An indoor climate out of control
As I mentioned in today's meeting: Based on Ed Light's preliminary report presented today, I think it's accurate to state that the climate inside the Poolesville High School building is out of control. The "climate control" or HVAC system is simply not able to do it's job of accurately controlling temperature, humidity, ventilation and air filtration. The result of this condition is mold growth in the building that causes those students and staff with mold allergies to get sick. There are band aid fixes that must be done ASAP. However, a complete replacement HVAC system with computer controlled capabilities for accurately controlling temperature, humidity, ventilation and air filtration must be installed as soon as possible. Such a system should include adequate temperature and humidity sensors at proper locations that actively control the needed HVAC components (Heat, AC, ventilation, humidification or dehumidification, and air filtration). Outdoor temperature sensors should be actively installed in such a system to prevent overhumidification of the building on cold winter days, causing condensation to form. The ventilation system must utilize and energy recovery system that rejects heat and humidity from incoming warm, moist summer air, and applies heat and humidity to incoming cold, dry winter air... This will help enormously in controlling humidity year round and save the tax payers with substantially reduced energy bills for the PHS building. The air filtration system should utilize a minimum MERV rating of 12, to effective remove contaminates from the indoor air. Once this system is installed, a pro active maintenance system utilizing checks and balances must be in place to assure that conditions that cause mold to grow are not allowed to occur. Such a system must regularly verify proper operation of all HVAC components and have a regular, effective AC coil cleaning process. By following these guidelines, the replacement HVAC system will effectively control the climate inside Poolesville High School.
MCPS BPM
Click here to view a copy of the MCPS BMP:
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/iaq/bmp.htmI see a mention of cleaning the HVAC systems, specifically the AC coils, on page 2-6. It appears that the service "Chemically clean coil and straighten coil fins" should be done at "Every Return Visit"... What exactly does that mean? How often should these important procedures be done, and who should be responsible to make sure they are done? If we'd like MCPS to implement a proper and effective AC coil cleaning system, how should such a procedure be worded?
State of MD IAQ Bill
Senator Rob Garagiola is sponsoring a bill to have MD public schools evaluated for IAQ issues:
http://mlis.state.md.us/2006rs/billfile/sb1096.htm
Environmental Health Poolesville HS meeting 5/8/2006 MINUTES
The meeting started with Ed Light (
Elight@building-dynamics.com) and Jim Bailey of Building Dynamics presenting the preliminary report of the IAQ study of Poolesville High School. All meeting participants should receive a copy of Ed's full, final report and action items within the next 7 days. Sean Yarup (
sean_r_yarup@mcpsmd.org) will be the contact person to obtain the study. Ed's study notes many problems with the existing HVAC system and does recommend a full HVAC replacement... PHS is in line for replacement, but may be many years off until replacement is complete. Ed has mentioned that many fixes should be made soon, for the time being, until the new HVAC system is installed. According to Ed Light, no health hazards were observed or reported... Only mold growth, ventilation and comfort issues. Ed also mentioned that no microbiological sampling took place in his study, when questioned by Phil. Phil also mentioned that Ed's health study was not large enough to provide meaningful results. In addition, some of Ed's health study findings raised red flags in Phil's mind, including one finding that 50% of study participants displayed allergy type symptoms... Phil mentioned that this number is high especially considering that we're not yet in the cooling (AC) season, when allergy symptoms typically will be at their highest (but not even close to 50%). Ed and Jim mentioned that replacing the old school windows with new double pane windows will certainly help in preventing condensation and resulting mold growth in the PHS building. Benie King did inform me of approval and confirmation to replace all windows with new double pane units... This was given by her verbally at a meeting at PHS about a month ago... The work will supposedly be completed this Summer... This needs to be verified and confirmed again to be certain. Sean Yarup is in favor of a Pro Active preventative building maintenance program. One of Ed's action items is to clean all AC coils and unit ventilations. After the meeting, I spoke with both Ed and Sean concerning this issue. Sean agreed that it makes sense to clean these items regularly (and have proper quality control on this important PM item) to prevent possible health problems. We will look into getting this maintenance item written into the Building Maintenance Plan (BMP) as part of the solution to the air quality issues at PHS. Rodney stressed the importance of a pro active preventative maintenance (PM) on all HVAC equipment... And especially quality control for these PM items. Rodney is very concerned that there's a lack of knowledge of how to PROPERLY maintain the HVAC system. Steve talked about the condition of the AC coils and the major role they play in contaminating the entire building when they are mold infested. He will outline his method for sanitizing the coils at the next meeting. I discussed my concerns that health interviews of students and staff (that I requested) had not yet been scheduled. I learned, for the first time today, that health interviews with staff had been completed as part of Ed's study. Benie asked me to get in touch with her concerning scheduling the health interviews. When I made my comments on Ed's report, I mentioned that I agree with Ed's conclusion that the HVAC system has many problems and should be replaced... Sooner rather than later. I strongly disagreed with Ed's finding that no health hazards are present concerning mold in PHS. Our next meeting will be Monday May 22nd, 9:30 AM, same location.
Environmental Health Poolesville HS meeting 5/8/2006
Meeting took place from 9:30 to 11 AM in the Department of Facilities Conference Room at Metro Park North, 7361 Calhoun Place, Suite 400, Rockville. Present were myself Michael Young, Lynne Rolls, Rodney Fugitt, Steve Welty of Germ Safe Air, Phil Witorsch of Georgetown University Medical Center, Ed Light of building Dynamics, Ed's partner ????, Dick Hawes, Director of Facilities Management for MCPS, Benie King Building Manager for Poolesville High School, Deena Levine principal of Poolesville High School, Sean Yarup Environmental Safety coordinator with the IAQ division of MCPS, Michael Clouse Department of Construction for MCPS, Bruce Grey,others ???? met. Please help with names.
Hi!
This blog is dedicated to the cause of removing mold from Poolesville High School, Poolesville, MD. The mold at PHS is making people (students and staff) with mold allergies sick. Please post comments/questions/concerns.
