Indoor Air Quality

Do Not Display

Indoor Air Quality - Tulsa, Ok

Indoor air can expose you to more pollutants than outdoor air. Failing to address issues with indoor air quality can lead to health problems like allergies and asthma. A good starting point for improving your home's air quality is identifying the levels of contaminants. Here are ways to test your home's air quality.

Evaluate Your Health Symptoms

Assessing any signs and symptoms you may have and your home's age and location may help narrow down the potential indoor pollutants. Seek medical attention if you believe your health issues are connected to your living environment. Your doctor will help you identify the health problems resulting from exposure to pollutants like mold, carbon monoxide, or radon.

Install an Air Quality Monitor

Purchase a monitor that measures the specific indoor pollutants you're worried about. For instance, if you live in an older house, you could get a monitor that detects carbon monoxide and radon. If you live in an area with lots of outdoor air pollution, you could buy a model that detects particulate matter.

Install Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarms

Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless, and tasteless, and it can build up to dangerous levels in a poorly ventilated space. If you own appliances such as gas furnaces, gas-burning stoves, and gas dryers, installing CO alarms on all levels of your home is crucial.

Carry Out a Radon Test

Long-term radon exposure is one of the leading causes of lung cancer. Radon can seep into your home through the foundation, walls, floors, and areas around your pipes. You can use short-term radon test kits, long-term kits, or continuous tests to find out whether your home has high radon levels.

Call a Professional

You can opt for professional indoor air quality test if you fear you may have severe air-quality issues and are experiencing health problems like asthma and humidifier fever related to exposure to pollutants.

Once you identify the potential indoor air quality issues in your home, you can address them by installing an air purifier, sealing up trouble areas, improving your home's ventilation, and ensuring your HVAC system is working at peak efficiency. If you need any HVAC service or indoor air quality assessment in the Broken Arrow area, contact the experts at Air Assurance.

How to Clean the Air in Your Home

Do you ever think about your indoor air quality? If not, you're like many other homeowners who, while they would never neglect cleaning their homes, don't give clean air a second thought. That's too bad, because research has shown that the air quality in most homes — particularly those with newer, tighter construction — is several times more polluted than the air outdoors. It may not be on your radar unless you have allergies or respiratory problems, but read on to learn what you might be breathing in your home. Then, maybe you'll decide it's time to do something about cleaning the air.

What Types of Pollutants Do You Have in Your Home?

The air in most homes is positive for a variety of airborne pollutants, including:

• Humidity

• Volatile organic compounds

• Dust mites and other decaying insect parts

• Pollen

• Dust

• Mold

• Pet dander

Over time, the pollutants build up, particularly if you keep windows and doors closed or if you do not have some type of ventilation equipment installed.

Cleaning the Air in Your Home

There are a number of ways to effectively go about cleaning the air in your home:

• Fix plumbing leaks, condensate drain obstructions, and leaks in the roof and ceiling to lower humidity in the home. Also, changing the HVAC filter often will help the HVAC remove moisture from the home's air properly.

• Install bathroom and kitchen ventilation to lower humidity in the home.

• Air out dry cleaning or articles made of pressed wood to shed volatile organic compounds, which are types of gases given off by certain products. Also tightly cap chemicals such as thinner, paint and cleaning solutions. Put them away in a cabinet or outside.

• Don't smoke indoors.

• Vacuum with a HEPA filter.

• Brush pets outdoors.

• To get rid of pet dander and insect particles, vacuum and clean rugs, carpets, and drapes.

• Use a quality air filter, changing it as often as the manufacturer recommends.

• Use either a portable air purifier or install a whole-home air purifier in the HVAC system.

For more on cleaning the air, contact Air Assurance of Broken Arrow.

How Your HVAC System Can Help You Combat Spring Allergies

Do Not Display

This time of year can make you miserable if you have spring allergies. Tree and grass pollen can cause you to sneeze, have watery eyes, and experience other allergy symptoms. You might not be able to avoid going outside, but you can use your HVAC system to keep these allergens out of your home and boost your indoor air quality. Use the following HVAC tips to combat spring allergies.

Replace HVAC Filters

HVAC filters catch allergens and other particles to prevent them from getting into your home through your vents when you’re running your air conditioning or heating system. However, these filters get dirty or clogged and need to be replaced. When your HVAC filters are dirty, this makes it easier for allergens to blow into different parts of your home via your ducts and vents. Check and change your HVAC filters this spring and every month (or few months) after that to reduce the presence of allergens in your home and alleviate your spring allergies.

Clean the Outdoor Unit

Pollen and other debris can cover your outdoor HVAC unit and end up getting into your home. Use a garden hose to rinse off your outdoor unit to eliminate pollen and other debris. In addition to reducing the risk of allergy symptoms, doing this helps your HVAC system run more efficiently.

Schedule Duct Cleaning

Your home’s ductwork can harbor pollen and other allergens, such as dust. When these ducts haven’t been cleaned in awhile, they could be filled with these allergens. A professional duct cleaning helps remove this debris so you’re not breathing it in while running your HVAC system.

Clean Your House

Sweeping and mopping floors, vacuuming, and dusting can help you reduce the amount of allergens in your home this spring. Doing these cleaning tasks on a regular basis can help you keep allergies at bay throughout the season.

If you need duct cleaning or other HVAC services to combat spring allergies, please contact Air Assurance. Our HVAC technicians provide dependable HVAC services to homeowners in Broken Arrow.

indoor Air Quality testing?

Indoor air quality has a significant impact on health. Exposure to the pollutants in indoor air has been associated with sneezing, coughing, respiratory irritation, and more-severe long-term health issues like cancer and lung disease. High-quality air filters can improve the quality of your home's air. Call Air Assurance Co if you would like a no costs assessment and report of your indoor air quality, including VOCS, particulate count, CO2 and more.

How Air Filters Affect Air Quality

The air that your HVAC system circulates throughout your home passes through an air filter before it's distributed. The air filter captures large dirt particles, dust bunnies, hair, and lint. If you have a high-quality filter, it will also capture microscopic allergens. As a result, the high-quality filter leaves the air that's circulated throughout your home cleaner, healthier, and better for breathing.

Cheap fiberglass air filters only trap large particles. As a result, they don't boost your home's air quality. High-quality filters that also capture microscopic particles (helping improve indoor air quality) include:

• Pleated electrostatic filters. Electrostatic filters consist of charged material that attracts oppositely charged particles. These filters capture tiny pollutants like smoke, bacteria, and allergens. Pleats improve their filtering performance.

• HEPA filters. These utilize specially formulated filtration technology that captures up to 99.97% of airborne particles equal to or greater than 0.3 microns in diameter. As a result, they capture a wide variety of microscopic particles like mold spores, tobacco smoke, pollen grains, pet dander, bacteria, and some viruses.

• Carbon filters. Carbon filters are specifically made to remove odors. They also remove gaseous vapors, smoke, and certain chemicals, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

• Air purifiers. Air purifiers use the same filtration types as HVAC air filters. They pull air from a room, pass it through a filter, and send purified air back to the room. Modern purifiers typically use a multilayer filter system comprising prefilters, carbon filters, antibacterial filters, and HEPA filters.

Considering the large volume of indoor air that passes through an air filter, well-maintained filters can have a significant positive impact on your home's air quality. Make sure you replace your filters regularly to keep them working efficiently. For the best indoor air-quality solutions in the Broken Arrow area, don't hesitate to contact us at Air Assurance.

What is a Humidifier's Role in Curing a Cough?

Many people instinctively plug in humidifiers to soothe and cure coughs. That may lead you to wonder if science agrees. So what does a humidifier do for a cough? Find out below.

Reason for Using Humidifiers for Respiratory Conditions

So, what does a humidifier do for a cough? Expert opinions vary on how exactly humidifiers ease coughs and cold symptoms. It is well known that dry air isn't good for coughing. Inhaling dry air may cause or worsen coughing. By adding moisture to your home's air, a humidifier can help relieve dry coughing during sleep.

Pediatricians often recommend using a humidifier at night to help children with an upper respiratory infection, which causes difficulty breathing, nasal congestion, and coughing that tend to worsen at night. While you may find a warm-mist humidifier to be the most soothing, it is safer to choose cool-mist humidifiers for kids to prevent them from sustaining burns if they get too close to the hot steam.

Dry air makes mucus more difficult to cough up or blow out. Humidifiers help moisturize your lung, throat, and nasal passages. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) suggests that by helping loosen mucus, a cool-mist humidifier can soothe coughs.

Humidification can help relieve coughs linked to bronchitis. However, it's not recommended for people with asthma-related coughs.

Tips for Using a Humidifier Effectively

For you to use a humidifier effectively and get the expected benefits when it comes to what does a humidifier do for a cough, you'll need to follow the manufacturer's instructions and the following tips:

• Use distilled water. Avoid essential oils and vaporubs, as they can release chemicals that can irritate the respiratory tract.

• Clean your humidifier regularly. A humidifier that's cleaned inappropriately can cause microbes to grow in the unit and be dispersed into your home's air. Clean your unit thoroughly every one to three days, and replace the filter every week.

• Monitor the humidity levels. Your home's humidity levels shouldn't exceed 50% to avoid mold and condensation problems.

Be sure to use your humidifier properly to help you breathe easier indoors. For top-quality humidifiers or other indoor air-quality products in the Broken Arrow area, and to learn more about what does a humidifier do for a cough, get in touch with the trusted professionals at Air Assurance.

How Often Should You Open Your Windows for Natural Ventilation?

Maintaining good airflow throughout your home is important. Your HVAC system circulates and filters your air, but it also uses a lot of energy. Opening your windows, on the other hand, provides great natural ventilation that can reduce your energy bills while keeping your air clean.

Benefits of Natural Ventilation

The air in your home is filled with contaminants. Fresh, outdoor air is much cleaner. By opening windows to let that fresh air in, you can improve your indoor air quality. Opening two windows on opposite sides of a room provides a cross breeze, letting the bad air out and the good air in. This can also help your system's air filter last longer by filling your house with clean air.

Additionally, letting cool air in on a summer day reduces the burden on your AC. Fresh air provides natural cooling so your HVAC doesn't have to run as long. This not only saves energy but it may help extend the life of your system.

Drawbacks of Natural Ventilation

As great as fresh air is, you can't just leave your windows open all the time. The air may be cleaner, but there are still pollutants to worry about. Pollen and dust can get in, as well as exhaust from passing cars and other sources.

Moreover, while cool air may help you save energy, once the weather gets hotter, it has the opposite effect. If the air outside is warmer than your thermostat setting, you're raising your indoor temperature, making your AC work harder to cool your home.

So how often should you open your windows? It's recommended that you do so once a day, for at least five minutes. Fifteen to 20 minutes is preferable. However, when you open them is also important. Keep them open at night or in the early morning, when the weather is cooler. Then, before things start to heat up, close the windows and draw the blinds to keep that cool, fresh air inside as long as possible.

For more help with natural ventilation, contact us at Air Assurance. Broken Arrow's home comfort is our top priority.

Spring Cleaning Tips to Improve IAQ

Not only will spring-cleaning make your house look beautiful again, it will also improve its indoor air quality, which can benefit the health of those in your household. To get you started, we've compiled a few of our favorite tips that will make improving IAQ in spring quick and easy.

Schedule HVAC Maintenance

Spring-cleaning should always begin by ensuring that your HVAC equipment is running properly. If you haven't had it checked out in the past year, it's time to call a professional and get it done. This will help maintain its efficiency — and even prolong its operational life span.

Change the Filter Every One to Three Months

Your HVAC equipment's air filter is essential to maintaining healthy air quality, but unfortunately, it gets clogged up pretty quickly. On average, the filter must be changed every one to three months to work properly. Check each month and then either clean or replace it, depending on what type you have installed.

Don’t Forget Fan Blades

Whenever you dust around the house, it's very important that you don't forget about the fan blades. In fact, we're guessing that when you do clean the blades, you might be surprised at the amount of dust that has collected up there. If you don't clean this area on a regular basis, then the accumulated dust will be spread out each time you turn on the fan.

Get Your Ducts Professionally Cleaned

Your air ducts might be acting as a haven for harmful particles without you even knowing it. Left unchecked, this can greatly hurt your indoor air quality every time your HVAC equipment is in operation. To keep this from happening, hire a professional to clean the ducts at least once every five years.

If you follow these simple housecleaning tips, then improving IAQ during the spring will be a cinch. If you need more advice or have any other home-comfort concerns that you would like to discuss, the HVAC experts at Air Assurance can assist you. We've been servicing the needs of Broken Arrow and the surrounding communities for more than 30 years.

How to Prevent Irritants From Getting Into Your Home

Everyone wants clean, breathable air in their home, but so many homeowners seem to struggle with this. We don't want you to suffer any longer, so we've put together a quick list of ways that you can prevent irritants from entering your air.

Upgrade Your Air Filter

If you want an air filter that's even more effective in reducing the number of contaminants in your air, then you should upgrade to a HEPA-style filter with a MERV rating of 10 or better. This will help provide optimal filtration for your entire household.

Replace Your Air Filter Every One to Three Months

Your HVAC system's air filter does a great job keeping harmful pollutants from being recirculated into the air. Unfortunately, while it's doing its job, it doesn't take long before the filter gets clogged up. Checking the filter each month and replacing it every one to three months will ensure that it continues to work properly.

Use UV Lights to Kill Contaminants

Ultraviolet lights can be used to kill several different types of pollutants that can cause irritation and respiratory issues. These lights are installed within your HVAC equipment and will treat the air as it passes through on its way to get recirculated into your home.

Get Your Ducts Cleaned

Over time, your home's air ducts gather dust and other allergens as air moves through them. These allergens can be picked up at any time and delivered back into your air. Getting your ducts cleaned by a professional is a great way to keep your air clear of irritants.

Use a Humidifier or Dehumidifier

To maintain healthy air in your home — air with fewer irritants — it is recommended that the relative humidity level be around 40%. Depending on your current humidity level, this can be achieved with either a humidifier or a dehumidifier.

Once you learn how to prevent irritants from circulating in your home, the members of your household will breathe a lot easier. For more expert advice on this or any other home-comfort subject, contact the friendly professionals at Air Assurance. We've been handling the HVAC needs of Broken Arrow and the surrounding areas since 1985.

Indoor Air Quality Testing - Tulsa, OK

Indoor Air Quality Testing - Tulsa, OK

We spend a great deal of time in our indoor environment, whether it’s at home or at work in our place of business. Air Assurance provides many air quality services including air duct cleaning, air duct sealing, and indoor air quality testing. The professional at Air Assurance can also help correct and improve your indoor environment with a number of options. Call on Air Assurance when you need air quality testing - We service all of Greater Tulsa, including Jenks, Broken Arrow, Owasso, Sapulpa and more.

Way to Improve Indoor Air Quality

Maintaining indoor comfort involves more than keeping your home's living spaces warm or cool. Indoor air quality is also a major factor that affects how comfortable your home will be. When particulates and contaminants such as dust, pollen, mold, and related materials get into your home's air, you can have problems such as allergy and asthma attacks, worsening of respiratory conditions, and the onset of physical discomforts such as irritated eyes and scratchy throats. Here are some suggestions for improving the indoor air quality in your home this fall and year-round.

• Change HVAC system filters: The air filters in your furnace, air conditioner, or heat pump help remove particulates from your indoor air. They capture these materials as air from your home circulates through the system to be heated or cooled. Make sure these filters are kept clean and fresh. They should be checked at least once a month and changed when they get dirty.

• Maintain your HVAC equipment: Regular preventive maintenance will improve the function of your HVAC system and boost its ability to remove particulates, reduce humidity, and keep your indoor air cleaner.

• Clean, dust, and vacuum regularly: Keeping your indoor environment clean and free of dust, mold, and other contaminants can significantly improve indoor air quality. Dust and vacuum at least weekly.

• Increase ventilation: Ventilation keeps a steady flow of air moving through your home, which helps remove particulates and send them outside. When weather and outdoor conditions permit, open windows and doors to let breezes move through your indoor spaces. Install a whole-house ventilation system that provides effective airflow for your entire home. Turn your window air conditioner to fan-only to provide extra ventilation.

• Install air filtration and cleaning systems: Install high-efficiency air cleaning and filtration equipment that provides additional removal of particulates and indoor pollution. Use the highest-quality filters possible in these devices.

Air Assurance is a premier source for professional HVAC services in Tulsa and the surrounding Oklahoma communities. Contact us today for more information on indoor air quality and how to keep your home's air cleaner and fresher throughout the year.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Zurijeta/Shutterstock”