Reductions in Residential Wood Smoke Concentrations and Infiltration Efficiency using Electrostatic Air Cleaner Interventions

Residential woodsmoke (RWS) has received increasing attention as an important source of ambient particulate matter (PM2.5) that negatively impacts air quality and health. An investigation of the impact of ambient RWS emissions on indoor air quality was conducted in 32 residences, together with an evaluation of the effectiveness of electrostatic air cleaners (ESAC) at reducing indoor PM2.5 concentrations. Monitoring was conducted for 3 days in total. On day 1 the woodstove operated as usual with no ESAC. On days 2 and 3 the woodstove was not in operation. The ESAC was randomly chosen to operate in “filtration” or “placebo filtration” mode on day 2 and then switched on day 3. Twenty-one homes had valid infiltration efficiency estimates on the two days when indoor woodstoves were not in use. Average infiltration efficiencies were reduced from 0.49 (Std Dev = 0.29) to 0.29 (Std Dev = 0.20) when the air cleaner was in operation.