Formaldehyde in Indoor Air of New Appartments ...

This work aimed at evaluating the indoor concentrations of formaldehyde in twenty five new apartments in the city of Drama, Northern Greece. By means of a formaldehyde meter, two series of measurements were made in September 2009 and September 2010. Early morning measurements were made in the living rooms, bedrooms, kitchen rooms and child rooms. Initial measurements showed that average concentrations of formaldehyde exceeded by far the limit of 0.1 ppm set in most of the European countries for formaldehyde concentration in residential environments. After a 30-minute natural ventilation in the apartments, formaldehyde concentrations remained at the levels higher than 1.0 ppm only in three apartments. In the following months (September 2009 to September 2010), a systematic ventilation by opening windows took place not only in the morning but also in the late afternoon. In September 2010, measurements were performed in the same apartments indicating that all apartments investigated had formaldehyde concentrations much lower than 1.0 ppm and obviously the indoor air environment was much cleaner.