Comparison of field experiments in a refurbished bedroom with small chamber experiments

Emission testing in small test chambers has become the most commonly used method to evaluate the effect of building materials on IAQ in buildings. Emission testing in chambers is economically favourable and enables test conditions to be controlled. The question, however, is can small chamber testing be used to evaluate and predict IAQ in real indoor environments. Earlier experiments have indicated that concentrations in chambers are considerable higher than those found in field experiments. This study compares experiments performed in a small steel chamber with a controlled field experiment in a refurbished bedroom. Mathematical models are used to predict the concentration of TVOC in the bedroom based on chamber data, and compares this with the measured concentration in the bedroom. The predicted concentration in the bedroom is found to be up to ten times as high as the measured concentration in the bedroom. The paper provides hypothesis that can explain this discrepancy.