Page 24 - College Planning & Management, April 2018

IMPROVING IAQ IN YOUR FOODSERVICE ENVIRONMENTS
have sensors. However, as you renovate your foodservice areas, I highly recommend installing them to ensure that the fans turn on and, therefore, heat, smoke, and flue gases get properly ex- hausted. I find that sometimes employees don’t turn on the fans because they’re noisy or the makeup air is not heated and they don’t want to be colder than they already are.
Another thing to consider is where is the fresh air intake coming from? Because we’re exhausting, we have to pull fresh air in. Sometimes the intake is close to the exhaust and, even though that distance of separation meets code requirements, the site conditions and wind mean that the code separation isn’t ad- equate. For example, the intake may be located close to a loading dock where semis idle for a long period of time, and the intake pulls in the semi exhaust fumes.
CPM: How does IAQ affect foodservice equipment selection? Pellegrino: One of the biggest things we do is try to contain equipment within the exhaust hoods so smoke and other negative things don’t drift out from under the hood but are instead kept contained. I advocate that, rather than going with the lowest-cost hood, going with the best-performing. And if we can’t contain with the hoods, then can we look at a choosing a piece of equipment that doesn’t create as much smoke.
CPM: How can administrators be sure that they have good IAQ in their foodservice environments?
Pellegrino: The most important thing they can do is maintain their equipment. I know that, oftentimes in higher education, there’s not funding for repairs because operating budgets are tight. So, maintaining exhaust fans, make-up air units, and cook- ing equipment is critical. Gas burners need to be maintained to burn at their cleanest, most efficient level, and that’s not always given a lot of attention.
The switch in refrigerants from chlorofluorocarbon-reduced to propane is one new thing. There is some concern about propane refrigerants leaks. There’s some concern with it. We’re finding that sizes of the refrigeration systems are limited so any leaks will be small and not pose a risk. But people are obviously concerned about it. And as these new products become more common we’re going to need to be more aware of going forward: where we place compressors, where lines are run, and how to check for leaks. They may also consider leak sensors where they store CO2 tanks for soda dispensers. In general, maintaining equipment and monitoring air handling systems are an impor- tant part of making sure things are safe.
CPM: What advice do you most often give higher ed administra- tors regarding IAQ in their foodservice environments? Pellegrino: Most often the advice I give is related to the tem- perature and humidity component of the working environment. I
TAKING IT ALL IN. Cooking activities generate odors, moisture, food waste, and trash— all of which must be managed carefully to avoid indoor air quality (IAQ) problems. Food odors can be a distraction to students and staff if they circulate through a facility. Ensure local exhaust fans are used while cooking, washing dishes, and cleaning. Noisy exhaust fans may indicate a problem or discourage employees from using them. Also consider the external environment. Because fans exchange air from the kitchen, air from an adjacent loading dock can be drawn into the kitchen. If delivery trucks or other vehicles idle at the dock, exhaust fumes can enter the facility and cause air quality problems. Also, proper placement of waste receptacles prevents odors from entering the building.
encourage them to look at ways to make sure they have maximum temperatures of 80oF and not a lot of fluctuation from 40oF to 90oF. I encourage them to think about what it’s like to be a staff member having to working a situation that’s like a sauna or a deep freeze.
I suggest that there are inexpensive ways to cool the kitchen, such as using transfer air from the dining area, to make sure that the working conditions are reasonable.
Going back to air intake, I do bring that up frequently because it’s something the engineers don’t think about as much as I’d like. For example, after being up and running for three months,
I got a call from a campus facility owner that the air from a cof- fee bean roaster was causing headaches in the staff three floors above the roaster. The fresh air intake was placed the minimum distance from the foodservice exhaust, as required by code, but it was obviously creating a problem three floors up. In this case, we added a retrofit charcoal filter to help. Similarly, a couple of years ago, I encountered a school district that did not have exhaust hoods over a gas convection oven. Someone observed, “Could that be why we always have headaches?” So, you see, it’s the little thingsthatcanmakeabigdifference. CPM
24 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / APRIL 2018
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