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A Breath of Fresh Air
Reading time: 2 minutes
Comfort
Before COVID-19, teachers could ventilate their classrooms naturally by opening a window, cracking open a door, turning on a fan, or all three. Fast-forward to the present day, and school officials now realize natural classroom ventilation methods alone cannot adequately ventilate the classroom consistently.
To remove airborne pollutants from the classroom, it's imperative to install mechanical ventilation solutions in schools.
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In the summer of 2020, the Rainbow District School Board reached out to Fantech representatives for help. They received a large grant to improve indoor air quality in schools within the Rainbow District.
Like most school boards before the pandemic, the Rainbow District School Board did not require real mechanical ventilation solutions in their schools because they did not see value in it over utilizing natural ventilation methods.
Many of their schools were built decades before local building codes required mechanical ventilation, and therefore these schools would need to be retrofitted, so the need never arose - until COVID-19 reared its ugly head. They then found out that the lack of indoor ventilation was going to be an issue sooner rather than later.
In a major school HVAC retrofitting effort, the Rainbow District School Board launched a ventilation upgrade project that included installing 50 Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs, SER 700s) in the classrooms within the district.
We needed indoor ventilation to get through the pandemic, but also to provide ventilation to schools that were exempt from the updated building code. We felt all of our schools would benefit from added ventilation, so we decided it was the correct move to purchase ventilation units and install them as fast as possible.
Manager of Capital Projects at the Rainbow District School Board
After the purchase of the units in the summer of 2020, the updates quickly started thereafter. The project began in September 2020, and they were able to finish the renovations in January 2021.
“By purchasing the units in bulk, we were able to get a lot of ventilation in a very short amount of time,” Sandi said.
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In one instance, the contractors needed to construct millwork to protect and quiet the ERVs. Even though the SER 700s are inherently quiet, the teachers at a particular elementary school within the Rainbow school district are not used to noise of any kind.
The contractors were able to remedy the situation by dropping the ceiling and placing large sliding white boards in front.
One of the older schools, the Adamsdale Public school was one of the recipients of the new ventilation equipment. The school is a Kindergarten through sixth grade elementary school that places academic, athletics, and character education at the top of their priority list.
According to Sandi, their first step was to ensure the classrooms had some sort of mechanical ventilation. And their next step? They needed to mask the sound of the units. Wait, does that mean Fantech units are noisy?
"No, it’s not that the units are loud, but the teachers are not used to noise at all. So, to reduce the noise, we incorporated millwork around the units and placed a 21st-century wall in front of it," said Sandi.
"We had sliding whiteboards attached in front of the unit from the floor to about three feet below the new drop ceiling. This created a unique opportunity for the students to get involved with class, and gave teachers more space for their lessons."
Over a year has passed since Adamsdale received and installed multiple SER 700s, how have things changed for students and faculty? Sandi told Fantech:
"The minute we installed ventilation at Adamsdale, you could just feel the breath of fresh air. We also have seen fewer attendance issues amongst our teaching staff—whether that is attributed to wearing masks or the added ventilation, we don’t know. However, the added ventilation certainly does not hurt."
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It makes sense that the Rainbow District School Board recognized ventilation as an issue as early as they did, as forward-thinking is incorporated throughout their schools.
In particular, the Adamsdale public school was named as a “School On The Move” by the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat because of their research-based strategies to support continuous improvement in student achievement. Their school has a ‘Me to We’ club where students recycle drink pouches and used batteries.
They collect milk bags to make rugs for Haitians, promote litter-less lunches, and participate in volunteer opportunities in their community. They also raise funds throughout every school year and donate these funds to a charity of their choice.
The Rainbow District School Board’s investment in Energy Recovery Ventilators demonstrates a forward-thinking approach to improve indoor air quality in schools. By prioritizing ventilation upgrades for educational institutions, the project not only meets the growing demand for post-pandemic school air quality solutions, but also plays a vital role in enhancing student and faculty comfort—now and into the future.
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