Indoor Air Quality
AIR QUALITY = HOME COMFORT
- Take a deep breath; is the air in your home fresh?
- Did you just breathe in a cornucopia of mold, dust mites, cat or dog dander and radon gas?
- What about the combustion pollutants from improperly vented dryers, heaters and fireplaces?
- Is your family breathing volatile organic compounds, (VOCs)? VOCs are chemicals in paints, cleaning supplies, building materials, air fresheners, dry cleaned clothing. Indoor air can be more polluted than outdoor air
The EPA identifies indoor air pollutants as among the top five environmental health risks. The air you and your family breathe at home may be a health risk! Do you want to know what’s in the air in your house?
Today, homes are built to be energy efficient. That means our homes are built to keep air inside, we want to keep our warm air in during the winter and our cold air in during the summer. As a result, our homes no longer “breathe” and that is not good for indoor air quality.
So the air in your house probably needs a good cleaning. The overall quality of your home probably needs improving. Air quality in a home or business can be greatly improved by fresh, circulating air with the right level of humidity.
You can improve the quality of the indoor air your family breathes in a variety of ways:
- Opening your windows is an easy and inexpensive one way to improve the quality of your indoor air but only if it’s not raining, too cold, too hot and the outdoor air quality is good.
- Filters- buy good quality filters and change or clean them regularly.
- Have your Air Ducts tested and cleaned to remove accumulated dust and dirt.
- Control Humidity: High humidity keeps air moist increasing the chances of mold. Indoor air with humidity between 30% and 50% is ideal. A Whole House Humidifier will keep the humidity in your home at the level most comfortable for you and your family.
- Air ventilation systems provide an alternative to open windows in inclement weather.
- Ultraviolet (UV) air cleaners use ultraviolet radiation from UV lamps to destroy biological pollutants such as viruses, bacteria, allergens, and molds. These pollutants may be in your air or growing on the surface of your HVAC system. UV air cleaners do not replace your filtration system but rather works with your filtration system.
- Carbon Monoxide (CO) Monitors should be placed in every home. Every fuel burning appliance can release CO into your home. So your furnace, stove, fireplace, clothes dryer, water heater and space heaters all pose a risk of CO poisoning. Carbon Monoxide monitors will let you know when you and your family are at risk.
- Electronic Air Cleaning Systems supply clean air to your entire house.
You may not need to do all of the things discussed above all at once but consider making clean healthy indoor air one of your home improvement objectives.
Do you live and breathe in Bend, Redmond, Madras, Prineville, Sunriver or Sisters? Talk to us about your indoor air; call Central Oregon Heating, Cooling & Plumbing at 541-246-7223.