Concerns on Ventilation in preschools

[qingni0000]

ss 554/ss 553 are not available on the website. You can read it at the reference library (need to book it online). You can also buy it from the website.


ss554:2016
https://www.singaporestandardseshop.sg/Product/Product.aspx?ID=8ee48ab1-38f5-4dae-a469-b8612a05876f
https://s1.postimg.org/1ldgb5njin/ss554.jpg\">

ss553:2016
https://www.singaporestandardseshop.sg/Product/Product.aspx?ID=112b67fc-8c96-4dd4-8d8a-e71a5b4d4df8


https://s1.postimg.org/7llmfwckr3/ss553.jpg\">

[qingni0000]

Here are some free materials from ASHRAE. Indoor Air Quality Guide, free but registration is required. I did not download it, so I dont know whether it is the standard.

https://www.ashrae.org/resources--publications/bookstore/indoor-air-quality-guide

Here is a copy of the standard by google.
ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2016
http://www.1pe.ir/%D8%B5%D9%81%D8%AD%D9%87-%D8%A7%D8%B5%D9%84%DB%8C/%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%81%D9%86%DB%8C/%D9%85%D8%B1%DA%A9%D8%B2-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AF/category/1-mechanical-engineering.html?download=23:replace-the-standard-air

I attached the page 13 of 62.1-2016 here for quick reference.
https://s1.postimg.org/1qov7qr34v/62.1.jpg\">

[qingni0000]

You can check the school's aircon. If it looks same as this picture, you should pay more attention. This is called Cassette unit. A few of this model have an options to intake outdoor air.



https://s1.postimg.org/4xkop6ov8f/what-type-of-aircon-should-i-get-for-my-office2.jpg\">

If the aircon is as the one used at home, then there is no ventilation function.

If you find something like these in the classroom, then most likely the preschool is using the central air-conditioning system, which has the ventilation function.

https://s1.postimg.org/4litbcryxb/images.jpg\">

https://s1.postimg.org/1y64f5xidb/images_1.jpg\">

https://s1.postimg.org/5020gdzx5b/images_2.jpg\">


https://s1.postimg.org/5i4tj5cb1b/F7_VUAVSGINORM92.RECT2100.jpg\">

[Kspsk]

qingni0000:

My dd was in a preschool located in an industry park. The school is fully air-conditioned. Just recently I found the center has no ventilation facility. All the air-change is via the main door and an rear door, which are closed at most of time.


I feedback this issue to the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) and got a reply in about one week. Currently MEWR started an investigation on this with The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), and will find the plan to advise preschools.

Here are some points I got:
1 Singapore has two standards for air-conditioned indoor air quality. (ss 553 & ss 554). This standards are same as ASHRAE 62.1 (latest version 2016), which is from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
2 In Singapore indoor air quality is not regulated. The standards serve as a guideline.
3 The MEWR will work with ECDA for a guideline for preschools.
4 The MEWR may consider to regulate the indoor air quality later.

Per ASHRAE 62.1-2016 page 13, the minimum ventilation rate for classroom (ages 5-8) is 5 L/s-person, which is 5 liters per second per person. Suppose the child has 3 m^2 are in the classroom and the height of the classroom is 4m, the time for all the air to be replaced (suppose no mix-up) is 4*3*1000/5 = 2400 second = 40 minute.

I visited a few preschools, per my memory, most of them do not have ventilation consideration except one located in a shopping center which served by the shopping center air-con.

Since the outcome of MEWR is just a guideline, it may depends on each preschool to decide whether to follow or not.

My post is just reminder for parents to check whether the preschool of your dd/ds has this issue.

Hi, any idea for centralised air con in shopping centre / industrial building / office building, if the other tenants are dealing with pollutants like vocs or smoking in their units or toilets, will the air be recirculated and affect the air of the childcare centre in such a building? Thanks.

[danbai]

Hi OP,


Did you have further update from MEWR?

I recently had the same query as you. My dd is currently in a student care centre below a HDB void deck, every time I fetch her and open their main door, I can feel the stale air. The people inside are probably already adapted to it. I feel that the lack of ventilation in such student care and childcare centre can affect their learning abilities.

And once her classmate vomited in class, my dd fell sick to fever the next day. Coincidence or not I dunno. But the lack of ventilation could have played a part.

Few years ago when looking for childcare centre for my 2 kids, I purposely looked for centres that are not air-conditioned. They hardly fell sick and are usually still mentally and physically active when I pick them up at 6pm after a whole day in school. I worried about the kids that spends hours in air-conditioned centre, especially those using split aircons.

I agreed there is a lack of oversight for these centres. There are guidelines and regulations for the commercial, residential and healthcare indoor environments, but these student care and childcare centre may have been left out, even though fresh air is even more crucial for childrens development. It may take very long before the govt can come out with something that will truly impact the people affected. I don’t want my kids to wait that long before something is done.

As parents, we can spread awareness on the importance of ventilation. Student care and child care centres should find ways to ventilate the class rooms, either by mechanical ventilation (costly), or perhaps open all the windows and doors 1 hour before the centres open, to allow an air change and let out the stale air, and perhaps one more time in the middle of the day, while the air con / fans/ circulators are running so as to push the air out.