How can I tell if there are any asbestos fibers being circulated in my home due to asbesots ductwork?

Question

I own a property which I just discovered has some asbestos ductwork as part of the HVAC system. It is largely intact except for the return air duct which looks like it was roughly cut-back in the 1940's to fit over it's opening.

I just had a new HVAC unit put in which replaced (believe it or not) the original one from the 1940's. The new furnace seems to blow air out harder than the old and I'm worried that some old asbestos dust could be now circulating through the air of the house due to the increased air flow.

Is there a way to collect a sample of the air in the house and have it analzyed? I"m thinking maybe of vacumming the house and sending the air filter to a testing lab. Or??????

Thanks in advance for your help on this....

Answer 1

The only way to be sure is to get it tested. I don't know if they will test your sample or if they take their own. In order to quantify the sample they would have to take it so that they would know how much air was drawn.

Answer 2

Asbestos just doesn't fall apart. What is woven into the paper wrap will stay together. Any fibre that were free would have blown out and have been snorted up in the 40's. The use of the asbestos would have been mainly around the furnace itself as many of them were coal fired, so we are talking flames. Not a worry as it has been in place so long. You probably get more asbestos dust by going outside to the car(brakes pads have it combined in the component makeup)

Answer 3

How about taking a sample off the furnace filter itself? You could put a small patch of porous material, perhaps tape and see what ends up sticking to it. If you explain this to the lab maybe they can make an accurate analysis.

Answer 4

Maybe try a search for asbestos testing. or http://air-techinternational.com/Asbestos.html

Answer 5

if you have asbestos ducts I would replace them