污污漫画

污污漫画
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Ventilation in Schools

Ventilation is one strategy to help reduce the number of contaminants in the air and improve indoor air quality.

Please download the鈥�污污漫画's ventilation report聽to learn more about the Board's ventilation strategies and recent investments , as well as details on the ventilation systems and strategies for each school.

The 污污漫画 has focused on several areas to improve ventilation in schools and keep students and staff healthy.

Filtering the Air

  • Maintaining approximately 16,000 institutional-grade HEPA units in 污污漫画 schools to enhance air cleaning in every occupied classroom, portable, and resource room, as well as other instructional spaces that do not have mechanical ventilation (library, cafeteria, and gymnasium.)
  • Maintaining frequent and regular filter changes in existing ventilation system throughout the school year.
  • Specifying MERV 13 filters for any new mechanical equipment Existing Mechanical equipment has the highest MERV rated filter that its design will allow.

Ensuring Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Settings are Maximizing Ventilation

  • Caretaking staff check that the mechanical system is functioning in the building and submit service notifications to Maintenance staff when there is an issue.
  • Maintenance staff respond to work notifications and undertake repairs, including preventive maintenance checks, of the mechanical systems.
  • Adjusting the operating schedules for all mechanical systems to increase the amount of air exchanges per day in the building.聽
  • Setting the systems to run at increased outside airflows聽during the school day聽whenever possible, further improving air exchange rates.
  • Ensuring that where possible, indoor spaces receive three to six equivalent air changes per hour (ACHeq). Air exchange rates vary per building, based on many factors. Equivalent air changes include the contribution of natural infiltration and HEPA filter units.

Maximizing Outdoor Air

  • Encouraging schools to open windows for short periods of time throughout the day to increase ventilation and bring in natural fresh air.
  • Promoting and supporting classes, activities and lunches to be held outside where possible.

Addressing Local Projects to Improve Ventilation

  • Although there is no building code or legislative requirement to install CO2 monitoring devices in individual classrooms, the 污污漫画 is installing CO2 sensors and occupancy sensors on new ventilation equipment, to monitor fresh air delivered to the school and occupancy levels. This program is closely coordinated with Building Automation Systems (BAS) upgrades and new installations, and the recommissioning of ventilation system controls.
  • 污污漫画 Health and Safety webpage provides principals and caretaking staff with a process to鈥�. This procedure follows Ontario Occupational Health and Safety regulations and guidelines, as well as ASHRAE or Health Canada guidelines, where applicable.

Understanding Ventilation Systems

Ventilation is the process of supplying or removing air from a space for the purpose of controlling the indoor air quality within the space. The 污污漫画 has 579聽schools that use a variety of ventilation systems; the complexity and reach of the ventilation systems in each building varies with the age of the school and subsequent additions. The types of ventilation systems commonly in use are:

  • Mechanical Ventilation -- This is ventilation provided by motor-driven fans. These systems may include supply fans which push outdoor air into a building and exhaust fans which expel air out of a building. These systems also condition the air through the use of heating and/or cooling equipment so that air is filtered and delivered to the space at comfortable temperatures.
  • Passive Ventilation 鈥� This is ventilation, also called non-mechanical or natural ventilation, delivered to the space primarily by air infiltration through doors, windows or other openings in buildings. In 污污漫画 schools, motor driven exhaust fans are often used to induce infiltration, drawing fresh air into a building.
  • Combined Ventilation 鈥� Also called partial mechanical ventilation, schools that have had one or more additions built over time may have a combination of mechanical and passive ventilation systems. Passive ventilation would typically be found in older sections of a school while newer sections would most likely be served by mechanical ventilation systems.

To learn more about the ventilation system in each 污污漫画 school, please download the Excel Ventilation Report, and select individual schools from the pull-down menu list.