HVAC equipment.

Indoor Air Chemical Testing

We offer air sampling and analysis for Formaldehyde, Lowe Molecular Weight Aldehydes, and VOC's. This testing may help identify whether or not there are problems with nasal congestion, bloody noses, pharyngitis, coughing, worsening of asthma, eye irritation, headaches, fatigue, nausea, cognitive impairment, rashes, muscle pain, and hearing loss (Indoor Air Pollution An Introduction for Health Professionals - American Lung Association).

Dust Loading (Particulate) Testing

We also offer air sampling analysis for Inhaled Size Fraction (2.5 and 10 micron) and Total Particulate. In addition, real-time dust loading monitoring of indoor and outdoor spaces can be completed utilizing Dustrak equipment.

Indoor Ventilation Rate Evaluations

Indoor ventilation rates are difficult to verify by visual observation. Airflow measurements are usually required to determine the quantities of Outdoor Air being delivered to an occupied space. Direct measurements of outdoor air quantities are, with some types of ventilation systems, nearly impossible to measure accurately. In these cases other means of determining ventilation utilizing ASTM tracer gas protocols. Verification can be completed by direct measurements using modern digital instrumentation such as flow hoods and pitot tubes with manometers, or by using tracer gas release and detection equipment. Turner Building Science, LLC. can measure total ventilation rates in occupied spaces, ventilation air quantities being delivered by any air handler, or total air quantities being delivered or exhausted from a space. our engineering experience allows us an opportunity to provide the clients with design services to repair, upgrade, or install new systems.

Exhaust Plume Entrainment Analysis

Many buildings generate contaminates that need to be removed from the indoor environment. Airborne contaminates are generally exhausted through exhaust fans with or without discharge stacks and chimneys. Other buildings may be associated with pollutants from outside sources including trucks, buses, and cooling towers. Wind direction and speed combined with the buildings profile (configuration) can result in the entrainment of building exhaust into the air intakes or building operating pressure may induce entrainment of fumes from truck and bus activities that occur close to the building. Turner Building Science, LLC. can analyze the building profile with respect to wind and can calculate dilution rations based on ASHRAE equations (1993 Fundamentals chapter 14 - Airflow Around Buildings). Calculations can provide vital data pertaining to wind conditions that would likely cause the worse case concentration of contaminates at an air inlet and when combined with locate weather data can provide estimated of the frequency that the critical conditions may exist.

Existing HVAC Equipment Evaluations

HVAC equipment evaluations verify proper operation of the systems and insure that the system is operating as designed or is operating to meet new conditions placed on it from changing the use of the space it serves. The HVAC system should provide sufficient ventilation to meet occupant demands, insure proper space air movement and building pressure, as well as remove dust, pollen, and other particulate to protect equipment and occupants, while minimizing the potential for mold growth. The V in HVAC stands for ventilation. The amounts of outdoor air and the times that the outdoor air is introduced into the occupied spaces of a building are largely dependant on the proper operation of the HVAC system. Ventilation rates and proper operation of controls can be evaluated, measured, and compared to initial design rates. Air movement in and out of the occupied space and migration of contaminates generated inside buildings can be controlled or exacerbated by the operation of the HVAC systems. Air filters within a HVAC system are designed for many different objectives that affect the equipment and/or the occupied spaces being served. Appropriate filters and maintenance schedules are necessary to insure that expected performance is achieved. Commercial and industrial ventilation systems inherently provide environments (warm temperatures, with plenty of moisture and organic material) that may promote the growth of mold within the system.

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