Chris Eck, Holloway House’s CEO, said, “We’ve always done what we can to take care of our employees. We’re concerned for them and their families. We know they’re concerned, too. Our employees are the heart of our company and without our employees, we can’t take care of our customers.”
Holloway House Inc, a Fortville Indiana based manufacturer of floor cleaning products, contacted Lumin-Air to provide recommendations.
“We follow CDC and ASHRAE guidelines. ASHRAE may be less well-known to the public, but it’s the industry standard for buildings”, says Dan Fillenwarth, co-founder of Lumin-Air.
“People want to work where they know their health is a top priority of their company. Lumin-Air surveyed our facilities and suggested that we improve our filtration to MERV 13 and use ultraviolet germicidal units in certain areas. We’re using ultraviolet units in our break rooms, chemistry lab and in the shipping area of our plant. We’re improving the filtration efficiency in the production area and in all the office areas”, said Mike Thomas, VP of Operations and Chemist for Holloway House.
“ASHRAE recommends minimum MERV 13 filters. These filters have an 87% efficiency weighting across the particle sizes of a typical human cough. The problem is most HVAC equipment can’t handle the improved efficiency of a MERV 13 filter, so we use polarized media by Dynamic AQS. Unlike passive filters that mostly capture contaminants by front-loading on filter fibers, the polarized Dynamic media captures contaminants completely around each filter fiber. The result is an efficient removal of contaminants with a low pressure drop that existing HVAC equipment can handle. An added benefit is that Dynamic filters don’t have to be changed as often, resulting in a 2-4 year payback for the owner.”
Ultraviolet (UV) systems have been used for more than eighty years to fight the spread of diseases. Since successfully fighting measles in the late 1930’s to tuberculosis and other respiratory viruses over the years, UV is recommended by authorities such as NIOSH, CDC, ASHRAE, and Harvard Medical School, to inactivate SARS-CoV-2.
The UV devices Lumin-Air recommended are upper-air units that mount directly in the occupied space. “The units create a thin band of UV-C above people’s heads. As air circulates throughout the space, the air is disinfected. Lumin-Air commissions each system, providing the building owner with documentation showing the UV-C power in the upper-portion of the room and verifying no UV-C in the lower, occupied portion of the room”, added Fillenwarth.
Buyers have to do their homework. Consult the CDC, the EPA, and ASHRAE’s Covid-19 website. Andrew Desmarais, Lumin-Air’s other co-founder added, “There are companies out there selling products that spread vaporized hydrogen peroxide into the air we breathe. Others are selling products they claim create ions which cause chemical reactions on virus and bacteria cells, but coincidentally don’t damage human respiratory cells when inhaled. Others sell UV systems that shine light directly on occupants. Be wary of anything that claims to kill viruses and bacteria in the air you breathe while being perfectly fine for your health. That doesn’t add up.”
About Holloway House, Inc. Holloway House has been manufacturing cleaning products in Indiana since 1962. Holloway House is a family-owned business with international sales. Holloway House’s Quick Shine floor care products can be found on the shelves of several popular retail companies, including Kroger, Walmart, Home Depot, Sullivan Hardware, and online at Amazon and its own website, www.hollowayhouse.net.