Air Quality Solutions
Have you ever entered your home after a few days away, only to breathe in stale, or stuffy air? While living in our homes, we often become used to the smell of it and don’t realize that maybe our air should be fresher. Having clean air in your home is very beneficial, whether you have a loved one with respiratory issues, or just for your own comfort. You can have your friends at Weather Crafters install a media cleaner, electronic air cleaner, or hybrid air cleaner, but there are also many small adjustments you can make to increase the air quality in your home.
- Change your air filter – HVAC systems have filters in them designed to filter out dust, pollen, and other irritants that circulate throughout your home. However, if you don’t change the filter regularly, that can be a problem. Filters that are overfilled with particles are not able to do their job of cleaning the air. They can also be detrimental to the overall health of your HVAC system. A clogged filter means the system must work harder to push air through the clog, and working harder can shorten your HVAC’s lifespan.
- Open Windows – Although this is not ideal in the dead of winter, or the height of summer, cracking windows allows fresh air to come in. The HVAC system cycles the same air into your home over and over. If you crack a few windows for a few hours a day, you allow fresh air to come. Try this during the cool, early morning hours of summer. Older homes don’t have issues with drawing in fresh air. They generally leak air out and draw in fresh air because they are not as airtight as newer homes. If you own a newer home, talk to one of our specialists at Weather Crafters about installing heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) if you don’t already have them. These work by removing old, stagnant, polluted air from the kitchen, bathroom, or utility room. It then replaces it with fresh air, drawn in from outside and cycles it into bedrooms, living rooms, and other common spaces.
- Trap dust and dirt – Help keep dust and dirt from becoming airborne by cleaning regularly with a vacuum and dusting. Door mats are also helpful in trapping irritants. You should also consider cleaning more often if you have a pet because pet hair and pet dander can be a common irritant for many people. The more irritants you remove from the air, the less irritants there will be to travel through your HVAC filter.
- House Plants – They call the Amazon Rainforest the “lungs of the world” and that is because they turn carbon dioxide into oxygen for us to breathe. A 1989 NASA study showed that house plants could filter 87% of toxins from an area in a 24 hour period. Now, we obviously don’t bring toxins into our home on purpose, but they are there. Having house plants can improve your quality of air and your quality of life, and they can be very easy to care for. If you are new to the plant world, try to choose something that is low-maintenance: aloe, rubber plants, English ivy, dracaena, snake plants, and bamboo. Many of these can survive in low-light, require little attention, and are great at filtering toxins out of the air. An aloe plant may even turn brown if it is taking in a lot of toxins – like a canary in the mine.
- Regular HVAC Maintenance – There is nothing more important to the health of your HVAC system than regular HVAC preventative maintenance by a trained professional. And a healthy system means you are breathing healthy air. Most HVAC specialists recommend having your system maintained at least once a year, but it is better to schedule a visit twice a year – once right before you start running your air-conditioning and once before your switch on the heat. Trained professionals can make sure your system is running safely and efficiently. They check for leaking air ducts, clogs, and ensure that the furnace is working well. Because all the air that you breathe runs through the HVAC system, it is important to make sure the system is working properly. Call Weather Crafters today to schedule your next maintenance check!
