THE INFLUENCE OF ROOM TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY ON ODOR IN A UNIT-TYPE NURSING HOME

The investigation was conducted to investigate the relationship between thermal conditions andindoor air quality during summer in a new unit-type nursing home. Almost all occupants in the nursinghome spend the daytime in the nursing homes common space area. We set out to examine how theindoor environment changes and what influence the thermal environment has on odor, and thereforetook readings in the common space for room temperature, relative humidity, CO2 concentration andodor levels. There was no correlation found between odor and room temperature becauseair-conditioners were running continuously in the common space. There was, however, correlationfound between odor and CO2 concentration. The authors suspected that odor from the number ofhuman bodies, CO2 concentration and relative humidity would mutually influence each other. But theodor level did not change according to the number of occupants in the common space, although theCO2 concentration rose along with the number of occupants and their length of stay. Instead, theamount of odor increased mainly from meals.Since vinyl cloth covers the walls in the private rooms, formaldehyde levels were measured. Therewas a definite correlation found between the concentration of formaldehyde with both the wall and roomtemperatures in the room with a western aspect. There was not, however, similar correlation betweenformaldehyde and room temperature in the room with an eastern aspect. The occupant of eastern roomwears a diaper which required irregular changes in the room. It was seen that the air-conditioner wasturned on during diaper changes. In the western room the concentration of formaldehyde was observednot to fall easily even if it was ventilated whilst the occupant was absent during the daytime. In theeastern room, however, it is assumed that the concentration of formaldehyde was suppressed due tothe occasional use of the air conditioner during the day. Therefore, the authors concluded thatventilating unoccupied rooms by keeping the door open or running air-conditioners is important for airquality purposes in unit-type nursing home rooms.