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Investigative Tools and Techniques for Indoor Air Quality Studies
Abstract
Indoor air quality
problems are diverse and often
complex. Adverse indoor air
quality problems can exist
which create symptomatic
conditions for building
occupants. Often, the exact
cause, or causes, of the
substandard indoor air quality
are unknown. Therefore, an
investigative approach must
usually be taken to identify
the source(s) of the air
quality problem, and if
present, air contaminant
concentrations. As the
general public becomes more
aware of the problems
associated with poor indoor
air quality conditions, an
associated increase in air
quality evaluation requests
can be expected.
This paper discusses some
of the various investigative
tools and techniques that can
be utilized to identify air
quality contaminants when
performing an indoor air
quality evaluation. These
investigative tools and
techniques can be used to
develop a site specific list
of possible contaminants and their sources, and can then be
used to determine which
contaminants are, in fact,
present in adverse
concentrations. Some of the
investigative tools and
techniques to be discussed in
this paper include the
following: visual inspections
and site observations,
information searches, review
of building construction,
review of ventilation systems,
interviews, low and high
volume sampling pumps, flow
and oxygen meters, portable
photoionization and flame
ionization detectors (PID &
FID), various types of vapor
detector tubes, and gas
chromatograph/mass
spectrophotometer (GC/MS)
analysis.
This paper will be an
introductory overview of the
above listed investigative
tools and techniques. The
paper's attempt is to acquaint
the reader with these
investigative tools and
techniques, and how they can
assist the reader in an air
quality evaluation.
Citation
Kennedy, S. R.; Quinn, C. B.; Henderson, J. E.; Vickery, R. G. (1994). Investigative Tools and Techniques for Indoor Air Quality Studies. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /6650.