Man Made Mineral Fiber Emission from HVAC-components

Man made mineral fibers (MMMFs) that can cause irritation in upper respiratory tract, eyes and skin, can be emitted to indoor air from the HVAC system. A Finnish project was set up to measure fiber emissions and to develop design and materials of the HVAC systems to improve indoor air quality. Within the project laboratory tests and field measurements were carried out. As a result, new methods of testing the emission rates of the MMMFs from HVAC-components have been developed. With these methods HVAC-components can be classified within the Finnish Indoor Air Classification. For instance, in the vibration test the limit value will be 10 fibers/m3. Also, there were differences between fiber emissions in the studied buildings. The fiber concentrations (length > 20 µm) in the supply air ranged between 0.01 – 85 fibers/m3. The building with the highest emissions had also many workers suffering from respiratory and skin symptoms.