Indoor air quality matters. Bad or poor quality air, whether caused by dust, mold, pollen, dander, allergens, or toxic particulates—or some combination thereof—is unhealthy to breathe and impacts the health and well-being of you and your family. Poor air quality can be particularly troubling for people with breathing problems or other vulnerabilities.
To keep your family healthy and safe, you want a good indoor air quality. Shutting the windows to the Clermont air isn’t enough to maintain good indoor air quality. In fact, according to the EPA, indoor air quality can be much worse than the air quality outside.
While good quality indoor air starts with clean filters in your HVAC units, you can also do other things like investing in a high-efficiency air cleaner or germicidal lamp.
Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality
Most people spend around 90% of their time indoors. Though not all of this is spent at home, you still do spend a significant amount of time inside your house. Your home’s air quality matters, and it is affected by a number of factors.
You can’t control some of the factors that affect your home’s air quality. For example, dust on the wind, pollen from surrounding trees, or the quality of air outside in Clermont, FL, affect your air quality. There are also a lot of indoor sources that can affect your air quality.
Things Inside That Impact Your Indoor Air Quality
While some things that affect the air quality in your home, such as pet dander or burning candles or incense, may be obvious, others are less obvious. Did you know that your furniture and the infrastructure of your house can steadily give off chemical compounds?
These chemical compounds are known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). They can cause severe health problems, and some are even toxic. These harmful compounds are found in the following compounds:
- Glues
- Sealants
- Adhesives
- Paints
- Varnishes
- Other building and furniture materials
Household cleaning chemicals can linger in the air and also pose irritation or health risks.
Humidity
The use of your air conditioner in the hot, humid Clermont summers can raise the moisture content in your home. This can lead to mold, mildew, or an increase in dust mites. You may not see them, but they could be in your air, settle on your surfaces, and affect your family’s health.
Switching air conditioning off in the fall can reduce the moisture content in your house. This in turn can dry out your sinus and nasal cavities, which makes them vulnerable to contaminants and allergens. As a result, you can have a higher risk of getting sick.
Impact of Air Quality on Health
Poor air quality can affect your health in multiple ways. Mild effects include irritation of your eyes, nose, and throat. More severe effects can include:
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Dizziness
- Effects on your respiratory, circulatory, and immune systems
Extremely severe problems can include heart disease and cancers.
Conversely, better indoor air quality can have positive effects on your health. You’ll likely find you breath and sleep more easily, and higher indoor air quality can improve your immune system and result in a reduction of allergies. Plus, you’ll be less likely to get sick from viruses or other pathogens if they aren’t in the air to begin with!
A better indoor air quality is especially important for children, the elderly, and anyone with immune system, respiratory, or allergy issues.
What Can I Do About My Indoor Air Quality?
You may be wondering what you can do to protect yourself and your family and improve your indoor air quality. Actually, there are a few things. Read on to discover what.
Regular Air Filter Replacements
The air filters in your home’s heating and cooling systems provide a first line of defense against contaminants in your air. When their filters are dirty or clogged, not only does the system have to work harder, which reduces your energy efficiency and reduces the unit’s longevity, dirty filters release and circulate contaminants and allergens continuously in your home.
Heating and cooling systems should have their air filters cleaned and replaced regularly. How often can vary by brand and model, so check your owner’s manual or contact an HVAC expert.
Maintain Ductwork and HVAC Units
Over time, the ductwork that circulates hot and cool air around your home can be subject to the build-up of dust, pollen, dander, contaminants, and even mold and mildew spores. What’s more, if you start getting these undesirables in your ductwork, they will continue to circulate throughout your home until removed.
However, you can have your ductwork serviced and cleaned by an HVAC professional.
Your cooling and heating systems should also be serviced regularly to ensure they remain clean and in working order.
High-Efficiency Air Cleaners
You can also invest in a high-efficiency air cleaner device (also called an air purifier) to keep the indoor air quality in your Clermont home high. Air cleaners go farther in removing contaminants from your air than your HVAC systems do. Such devices are designed to eliminate mold, bacteria, viruses, pollutants, allergens, and contaminants from your home’s air.
Furthermore, air cleaners can increase your family’s health and well-being just by cleaning the air. It’s best to select one with a HEPA filter if you can because HEPA filters can reduce up to 50% or more of the particulates in your air and around 30% of coarse particles like dust.
Different high-efficiency air cleaners cover the additional square footage. This means the size of the room you want to put it in will determine what size you need. Look for an activated carbon air filter. It is an extra layer of filtration that is good at filtering out odors and VOCs.
While you can get a home-wide system installed, it can be expensive. Having room high-efficiency air cleaners is a cost-effective option. Our HVAC specialists can advise you about options if you aren’t sure.
You should be advised many air cleaners remove allergens only while they are in the air. Once heavier allergens sink to the floor or into the carpet, an air purifier can’t get them.
Germicidal Lamps
Originally developed to treat tuberculosis, germicidal lamps employ ultraviolet light to deactivate the DNA in bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens so they can’t reproduce and cause disease. They are a form of non-chemical disinfection. Germicidal lamps are low maintenance, inexpensive, and do not emit toxic ozone.
Germicidal lamps are particularly effective in hot and humid locations (like Clermont!) where mold and bacteria thrive. They can also eliminate the following pollutants:
- Viruses
- Fungus
- Mildew
- Cigarette smoke and other odors
Because they clean the air, UV germicidal lamps can improve the performance of your HVAC system and help it last longer.
As air flows, the UV germicidal lamp disinfects the air. Our HVAC experts can install one in your ductwork or near your evaporative coil. Though it is safe to use in your home, it is important to never look at the UV lamp or allow it to touch your skin. It can damage your eyes or skin.
Ready for Better Indoor Air Quality?
Are you ready to take control of your indoor air quality to better your and your family’s health and well-being? If you are concerned about your home’s air quality, we can help!
If you google “HVAC technician near me,” you’ll find that Global Cooling is the expert on indoor air quality. Our highly qualified experts can customize indoor air quality solutions for your home and budget. Contact us today!