Cooking damage the indoor environment

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There is nothing like the smell of fried bacon.

But when you fry bacon, steak or something completely third on his forehead in the kitchen, a lot of particles scattered. In fact, spreading the particles to the entire house – also for the bedroom or children's room, where the household's youngest perhaps in time to play.

Measurements from the three newly built houses in the project Healthy Homes, which Realdania has listed in Holstebro, shows that, though the hood is switched on during cooking, so will be the amount of the ultrafine particles to rise in the bedroom a half hour after the pan was turned on in the kitchen of a house built to today's standard.

– We focus on particles from cooking, as we know that they affect our body in one degree or another, although we don't yet know how dangerous they are, explains koncernkompetencechef in the consulting engineering company MOE, Steffen E. Maagaard, who has been the project leader on Healthy Housing.

The utmost spreading of particles occurs, when the cooking takes place in an open kitchen, where the stove and the frithængende extractor is placed in the middle of the room on a kitchen island.

particle pollution in the home

A quarter of the total particle pollution in a home comes from outdoor air pollution. Three-quarters comes from the residents themselves in a non-smoking home, shows a study of the copenhagen housing.

In the housing, which turn on the candle, it is clearly the largest source of partikelforening of the air. Candles are responsible for half of the total particle pollution.

Then comes particles from cooking, which accounts for slightly under 30 percent of the total particle pollution. Particularly frying, baking and brødristning emit particles.

Source: Climate and health in dwellings, CISBO, 2016

the New attempt to make our homes healthier

When we make food, that delivered the steam to the air, when the water boils, and ultrafine particles being dispersed into the indoor environment, when we fry food in the pan.

– We knew that there would be a lot of particles around the stove when you cook a meal on his stove. However, from our measurements we can also see that the number of particles in the living room and the bedroom continues to rise and rise and rise – even after you have finished cooking, says Steffen E. Maagaard.

– I'm surprised how far the particles spread and thus also the strain, for example, the children sitting in the room and playing. And it's not just small amounts – there is talk of tens of thousands of ultra-fine particles.

So easy is it to get healthy air in the nursery

the Amount of particles that spreads from the cooking to the rest of the house, depends on a number of conditions, among other things, whether you have a large, open kitchen or a small kitchen, where the door can be closed to the rest of the house.

if you Have a modern kitchen, it also means something on the stove is placed along a wall or on an island in the middle of the room.

In standardhuset, where there is a large open kitchen with a cooking island is placed under a frithængende extractor in the middle of the kitchen, is the spread of the particles to the rest of the house the greatest.

– How to see a great many kitchens out in Denmark today. We could see clearly on the measurements, that the hood was really hard to limit the partikelspredningen. That is freely all the way around, so the particles are spread very easily. It was basically only the water vapor that was sucked out of the hood, but the particles that occurs when you fry the bacon or steaks, they escaped, explains Steffen E. Maagaard.

according to the measurements, the two things that can reduce the spread of particles from the cooking to the rest of the house.

IN YES-techhuset is the stove in a corner out along the wall, and there is a specially developed extractor hood, forming an air curtain. It also means that there will be far fewer particles for the face and fry steaks and fewer particles being spread to the rest of the house. In the NO tech-house is the large dining area, opted out. When the door to the kitchen closed, it ensures that quite a few particles spread to, for example, the nursery, where the small plays.

For many families it is not optimal to cook in a traditional kitchen with the door closed, so that the adults can't keep up with the children's play during the cooking process.

But you aren't necessarily children's indoor climate by opening the door – as long as the kitchen is relatively shielded, explains Jørgen G, there is Realdania City & Barley project manager at Healthy Housing.

– We thought that it was important to close the door to the kitchen. But the measurements show that a lit extractor actually have as good an effect in the screened kitchen, that there are far fewer particles, which spread to the rest of the house, even though the door is open, in contrast to the completely open dining area. The important thing is that the opening decreasing in, says Jørgen G and explains that the narrowing gives extra speed in the air, which is sucked out of the hood, and it gives the particles enough ’headwind’, as they are in the kitchen.

Should the hood be turned on after cooking?

Realdania has built three new houses in Holstebro in order to test the roads to get to a healthier indoor environment with different building materials, floor layouts and technology.

NOW-tech like most of the newly built houses that are being constructed today.
NO-tech has taken its point of departure in building materials and a second setting, which among other things, separate playroom, udebad and outdoor kitchen. The idea here is to try to avoid the harmful influences of the air by the completely to keep them out.

YES-tech has a number of technical solutions to improve the indoor environment – a special ventilation system, specially developed exhaust ventilation at the furnace, and an extra strong extractor. The idea here is to get rid of the bad air as quickly as possible by means of ventilation. the
Clean air during cooking

It doesn't harm the indoor environment, if you cook outdoors, as it is made possible in NO-techhuset in Holstebro. Photo: Helene Høyer Mikkelsen/PR
A-plan is not just to modify with a snap, but the new knowledge of the particle spreading in connection with the cooking. stresses that it is important that you are aware of the indoor environment. And you can ensure a cleaner air without having to resign your new kitchen with a cooking island in the middle.

Bolius’ expert in the subject of indoor climate, Tue Patursson, here are five tips that can provide cleaner air in connection with cooking.

Turn on the hood 5 minutes before you are going to boil or roast. Then there will be created a small negative pressure, which makes that sucked works better when vapor and particles are released during cooking. Do you have a large dining area, it will limit the spread of the particles, if you close the doors to the other rooms during the cooking process.Use the lid as often as possible. It gives fewer particles and vapor, and you save at the same time on the energy.A gas grill on the terrace can be just as effective as a skillet on the stove. It keeps the particles and odors out, and can perhaps even provide a little atmosphere and is reminiscent of warm summer evenings.Air out with mm in the 5-10 minutes after cooking.

Steffen E. Maagaard from the MOE also points out that the hood has a really big importance. There are many different types of cooker hoods on the market – frithængende, skabsintegreret, bordintegreret, hoods that suck from the wall, etc., and there is a big difference in how effective they are.

Therefore, it can also be a solution to move the stove to a corner and buy a new and efficient extractor fan to be placed just above the hob.

Test: Here are the best hoods
In standardhuset NOW-tech increases the amount of ultrafine particulate matter in the bedroom a half an hour after pan with bacon has been turned on in the kitchen. In the NO-tech is the door to the kitchen closed, and the particles spread, therefore, not to the rest of the house.
the Graph shows the number of ultrafine particles in the living room in the NO-tech and NOW-tech.

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