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HVAC and Indoor Air Quality: How to Improve Your Home’s IAQ
Fresh air in your home is one of those things that is easy to take for granted… until something causes you to have trouble with it. Pollen, dust, and other airborne contaminants can be distributed throughout your home through your HVAC system’s ductwork. This can exacerbate asthma and allergies and generally make it harder to breathe—even for those without respiratory issues. While we can’t help you fix the quality of the whole world’s air, we can help you with the air inside your home.
What is IAQ?IAQ stands for Indoor Air Quality. It’s a measure of how many pollutants or other irritants are in the air. The quality of the air you breathe at home can have a significant impact on your health, comfort, and well-being, so it’s a good idea to make sure your home has good indoor air quality. In fact, poor air quality can lead to a range of health problems, such as allergies, asthma, headaches, fatigue, and other respiratory issues. How to Improve Indoor Air QualityIt’s important to maintain good indoor air quality, especially at home. To improve your home’s IAQ, it’s essential to maintain proper ventilation, control pollutant sources, and ensure regular cleaning and maintenance of HVAC systems. Regular monitoring and testing of indoor air can also help identify and address any issues that may arise. Here are ten ways you can help improve your home’s IAQ. Air quality improvement systemsAir quality improvement systems are tools you install to improve specific aspects of your home’s air quality. These systems include air purifiers, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, carbon monoxide (CO) detectors, and radon mitigation systems. These air quality improvement systems can work individually or in combination to create healthier and more pleasant living and working spaces. They make a difference by removing airborne pollutants, controlling humidity levels, ensuring proper ventilation and air circulation, and monitoring for harmful gasses. If you plan to install any IAQ improvement systems, make sure you are getting the tools that can address your home’s specific needs. Avoid using harsh chemicals indoorsWhile cleaning regularly is important, what’s equally important is making sure the cleaning products aren’t contributing to poor air quality. Cleaning products like bleach cleaners and air fresheners can release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. Short-term exposure may cause eye, nose, and throat irritation, headaches, dizziness, and nausea, while long-term exposure can be more severe, resulting in respiratory issues, worsening of asthma symptoms, and other chronic health problems. Reducing exposure to VOCs requires a combination of choosing products that are low in VOCs, ensuring proper ventilation while cleaning, and a proactive approach to keeping indoor spaces clean so fewer cleaning products need to be used. Don’t smoke inside your homeSmoking indoors has one of the most significant negative impacts on IAQ and poses multiple health risks to everyone in the house. Beyond the direct health risks to the smoker, secondhand smoke can lead to various health issues, particularly for children, pregnant women, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing health conditions. Smoke particles and chemicals can also cling to surfaces and fabrics, creating a persistent and unpleasant odor and overall reduced air quality. These residual pollutants can continue to emit harmful substances over time and can be a source of ongoing exposure, particularly for young children who may touch contaminated surfaces and then put their hands in their mouths. Create a schedule for changing all the air filters in your homeIf you want to make sure your HVAC system is performing optimally and keeping your home’s air nice and clean, you’ll have to change your air filters regularly. How frequently you’ll need to change your air filter will depend on what type of filter you use. Fiberglass filters are more affordable, but need to be replaced approximately once per month. Pleated air filters last, on average, four and a half months before needing replacement. You can look at the packaging for the filter itself to know when it’s supposed to be changed. Follow those instructions, and you’ll improve your home’s overall air quality. Consider having an air exchanger installedAir can get moldy just like anything else if it sits in the same place for too long. If stale air never gets exchanged for cleaner, fresher air, then the overall air quality in your home will drop. That’s where an air exchanger can step in to help. Aptly named, an air exchanger regularly exchanges the air in your home using fans and vents within the unit that work to move stale indoor air outside of your home and replace it with fresh air from the outside. Freshen up your floorsIf you want your HVAC system to help with your indoor air quality, it’s important that you set it up for success, and that means keeping your floors clean. Of all the dust that can be found in your average home, dust on the floor is the most likely to go unnoticed, hidden underneath cupboards and in dark corners. You don’t want to breathe any of that in, which is why regular floor cleaning is necessary! Start with a vacuum that contains a HEPA filter, mop up what’s left, and protect your floors from future mess by putting door mats at every entrance to your home. Your lungs will thank you. Keep the rest of your home clean, tooDust and other contaminants are not confined to your floor. While spring cleaning is always a good idea, regular cleaning like dusting and wiping down surfaces with a disinfecting cleaner—especially hard to reach areas—will get rid of all the dust, allergens, and other contaminants that can become airborne and cause respiratory irritation. And when those various contaminants are scrubbed and removed, they won’t get into your HVAC system and therefore won’t circulate around your home. Make sure your home’s humidity is under controlDust mites love moisture. So does mold. So do most generally unpleasant things that can find their way into your home. That’s why you want to make sure your home’s humidity is set between 30% and 50%. This is a level that will keep your home comfortable without promoting mold growth or other unpleasantness. You can better control your home’s humidity by having a whole-home humidifier installed. Otherwise, you can take other small steps like having your dryer vent outside, immediately fixing plumbing leaks you find, and making sure not to overwater your house plants. Buy some houseplantsHouse plants are like small, easy-to-manage air purifiers. They take in carbon dioxide (CO2) and create oxygen, which is one of the best ways to improve your indoor air quality. Certain types of houseplants can also be used to help control humidity, which is an important aspect of preventing mold and mildew growth. Your local garden center will have a variety of houseplants that are fun to look at and many varieties that are easy to take care of. Just be sure you don’t get any plants that will trigger any existing allergies or harm any of your pets. Regular HVAC maintenanceRegular HVAC maintenance is important for lots of reasons, and keeping your home’s air quality healthy is at the top of that list. Staying on top of HVAC tune ups means you can be sure your ventilation system is working properly, which helps prevent the buildup and circulation of dust, allergens, and pollutants. Professional maintenance also helps keep the air in your home safe because your HVAC tech can spot and address potential hazards such as carbon monoxide leaks, mold build-up, or any other small problems before they become major problems. To schedule your next HVAC maintenance appointment, contact us today. |
Fresh air in your home is one of those things that is easy to take for granted… until something causes you to have trouble with it. Pollen, dust, and other airborne contaminants can be distributed throughout your home through your HVAC system’s ductwork. This can exacerbate asthma and allergies and generally make it harder to breathe—even for those without respiratory issues.
While we can’t help you fix the quality of the whole world’s air, we can help you with the air inside your home.
IAQ stands for Indoor Air Quality. It’s a measure of how many pollutants or other irritants are in the air.
The quality of the air you breathe at home can have a significant impact on your health, comfort, and well-being, so it’s a good idea to make sure your home has good indoor air quality. In fact, poor air quality can lead to a range of health problems, such as allergies, asthma, headaches, fatigue, and other respiratory issues.
It’s important to maintain good indoor air quality, especially at home. To improve your home’s IAQ, it’s essential to maintain proper ventilation, control pollutant sources, and ensure regular cleaning and maintenance of HVAC systems. Regular monitoring and testing of indoor air can also help identify and address any issues that may arise.
Here are ten ways you can help improve your home’s IAQ.
Air quality improvement systems are tools you install to improve specific aspects of your home’s air quality. These systems include air purifiers, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, carbon monoxide (CO) detectors, and radon mitigation systems.
These air quality improvement systems can work individually or in combination to create healthier and more pleasant living and working spaces. They make a difference by removing airborne pollutants, controlling humidity levels, ensuring proper ventilation and air circulation, and monitoring for harmful gasses. If you plan to install any IAQ improvement systems, make sure you are getting the tools that can address your home’s specific needs.
While cleaning regularly is important, what’s equally important is making sure the cleaning products aren’t contributing to poor air quality. Cleaning products like bleach cleaners and air fresheners can release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. Short-term exposure may cause eye, nose, and throat irritation, headaches, dizziness, and nausea, while long-term exposure can be more severe, resulting in respiratory issues, worsening of asthma symptoms, and other chronic health problems. Reducing exposure to VOCs requires a combination of choosing products that are low in VOCs, ensuring proper ventilation while cleaning, and a proactive approach to keeping indoor spaces clean so fewer cleaning products need to be used.
Smoking indoors has one of the most significant negative impacts on IAQ and poses multiple health risks to everyone in the house. Beyond the direct health risks to the smoker, secondhand smoke can lead to various health issues, particularly for children, pregnant women, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing health conditions. Smoke particles and chemicals can also cling to surfaces and fabrics, creating a persistent and unpleasant odor and overall reduced air quality. These residual pollutants can continue to emit harmful substances over time and can be a source of ongoing exposure, particularly for young children who may touch contaminated surfaces and then put their hands in their mouths.
If you want to make sure your HVAC system is performing optimally and keeping your home’s air nice and clean, you’ll have to change your air filters regularly. How frequently you’ll need to change your air filter will depend on what type of filter you use. Fiberglass filters are more affordable, but need to be replaced approximately once per month. Pleated air filters last, on average, four and a half months before needing replacement. You can look at the packaging for the filter itself to know when it’s supposed to be changed. Follow those instructions, and you’ll improve your home’s overall air quality.
Air can get moldy just like anything else if it sits in the same place for too long. If stale air never gets exchanged for cleaner, fresher air, then the overall air quality in your home will drop. That’s where an air exchanger can step in to help. Aptly named, an air exchanger regularly exchanges the air in your home using fans and vents within the unit that work to move stale indoor air outside of your home and replace it with fresh air from the outside.
If you want your HVAC system to help with your indoor air quality, it’s important that you set it up for success, and that means keeping your floors clean. Of all the dust that can be found in your average home, dust on the floor is the most likely to go unnoticed, hidden underneath cupboards and in dark corners. You don’t want to breathe any of that in, which is why regular floor cleaning is necessary! Start with a vacuum that contains a HEPA filter, mop up what’s left, and protect your floors from future mess by putting door mats at every entrance to your home. Your lungs will thank you.
Dust and other contaminants are not confined to your floor. While spring cleaning is always a good idea, regular cleaning like dusting and wiping down surfaces with a disinfecting cleaner—especially hard to reach areas—will get rid of all the dust, allergens, and other contaminants that can become airborne and cause respiratory irritation. And when those various contaminants are scrubbed and removed, they won’t get into your HVAC system and therefore won’t circulate around your home.
Dust mites love moisture. So does mold. So do most generally unpleasant things that can find their way into your home. That’s why you want to make sure your home’s humidity is set between 30% and 50%. This is a level that will keep your home comfortable without promoting mold growth or other unpleasantness. You can better control your home’s humidity by having a whole-home humidifier installed. Otherwise, you can take other small steps like having your dryer vent outside, immediately fixing plumbing leaks you find, and making sure not to overwater your house plants.
House plants are like small, easy-to-manage air purifiers. They take in carbon dioxide (CO2) and create oxygen, which is one of the best ways to improve your indoor air quality. Certain types of houseplants can also be used to help control humidity, which is an important aspect of preventing mold and mildew growth. Your local garden center will have a variety of houseplants that are fun to look at and many varieties that are easy to take care of. Just be sure you don’t get any plants that will trigger any existing allergies or harm any of your pets.
Regular HVAC maintenance is important for lots of reasons, and keeping your home’s air quality healthy is at the top of that list. Staying on top of HVAC tune ups means you can be sure your ventilation system is working properly, which helps prevent the buildup and circulation of dust, allergens, and pollutants. Professional maintenance also helps keep the air in your home safe because your HVAC tech can spot and address potential hazards such as carbon monoxide leaks, mold build-up, or any other small problems before they become major problems.
To schedule your next HVAC maintenance appointment, contact us today.
Call: 612-825-6867
