Assessment of Airborne Total Volatile Organic Compounds of Niagara Falls Residences as Compared to Resident Lifestyle

Abstract

An indoor air study was conducted during the summers of 2007 and 2008 to determine the effect(s) of resident lifestyle on the concentrations and distributions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in residences of the city of Niagara Falls, New York. A GrayWolf Sensing Solutions Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC) detector was used to measure TVOC concentrations and generic air readings of five predetermined locations within each of 58 residences. Factors including smoking, asthma, furnace filter condition, pest infestations and air conditioning and their effect(s) on TVOC concentrations were evaluated. The general distributions of TVOC within each residence were determined. Examining the latter three variables revealed no significant differences. However, TVOC concentrations increased as high as 20% in smoking households. Asthmatic households exhibited TVOC levels elevated as high as 33%. Additionally, TVOC levels from smoking households and asthmatic households gave a linear relationship (R2 =0.96).