Building and environmental factors that influence bacterial and fungal loading on air conditioning cooling coils

Indoor Air
A BakkerJ Peccia

Abstract

We investigated bacterial and fungal concentrations on cooling coils of commercial AC units and quantified associations between microbial loads and AC unit or building operational parameters. A field campaign was conducted to sample 25 AC units in the humid, subtropical climate of Southern CT, USA and 15 AC units in the hot-summer Mediterranean climate of Sacramento, CA, USA. Median concentrations (with interquartile range) of bacteria and fungi on the cooling coils were 1.2 × 107 (5.1 × 106 -3.9 × 107 ) cells/m2 and 7.6 × 105 (5.6 × 104 -4.4 × 106 ) spore equivalents (SE)/m2 , respectively. Concentrations varied among units with median unit concentrations ranging three orders of magnitude for bacteria and seven orders of magnitude for fungi. Controlled comparisons and multivariable regressions indicate that dominant factors associated with AC coil loading include the nominal efficiency of upstream filters (P = .008 for bacteria and P < .001 for fungi) and coil moisture, which was reflected in fungal loading differences between top and bottom halves of the AC coils in Southern CT (P = .05) and the dew points of the two climates considered (P = .04). Environmental and building characteristics explained 42% (P < .001) of bacteria...Continue Reading

References

Dec 1, 1992·Applied and Environmental Microbiology·P Hugenholtz, J A Fuerst
Feb 23, 2002·Science·Cynthia B WhitchurchJohn S Mattick
Mar 14, 2008·Indoor Air·M S Waring, J A Siegel

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Citations

Dec 31, 2020·Environmental Science & Technology·Pengcheng Zhao, Yuguo Li
Aug 4, 2021·Environmental Science & Technology·Heather Schwartz-NarbonneJeffrey A Siegel
Jan 12, 2019·Environmental Science & Technology·Sara M DuncanBarbara J Turpin
Jan 16, 2022·The Science of the Total Environment·Xian LiJian Yao

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