How clean is the air inside your home? The answer might surprise you! Even if we vacuum, clean the hard surfaces and change your furnace filters regularly, dust, pollen, pet dander and other elements impact our indoor air quality.
According to research, the air inside your home is generally between two to five times more polluted than the air outside, and some factors can make indoor air up to 100 times more toxic than the outdoor environment.
The experts at Greenway Mechanical want to help create the best possible air quality inside your home for the health and safety of your family.
Six main factors that affect indoor air quality:
- High humidity – can lead to higher levels of dust mites and fungi, which are known to exacerbate allergy and respiratory conditions.
- Low humidity – can lead to dehydration which can cause irritated skin, dry eyes, eye infections, nose bleeds, and flare ups of acne and eczema.
- Poor ventilation – can lead to a build up of unwanted airborne substances.
- Pet dander – extremely small pieces of a pet’s skin that can cause allergic reactions.
- Dust – can come from numerous different sources and be present in the air of your home at all times.
- Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – can come from personal care products, cleaning agents, paints, copying and printing machines. VOCs can even be released during storage.
So, now that we know what the culprits are when it comes to poor indoor air quality, what can we do about them?
Here are six tips for improving air quality:
- Central air system – leave your fan running 24/7 to enable the filtration system to clean your air.
- Air system air filter – change or clean your system’s air filter as recommended by the manufacturer.
- Other air filters – don’t forget to use other filters when necessary.
- Air ducts – should be cleaned every two to three years or more often if you have allergies or other conditions.
- Rugs and carpets – should be cleaned on a regular basis.
- Humidity – should be controlled using either a humidifier or de-humidifier
The experts at Greenway Mechanical offer a variety of products and services to help improve the air quality in your home, including the installation of: Media air/furnace system filters, which do not need cleaning; ultraviolet (UV) lamp in your existing HVAC system, which kills bacteria, mould and mildew; HEPA filtration in your system, which traps harmful particles like pollen, pet dander, dust mites and tobacco smoke.
For more information call 604-359-8700 or email info@greenwaymechanical.com.