Wisconsin PHC Contractor Fall 2019

EPA’S NEW
TECH REPORT ON
RESIDENTIAL
AIR CLEANER
TECHNOLOGIES
RAISES AWARENESS
OF OZONE DANGER
By Aaron Engel
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Residential
Air Cleaners, a new technical summary report recently
released, is sure to bring increased awareness to the
contractor community and end-users regarding ozone.
The EPA’s 75-page, comprehensive document (www.
epa.gov/iaq EPA 402-F-09-002) on the strategies,
advantages and disadvantages of all residential air
cleaner methodologies has gone on record and stated that ozonegenerating
models are detrimental to homeowners’ respiratory tracts,
lungs and general health.
Prior to the EPA document’s release, the American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) had already
taken a similar position on ozone-generating air cleaners and their
detriment to occupant health. ASHRAE’s 2015 publication “Position
Document on Filtration and Air Cleaning” states in Section 2.6, “Ozone
is harmful for health and exposure to ozone creates risk for a variety
of symptoms and diseases associated with the respiratory tract; ozone
emission is thus undesirable.” Section 3.2 of the document further states,
“Devices that use the reactivity of ozone for the purpose of cleaning the
air should not be used in occupied spaces because of negative health
effects that arise from exposure to ozone and its reaction products.”
Still, other organizations have carved out regulatory ozone
requirements for consumers. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) was the first to set an ozone emissions limit of 0.05
ppm (50 ppb) for all medical devices. In 2008, the California Air Resources
Board (CARB) targeted ozone emissions with a state-wide regulation
requiring certification of all electronic air cleaners under UL 867’s test
standard of 0.05 ppm (50 ppb) limit.
The media prominence of the EPA will help Residential Air Cleaners
garner significant consumer attention in the coming months among
FALL 2019
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The Wisconsin PHC Contractor
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