Pure Air Control Services Inc News

The ongoing pandemic introduced the general public to many new terms and acronyms. While a term such as indoor air quality (IAQ) isn’t new, many more people became familiar with it as a result of COVID-19. HEPA is another term now gaining a wider understanding. It relates to the effectiveness of air filters. CADR, which stands for Clean Air Delivery Rate, is also a term entering the public consciousness. It’s an important part of air purifier performance, yet many home and business...

Campbell University is a private university founded in 1887 by Baptist minister, J.A. Campbell. It currently has a student enrollment of 6,185 and the main campus is situated on 850 acres in Buies Creek, North Carolina, USA. The campus has fifteen (15) dormitories/apartment buildings total. Indoor air quality and mechanical issues were reported in two of these student housing facilities and the university knew they needed to be addressed. The Concern The Campbell University facility team had...

Conventional topical cleaning methods are only effective where applied. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) the statistics: 22 million sick days and 7.9 million doctor visits per year 98,000 patients die every year after contracting a Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI) 40,000 people die from MRSA infection every year 11,000 people died from the H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic in the US alone (2009) The Solution PURE-Decon is the atomized hydrogen peroxide/silver dry misting proce...

The Project: After a re-roofing project was completed at Winn-Dixie Port Orange (4025 S. Nova Road, Port Orange, FL 32127 Store Number #2311) it was discovered that the rooftop refrigerant condenser coils were very impacted with debris affecting airflow. Coil Cleaning process Pure Air Control Services was sub-contracted by TECTA America to take care of this concern with their PURE-Steam Coil Cleaning from June 29th–June 30th. When the project was complete there was a significant differen...

After being used as a 3000-bed field hospital in the early part of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the stakeholders for the Javits Center (a 3.3 million sq. ft., convention center), located in Manhattan, New York City, USA, realized the need to re-commission the facility back to public use. They knew they would need to initiate a stringent disinfection and remediation protocol to ensure public safety. Javits Center contracted with Pure Air Control Services Inc. to disinfect the entire facility at t...

University facility staff takes quick action to disinfect buildings after a staff worker tested positive for COVID-19. The Project: A Florida university and public research institution. It offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees to around 54,000 students, making among the 10 largest universities in the United States. Ongoing building operations The Concern: A staff worker was tested positive for COVID-19. The university quickly realized that the indoor environment used b...

A Florida university recently partnered with HCA to open up a new expansion on their medical education facilities. Eleven large laboratory exhaust hoods were severely corroded over years of continuous use. The Concern: The university originally requested that a certain brand of common paint be used. They stated that all contractors bidding the job follow the exact written specifications provided by the paint manufacturer. Upon researching the specifications, Pure Air Control Services found that...

It’s not what users can see indoors that worries building managers. What they can’t see is just as dangerous. This is true for office buildings, classrooms, and medical clinics. In any indoor environment, what is invisible to the eye can impact the respiratory system and affect the health of building occupants. The pollutants in the air users breathe have both short- and long-term effects. Therefore, improving indoor air quality is a smart IAQ investment. Investment in IAQ Pays O...

Even as vaccination rates increase and case numbers decline, COVID-19 remains a serious threat. The safety of workers, students, patients, and all building visitors remains a top priority for building managers. New in-building traffic patterns and room occupancy guidelines are now permanent. Increased cleaning and disinfecting are the new normal. Importance of clean HVAC systems For ventilation, clean HVAC systems play a vital role in controlling the spread of the COVID-19 virus, as well as o...

Earlier this month, the U.S. Government released a new COVID-19 preparedness plan for protecting Americans against the SARS-COV-2 virus and its variants. In 96-pages, the National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan lays out a strategy for protection, prevention, treatment, and preparedness. It also provides guidance for reopening schools and moving the economy forward, as vaccinations and testing increase. National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan The National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan lays out four main...

Even before the pandemic began, facilities managers understood the importance of indoor air to the health and safety of building occupants. Of course, COVID increased the attention paid to proper ventilation. As a result, smart building managers developed plans to keep their HVAC systems in peak condition. For those who’ve yet to take this step, ASHRAE provides guidance on HVAC testing and ways to achieve acceptable IAQ. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning...

A 4-Star Hotel & Resort located in South Florida unveiled a $1.5 billion expansion in 2020 boasting more than 1,200 luxury guest rooms in three hotel towers, and a large entertainment venue seating more than 7,000. The Concern: The resort had complaints about musty odors and microbial issues within the chilled water Fan Coil Units (FCU’s) in the older section of the resort. Additional fouling was also the result of recent construction projects at the hotel. PURE-Steam Coil Cleaning...

The 650 room AAA Four-Diamond award–winning resort hotel built in the 1970’s faced declining HVAC capacity over the years, musty odors emanating from the AHU’s, and increase maintenance call back requests reducing the guest experience. Resort management Resort management was faced with the task of either replacing the aging HVAC equipment or finding the most qualified, competent environmental contractor to restore the equipment back to like-new condition without having to per...

A prominent, AAA Four-Diamond, resort hotel built in the 70’s reported declines in HVAC capacity across the chilled water fan coil units in its 650 rooms. In addition to performance degradation, increased maintenance call back requests and musty odors were impacting guest experience. Both corporate and facility management weighed the costs/benefits of either replacing the aging units or restoring the equipment with the most effective process to improve operating efficiency and indoor air...

Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) is a globally renowned technology and science university renowned for their deeply-held commitment to improving the human condition. The faculty and students at GT are solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges, such as clean and sustainable energy, disease diagnosis and treatment, and national defense and security, among others. GREEN BUZZ and LEED certification The campus of Georgia Institute of Technology participates in the GREEN BUZZ a...

Pure Air Control Services, an industry pioneer in mechanical and environmental cleaning technologies, tackled head-on, Florida State’s (FSU’s) dirty coils to provide the students and teachers a healthier learning environment. Cleaning the coil with the environmentally friendly, and proven PURE-Steam method from the foam/rinse method that only superficially cleaned the surface of the coil and pushed small debris along with residue, further into the coil causing decreased airflow, a m...

NYC Health + Hospitals Woodhull is a primary care and preventive medicine hospital serving North Brooklyn since 1982. Apart from regulatory and routine maintenance, a focus on energy efficiency is a top priority for operations. One of the main areas in need of optimization is the HVAC system. The Concern: Woodhull has 31 air handler units (AHU) of various sizes and ages. Many dates to the original 1982 opening of the hospital. Over the years of “always-on” operation, these AHUs ha...

The University of South Florida (USF) founded in 1956, covers over 1900 acres, 250 buildings, 10 million square feet, 34 residence halls occupy over 5,000 on-campus beds, with an enrollment of over 48,000 students, making USF the 4th largest university in Florida. USF is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching in the top tier of research universities and is among three other universities in Florida to hold this highest level of classification. The campus of USF partici...

The Harvard Medical School community, located in the historic Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, is dedicated to excellence and leadership in medicine, education, research, and clinical care. Since the School was established in 1782, faculty members have improved human health by innovating in their roles as physicians, mentors, and scholars. Harvard Longwood is a large campus that encompasses over 4 million square feet of building environments covering approximately 14 buildings. Benefits of...

The City of Oviedo, located within Seminole County, Florida, has been a longtime customer of over 20 years with Pure Air Control Services. Throughout this relationship, the city has relied on Pure Air Controls for IAQ testing, HVAC system cleaning, and building disinfection. The successful outcomes of these past projects have made Pure Air Control Services a trusted vendor for the City of Oviedo. Concerns The COVID-19 Pandemic has affected many governments and commercial facilities with new gu...

It’s been almost two years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 or coronavirus, is a severe acute respiratory syndrome. It spreads despite vaccines and other efforts to contain it. It spreads from person to person through respiratory droplets. This happens when an infected person speaks, coughs, or sneezes. This has many facilities managers asking the question, can HVAC systems spread COVID-19? High contact surfaces...

The ongoing pandemic puts indoor air quality issues in the spotlight, however, IAQ concerns predate COVID. For example, schools across the U.S. already faced an IAQ crisis in their buildings prior to the coronavirus. In fact, in early 2020, the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) published a report revealing that roughly half of U.S. schools need multiple system upgrades with one-third in need of HVAC updates. Failure to address these issues leads to health problems. Combine this with the...

In recent years, employers have come up with an array of office perks and benefits to attract workers and keep them happy. While free snacks and beverages are a nice perk and unlimited vacation days sounds nice too, a healthy work environment is what workers need most. That includes the air needed to breathe. About three percent of the air an occupant in the average office building breathes in consists of air exhaled by other people. This is why workplace air quality is important, especially du...

With the Omnicron variant blazing its way through the US, issues of indoor air quality remain a top concern for building managers. Proper ventilation is critical to controlling its spread. Therefore, cleaning and maintaining HVAC systems is also important. One concern many business owners and managers have is, how often to clean AC coils. ASHRAE provides guidance on this topic and Pure Air Control Services provides the services and methods to make it happen. The Importance of Cleaning HVAC Coi...

As school started in the fall, Pure Air Control Service examined ways in which IAQ impacts schools and universities. They also looked at how school buildings benefit from improved indoor air quality. Next, they presented various methods and services for correcting school IAQ issues. They also noted that the pandemic offers a rare opportunity to administrators for improving IAQ in schools. As students returned to school in the fall, Pure Air took a look at some of the issues facing facili...

Pure Air Control Services headed into the summer months this year, the Delta variant of the coronavirus became dominant. Before this, businesses started reopening with many workers returning to buildings. However, many also decided that working from home was a safer option. Not everyone had a choice and a surprising number of workers stated they would prefer to leave their jobs entirely if working from home was not an option for them. In fact, in a post published in July, Pure Air Control Ser...

As the year progressed, Pure Air Control continued to cover many IAQ-related topics. It stressed the importance of testing and monitoring in the ongoing fight against the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It discussed the concept of self-healing buildings, which includes several building remediation methods and technologies. Over the summer it addressed the six pillars of creating healthy buildings and looked at a Harvard study on IAQ and cognitive performance. Creating Healthy Buildings As Pur...

In early 2021 schools and businesses across the country continued to reopen even as the Delta variant of COVID-19 emerged in the U.S. This created school and workplace safety concerns. We covered topics that stressed the importance of air purification to restore worker confidence. We also discussed how schools used funds from the American Rescue Plan to address aging mechanical systems, and we ended with a call to businesses to raise their IAQ standards to keep occupants safe. Let’s take a...

Many users breathed a collective sigh of relief as 2021 began even as users remained cautious about the future. However, 2021 brought new challenges with COVID-19 including new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus Other indoor air quality concerns resulted from buildings left empty during shutdowns. That included the growth of mold and bacteria like Legionella. Aging infrastructure and mechanical systems in schools also concerned many Americans in 2021 and we provided advice to administrators on ho...

Indoor air quality is critical to the health and safety of building occupants. The threat of airborne viruses, like SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19, only highlights the need for proper IAQ. The path towards creating a safe indoor environment involves inspection and testing. However, not all commercial IAQ testing companies are equal. Many of these IAQ testing companies in Massachusetts outsource their field crews. It is far better to use a company that employs its field technicians. Better stil...