Guidelines for Room Ac’s, they are not so dangerous!

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room ac

The COVID 19 pandemic, commonly known as CORONA, has engulfed the world and India is no exception. The first infection was reported in December 2019 and within a span of three months almost all countries got affected. The COVID-19 virus belongs to the CORONA family to which SARS epidemic 2002 and MERS 2012 also belong and was taken as reference for the study. As of today, we continue to get information from the research made by many countries. The COVID19 virus affects the respiratory track and starts with symptoms like the common flu. This virus is a mutated strain and as of today no vaccine is available.

From the study data available as of today, the virus is not airborne and spreads through coughing and sneezing in form of droplets. Recent study has also indicated that the virus spreads thru speaking. Humidity has an effect on the spreading of virus. At a lower humidity, the droplets evaporate fast get reduced in size and travel longer distance. The virus becomes inactive at 56°C after 30 min exposure time.
Room Air conditioning
The end user in the residential use is known, constant and identifiable, unlike in offices and public spaces like malls and theaters where the end user is moving and is a temporary occupant. The guidelines for comfort, which are evolved over years are 24 to 30°C, RH of 40 to 60 and adequate fresh air.

Room air-conditioners are installed for a single room application, usually bedroom and at times in living room. It is a private space of one or two individuals extended to a family. The users are constant, and the health history and behavior are known, predictable and controllable and there is remote to negligible possibility of COVID 19 virus contamination.

In the summer, the users will be at higher health risk with the ambient temperatures above 40°C in hot and dry climate, and due to high humidity in costal India and the composite climate zones.

Room AC can be used with following guidelines:
The temperature should be kept between 24 to 30°C, 24 for humid climate and 30 for dry
The recommended humidity is between 40 and 60. In dry climate where humidity is less it is recommended to increase the humidity by keeping a water in a shallow pan
Ventilate* the room adequately by slightly keeping the window open during running with exhaust fan running in the adjacent bathroom if possible
Keep the doors and windows open when AC is not in operation
Increase the frequency of filter cleaning
In case of breakdown contact authorized dealer only

  • Study made Rehva Europe, ASHRAE US, ISHRAE India and SHASE Japan have advised ventilation as a part of operation under COVID 19 pandemic.

Renowned doctors and epidemiologist have indicated that the use of Room AC safe for the residential application. They have cautioned that in the offices and spaces where air is recirculated using ducted AC and there is possibility of spread by asymptomatic person and adequate ventilation should be used.

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