Wildfires across Canada affecting air quality, raising health concerns

By Leah Den Hartogh

Canada’s on fire this summer. Certain regions across Canada regularly experience wildfires in the normal season, which typically runs from early April to late October, according to National Resources Canada.

At the time of publication, there was a total of 80 uncontrolled active fires, 107 being held, 181 controlled, and 64 with modified response. As wildfires continue to ravage many regions of Canada, particularly in Alberta, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario, the impact on air quality has become quite concerning. “The massive amounts of smoke and pollutants released during these fires has led to deteriorating outdoor air quality. In such circumstances, it becomes crucial for building owners, managers, and homeowners to prioritize indoor air quality to protect the health and well-being of occupants,” explains Mohamed Fouda, HVAC/IAQ category management for Wolseley Canada and an ASHRAE distinguished lecturer.

“The thick smoke generated by these fires contains harmful pollutants such as particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and other toxic gases. When inhaled, these pollutants can lead to respiratory issues, aggravate allergies, and compromise overall health. The concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2 5) in the air rises dramatically during wildfires, posing a severe risk to individuals, particularly those with preexisting respiratory conditions” These particles are what you see when you see smoke in the sky

“These small particles impact human healthby infiltrating your lungs and causing health problems,” explains Jon Douglas, director of Johnson Controls’ healthy building services and solutions. “Outdoor air quality can also impact the air quality inside buildings. Most buildings bring in outside air to improve the indoor air quality. If that outside air is not filtered, it can increase the particulate matter inside the building”

As of July 11, Canada still has 80 uncontrolled active fires, 107 that are being held, 181 controlled, and 64 with modified response.

Changing habits

Nowadays, people tend to spend a significant amountoftimeindoors.So,whatcanbedone when the indoor air quality is worse than the typicallyfreshoutdoorair?AccordingtoGord Cooke, president of Building Knowledge Canada,thereareafewstepsthatcanbemade toincreasethequalityofindoorair.The first is to reduce or remove the source of pollutants.

“In both homes and commercial buildings, make sure the ventilation system is operating properly — just the right amount of air per person — and as the fresh air is brought in, pass it through a filter with at least a MERV 11-13 value,” shares Cooke. The ventilation systemcanalsobeshutoffforbriefperiodsof time so that the air can be recirculated.

Homes and buildings that are airtight will ensure that poor outdoor air will remain where it,s supposed to be — outside. “Conduct an air tightness test and seal up as many holes as possible in the envelope – around windows, plumbing, heating, and electrical penetrations. Airtight homes such as R-2000 or Energy Star homes with properly controlled fresh air ventilation systems that have good filters in them are known to provide better indoor air quality control than older, leakier homes with no mechanical ventilation,” explains Cooke.

Some other ways to ensure building owners/homeowners are properly protecting the occupants’ health is by making sure the building has received up-to-date scheduled HVAC maintenance. Regular inspection and maintenance of HVAC systems ensure optimal performance and air filtration efficiency, reports Fouda. Other ways deactivating volatile organic compounds and bioaerosols (this can be done by installing equipment such as UVC, photocatalytic oxidation (PCO), or bipolar ionization systems), or installing portable air purifiers.

“Protecting occupants’ health during these events requires to upgrade your HVAC system and utilizing the available IAQ solutions,” explains Fouda. “By drawing on lessons learned during the pandemic, individuals and building owners can better prepare for future events like wildfires, ensuring the highest level of indoor air quality and safeguarding the well-being of occupants.”

The pandemic highlighted the importance of managing indoor air quality in buildings. “One of the key tools for managing the COVID pandemic is filtration. And it turns out, these same tools are good for managing the risk due to forest fires,” explains Douglas.

Left alone

Problems associated with maintaining indoor air quality are typically not addressed as it is harder to tell when issues do arise. This is very unlike when a furnace or air conditioner breaks down and the occupant can simply tell it isn’t working properly due to the fact they are hot or cold. “Any problems in the building that are associated with comfort tend to get raised and fixed. People do not know whether they are getting good indoor air quality. So, problems associated with maintaining the indoor air quality systems are typically not addressed,” explain Douglas. “We recommend installing good quality indoor air quality sensors in the space. A good indoor air quality sensor will measure the following parameters: temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide particulate matter and total volatile organic compounds.”

By Francesco Lo Presti

eople like multi-functional things. You can call, text, take pictures and film movies on your phone. Homes are no different, and we are seeing increased product offerings that cover multiple needs. Hydronic heat pumps are one of these products as they “are not only used for heating,butthenewergenerationofhydronic heat pumps can also cover a home’s cooling anddomestichotwaterneeds,”explainsChris DesRoches, applied product manager for the HVAC division at Mitsubishi Electric.

Over the last two years, heat pumps have become a central talking point within our industry. Hydronic heat pumps are the next step forward in this transition as they offer homes numerous benefits. The significant benefit being energy efficiency

The technology

Hydronic heat pumps come in three options: air-source, water-source, and geothermal. “An air-to-air heat pump, aka ductless heat pump, works by absorbing the thermal energy from the outside air and sending it back inside to heat a home. Hydronic heat pumps, more specifically an air-to-water, use that same framework, but instead of pushing air in a home, a hydronic heat pump will use the outdoor heat to heat water,” explains DesRoches.

Going further in detail with the different heat pump types, Mike Miller, vice president of sales for Taco Canada, explains, “An air-to-air can be compared to a furnace since you’re pulling air through a building. If you compare air-to-water, you use outdoor air to generate heated or cooled water. Once you get into water, your choice of heat and cooling emitter type is larger, and you can also use fan coils. But due to the nature of delivering energy via water and small pipes, the zoning becomes easier, as now smaller zoned fan coils can be employed.”

Miller also explains that, “While air-toair heat pumps, aka a mini-split, provide a home with forced heating and cooling, airto-water hydronic heat pumps are more efficient as they help generate hot and chilled water and also a more efficient electric domestic hot water supply.”

Popularity on the rise

Regarding heat pump adoption in the Canadian market, “Mini-splits take up most of the market space. But when we dive into hydronic heat pumps, in terms of quantities of units sold into the market, water-to-water greatly surpasses air-to-water that are sold into the market. Probably a 10 to one ratio,” said DesRoches.

Speaking more on why the water-to-water is more used, Miller explains that, “When you’re already heating and cooling water throughout a building, you can transfer the BTUs more efficiently and effectively using the hydronic pipe. Also, with water-to-water or air-to-water, you can take it and make a radiant floor heating and cooling system. You can also install panel radiator, fan coil, and towel rails.”

In a previous edition of our magazine, our writer Michael Ridler wrote an article titled “Heat Pumps Are Not Boilers.” In this, he highlights some of the differences between an air-source and ground-source hydronic heat pump. According to Ridler, “On an air-to-water, the higher the outlet water temperature is from the air temperature, the lower the overall performance of the unit and, in many cases, the heating and cooling capacity. The same is true for a geothermal hydronic heat pump; only the ground loop temperature versus the air temperature will determine overall performance and capacity. A geothermal hydronic heat pump has a higher efficiency but has some limitations regarding where it can be installed due to the requirement for a ground loop.”

A significant difference between hydronic heat pumps and traditional fossil fuel heating technology, like a boiler, is that, “Hydronic heat pumps operate with smaller Delta T’s, so you’ll typically have higher flow rates. Whereas a boiler would operate with bigger Delta T’s and smaller flow rates,” explains DesRoches.

One thing that is very important when working with hydronic heat pumps is understanding the controls and how they work in tandem with the entire system. DesRoches adds, when working commercially, “Heat pumps have compressors, and you want to prevent them from short cycling. So, you’ll typically need a buffer tank in that system to be able to have your minimum run times for the compressors.” In his previous article,

This commercial hydronic heat pump was installed in downtown Toronto.

Photo provided by Mitsubishi Electric.

Ridler adds, “On a geothermal water-towater heat pump, we require that buffer tank to ensure the equipment gets a minimum run time of 10 to 15 minutes to maximize its performance”

Having contractors well-informed on the technology of hydronic heat pumps is essential in promoting the product, but also having contractors ready to install them is another step.

Speaking on this, Tom Heckbert, national sales manager, hydronics and commercial water heating with Rheem, explains that, “With our heat pump, we wanted to make sure that it was a simple installation for contractors. Therefore, we used a monobloc system, where the water and glycol go through the wall, and you don’t need a refrigeration ticket.”

Adoption in Canada

According to Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), around 700,000 heat pumps are installed in Canada. While heat pump adoption has increased, there are still challenges when promoting this technology.

“Hydronic heat pumps, more specifically an air-to-water, only heat to -20 C, which means more often you’ll need a form of backup in a home, in places like Ontario, for example,” explains Miller. He also adds that “backups” can come from electrical resistance heaters or fossil fuel-fired equipment.

Currently, there are over five million furnaces installed in Canada. Considering this, DesRoches and Miller added that the retrofit market may be a good bridge for this issue. “With the increase in decarbonization,

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