A Breath of Fresh Air: CAโs Air Exchange and Filtering
We built and designed Columbia Associationโs (CA) facilities to have high rates of air exchange. Why? Itโs best to have quality air flow where a number of people are consistently gathering and active.
The gathering isnโt happening right now, but pandemic has elevated the emphasis on air exchange. Itโs important to have air turning over on a consistent basis when weโre trying to fight a respiratory illness.
Even though our facilities were already promoting better airflow than many other buildings, that wasnโt enough for our team. Jeremy Scharfenberg with CAโs Construction and Facilities Management team walked us through how weโre making our facilities as safe as possible from an air quality perspective.
Fresh, filtered air
When we hear about air exchange rates inside any building, itโs usually talking about fresh air changes per hour.
โSo this room has a given volume in terms of its height, length and width, and thereโs a certain volume of air in this space,โ says Scharfenberg. โWith our air conditioning systems, we are constantly bringing in fresh air to replace air in this room numerous times in a given hour.โ
Nearly โ of air flowing into CAโs fitness facilities at any given time is fresh outside air, Scharfenberg reports.
Simultaneously, the air conditioning system is filtering the air already in the room, making it cleaner and safer for us to breathe. Scharfenberg indicates that CAโs air conditioning systems filter the air in CAโs clubs nearly 10 times every hour.
โOver the course of a typical fitness class, the air in a room has been exchanged with fresh air and filtered numerous times,โ says Scharfenberg.
One more layer of safety (and science)
Letโs also touch on those glowing pear-shaped light fixtures you may have noticed throughout our facilities.
Those cylinders emitting all sorts of neon blue brilliance are called Airius AirPure fans.
Not to get too technical, but the ultraviolet sanitizing fans use something called Photohydroionization (or PHI) Cell technology. The fans work 24/7 to neutralize up to 99% of harmful bacteria, viruses and germs in the air. Healthcare facilities and medical centers around the world use this technology in their own facilities.
Jeremy explains the process much better than we can.
Now, take a deep breath. Weโll get through this together.
