Heater Choice, Dampness and Mould Growth in 26 New Zealand Homes: A Study of Propensity for Mould Growth Using Encapsulated Fungal Spores

Buildings

Mikael Boulic³  Robyn Anne Phipps⁴  Malcolm Cunningham¹  Donald John Cleland³  Pär Fjällström⁵  Keiko Abe⁶  Philippa Howden-Chapman² 

[1] Building Research Association of New Zealand, Porirua 5381, New Zealand; E-Mail:;Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington 6021, New Zealand; E-Mail:;School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Massey University, Manawatu Campus, Palmerston North 4474, New Zealand; E-Mail:;School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland 0632, New Zealand; E-Mail:;IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, P.O. Box 210 60, SE-100 31 Stockholm, Sweden; E-Mail:;Institute of Environmental Biology, JDC Corporation, Kanagawa 243-03, Japan; E-Mail:

关键词: New Zealand homes;    heater usage;    psychrometrics;    mould growth;    fungal detector;    visual mould inspection;   

DOI  :  10.3390/buildings5010149

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The relationship between the use of unflued gas heaters (UGH, N = 14) and heat pump heaters (HP, N = 12) located in the living rooms, and mould growth on the living room and bedroom walls, of 26 New Zealand (NZ) occupied homes was investigated during winter. Two methods were employed to evaluate the potential of mould growth on walls: (i) measurement of daily hyphal growth rate using a fungal detector (encapsulated fungal spores); and (ii) estimation of fungal contamination based on a four level scale visual inspection. The average wall psychrometric conditions were significantly different between the two heater type groups, in both the living rooms and the bedrooms with the UGH user homes being colder and damper than HP user homes. The UGHs were found to be a significant additional source of moisture in the living rooms which dramatically increased the capacity for fungi to grow on wall surfaces. The average daily hyphal growth rates were 4 and 16 times higher in the living rooms and in the bedrooms of the UGH user homes, respectively. Results from both mould detection methods gave good agreement, showing that the use of a fungal detector was an efficient method to predict the potential of mould growth on the inside of the external walls in NZ homes.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.