edtpro
Industrial
- Nov 15, 2010
- 24
We provide maintenance and facility management for healthcare facilities throughout the southeast. I am NOT an engineer, so I apologize if my question doesn't rise to the technical level it should. Please forgive.
My question involves checking ventilation for ORs, Procedure Rooms, Soiled Rooms and Clean Rooms. I know these are required to maintain either positive or negative pressure. My company has us check that in a couple of ways. First, there is always the tissue test. If the room is pressurized enough either way it will flutter in or out. Mostly, though, we use a meter off of an Alnor EBT 721 with a tube that slides under the door and get a quantifiable reading.
So my question is, does a reading of .0001" to say even .0005" wc really mean that the room is "positive?" At that level the tissue doesn't even move. Wouldn't that be considered a technically neutral room? Also, when reading the codes in states like NC and FL, I see that they call for Positive or Negative, but I don't see where they quantify that (ie - what constitutes "positive")
Is it a certain CFM of supply over Exhaust/Return? Is it a minimum .001" wc? Would something as low as .0001" wc qualify? Same questions for negative rooms too. Just need some not-over-my-head-technical type guidance.
My question involves checking ventilation for ORs, Procedure Rooms, Soiled Rooms and Clean Rooms. I know these are required to maintain either positive or negative pressure. My company has us check that in a couple of ways. First, there is always the tissue test. If the room is pressurized enough either way it will flutter in or out. Mostly, though, we use a meter off of an Alnor EBT 721 with a tube that slides under the door and get a quantifiable reading.
So my question is, does a reading of .0001" to say even .0005" wc really mean that the room is "positive?" At that level the tissue doesn't even move. Wouldn't that be considered a technically neutral room? Also, when reading the codes in states like NC and FL, I see that they call for Positive or Negative, but I don't see where they quantify that (ie - what constitutes "positive")
Is it a certain CFM of supply over Exhaust/Return? Is it a minimum .001" wc? Would something as low as .0001" wc qualify? Same questions for negative rooms too. Just need some not-over-my-head-technical type guidance.