[Strawbale] Comment on forced air systems and dust

[activism98201 at verizon.net]

Very well put.  It's no more proper to blame a given heating system than it would to blame different lighting systems.  If one were to have a low lighting system then it's likely that one would see less "dust," but this doesn't mean that the low lighting system generates less "dust," it just means that more luminous lighting systems just show more of what exists.  But...

I think this issue is with the disturbance of existing dust.  Hard to argue that fans tend to kick around dust at higher velocities; but then again their area of reach/impact is likely less than that of heating from an entire slab area via hydronic heating.  I suppose that with hydronic you'd likely encounter less dust swirling higher in the air than with force-air systems; just an uneducated comment.  And then there's the filter function of forced air, which reduces dust...


-Mark Nagel
Everett, WA


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From: dfugler at cmhc-schl.gc.ca

To the Strawbale List,

Hydronically heated houses are just as "dusty" as forced air houses. 
Forced air systems do not produce dust; if anything, the filters harvests 
some of the airborne particles compared to houses without moving air. The 
implications by some people on this listserve that hydronically heated 
houses are cleaner has no proof and, in theory, should not be true. Dust 
or airborne particles come largely from the outside air and then from 
indoor activities (cooking, smoking, resuspension of floor dust, etc.) 
None of these "dust" sources are due to the heating system, be it forced 
air or hydronic.

Different houses will be "cleaner" or have fewer particles than others, 
but the method of space heating is not a big factor in the cleanliness of 
the house.

OK. I'll stop talking now...

Don Fugler
CMHC Policy and Research