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Exhaust ventilation in attached garages improves residential indoor air quality
Mallach, Gary St-Jean, Melissa MacNeill, Morgan Aubin, Daniel G. Wallace, Lance Shin, Tin Van Ryswyk, Keith Kulka, Ryan H. You, Hongyu Fugler, Don W.
Mallach, Gary
St-Jean, Melissa
MacNeill, Morgan
Aubin, Daniel G.
Wallace, Lance
Shin, Tin
Van Ryswyk, Keith
Kulka, Ryan H.
You, Hongyu
Fugler, Don W.
Abstract
Previous research has shown that indoor benzene levels in homes with attached garages are higher than homes without attached garages. Exhaust ventilation in attached garages is one possible intervention to reduce these concentrations. To evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention, a randomized crossover study was conducted in 33 Ottawa homes in winter 2014. VOCs including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and air exchange rates were measured over four 48‐hour periods when a garage exhaust fan was turned on or off. A blower door test conducted in each garage was used to determine the required exhaust fan flow rate to provide a depressurization of 5 Pa in each garage relative to the home. When corrected for ambient concentrations, the fan decreased geometric mean indoor benzene concentrations from 1.04 to 0.40 μg/m3, or by 62% (P<.05). The garage exhaust fan also significantly reduced outdoor‐corrected geometric mean indoor concentrations of other pollutants, including toluene (53%), ethylbenzene (47%), m,p‐xylene (45%), o‐xylene (43%), and carbon monoxide (23%) (P<.05) while having no impact on the home air exchange rate. This study provides evidence that mechanical exhaust ventilation in attached garages can reduce indoor concentrations of pollutants originating from within attached garages.
Keywords
attached garages, BTEX, indoor air quality, infiltration, mechanical ventilation, residential intervention
Date
2017
Type
Journal article
Journal
Indoor Air: international journal of indoor air quality and climate
Book
Volume
27
Issue
2
Page Range
487-499
Article Number
ACU Department
Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open