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Cooking Sunday Roast Causes Indoor Pollution 'Worse Than Delhi' (theguardian.com)
pgmrdlm writes: Cooking a Sunday roast can drive indoor air pollution far above the levels found in the most polluted cities on Earth, scientists have said. Researchers found that roasting meat and vegetables, and using a gas hob, released a surge of fine particles that could make household air dirtier than that in Delhi. Fine soot and tiny organic particles from gas flames, vegetables, oils and fat combined to send harmful PM2.5 particulates in the house to levels 13 times higher than those measured in the air in central London. Peak indoor pollution lasted for about an hour.
"We were all surprised at the overall levels of particulate matter in the house," said Marina Vance, who led the research at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She advised people to open windows and use extractor hoods if possible to ventilate the home while cooking. PM2.5s are particles that are smaller than 2.5 micrometres across. They are small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs where they exacerbate respiratory disorders and cardiovascular disease. Smaller particles can spread from the lungs into the bloodstream where they build up in the liver, heart and even the brain, where they may contribute to depression and other mental health issues.
"We were all surprised at the overall levels of particulate matter in the house," said Marina Vance, who led the research at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She advised people to open windows and use extractor hoods if possible to ventilate the home while cooking. PM2.5s are particles that are smaller than 2.5 micrometres across. They are small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs where they exacerbate respiratory disorders and cardiovascular disease. Smaller particles can spread from the lungs into the bloodstream where they build up in the liver, heart and even the brain, where they may contribute to depression and other mental health issues.
Considering one of their recommendations was to use an oven hood (no duh!), I wonder if they did everything possible to make the air quality plummet. If I roasted a turkey, let some fat drop onto the bottom of the oven, kept all the windows closed, and didn't use the oven hood, the air in home would be very unpleasant.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
It is british English for 'cooktop'.
It's actually pretty well documented that the air quality from cooking can get to surprisingly bad levels quickly.
The range hoods in a lot of kitches are often only minimally up to code, too far from the cooking surface, and dirty, attached to ductwork that is too long with too many corners to deliver anything close to the rated air movement. And many homeowners don't think to even turn them on unless the cooking is active smoking.
An decent spec range hood, installed correctly, that is clean and not hobbled by inadequate ductwork is all you need. But it is shocking how rare this is.
As it happens, my current place, had been upgraded to a nice gas stove with no real thought to the range hood. The range hood is a cheap builders 280 CFM unit with around 25 feet of 5" diameter horizontal pipe with at least 3 90 degree turns. It also leaks air where it connects to the duct; so a good fraction of the air it sucks in is just blowing back into the kitchen
The range hood should be at least 400CFM for the gas stove that's installed. But due to the duct work, will need to be even higher. And it should be turned on to at least low even when just boiling water for tea.
If we roasted a turkey and let some fat drop; and have current fan on max, all the windows and doors open, the bathroom fans going, and all the ceiling fans going... we'd still set off the smoke detector.
We're in the process of getting it replaced.
Here's a couple article from 2013... this is not "new".
http://articles.latimes.com/20...
https://www.npr.org/sections/t...
I wonder if commercial kitchens have any air quality standards. Those people are in there all day.
Indeed they do. Not just hoods but active replacement air expressly rated for the hoods.
A friend of mine recently opened a restaurant and the inspector determined that the HVAC contractor had insufficiently sized the replacement air system for the range hoods. He wouldn't allow the restaurant to open until that was fixed.
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