Are Air Purifiers Effective in Winter?

The air inside your home can end up having poor quality during winter. Your heating system can blow dust, pollutants, and other particles around. With winter being cold and flu season, more germs are also around during this time of year. Using air purifiers might seem like a good way to improve indoor air quality (IAQ), but should you get one? Consider the following when deciding if you should get an air purifier for your home.

Allergens

Allergens, such as dust and pet dander, tend to build up more in homes during winter. Heating systems blow these particles around through ducts and vents, which can cause allergy symptoms to flare up more often. If you have asthma, you might also have a higher risk of asthma attacks with dust and other allergens floating around. Air purifiers can catch these allergens and remove them from your indoor air, which helps boost IAQ (indoor air quality). Keep your home clean through vacuuming and dusting regularly, which can make your indoor air even healthier.

Pollutants

Indoor pollutants can fill your home during winter, especially with doors and windows closed. Breathing in some of these pollutants can raise your risk of becoming sick. Using air purifiers can help lower your exposure to pollutants in winter until you can open your doors and windows again in warmer weather.

Germs

Viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens can circulate in your home when it’s all closed up during winter. Having your heating system on also helps these germs move around your home. Setting up an air purifier can help trap viruses and other germs, which can reduce your risk of being sick this season. Keep in mind that you should continue wiping down surfaces in your home to eliminate germs even more.

If you’re looking for air purifiers for your Broken Arrow home or other ways to improve IAQ, contact Air Assurance.

Fall Indoor Air Concerns and How to Counter Them

As the weather gets cooler and you start spending more time indoors, you should think about how healthy the air in your home is. Fall allergens and other particles can lower your indoor air quality, which can put you and your loved ones at risk of developing health issues. Find out more about these concerns and how to deal with them.

Outdoor Allergens

Ragweed and other outdoor allergens can make their way into your home during fall. You might bring these in on the clothes you’re wearing, or you might spread them around if you walk around your home with your shoes on. These allergens can also get inside if you open your windows to let fresh air in. You can keep these allergens out of your home by changing clothes after coming in, taking off your shoes and keeping your windows closed during fall.

Dust

Dust can build up inside your home’s ductwork and on your HVAC system’s air filter over time. When you start using your heating system in fall, all of that dust can be blown into your home through your ducts and vents. You can lower your risk of having to deal with a lot of dust by having your ductwork cleaned and changing your air filter on a regular basis. You should also vacuum and dust your home frequently.

Pollutants

Pollutants are found in some household items, such as cleaning products and certain kinds of finishes. When you’re inside more during fall, you risk being exposed to these pollutants more often, which can result in respiratory problems and other health issues. Having an air purification system installed or making changes to your home’s ventilation can help reduce your risk of exposure to these particles. Working with an HVAC technician can also provide you with more ways to boost your indoor air quality by eliminating pollutants.

If you need additional information on improving your indoor air quality, please contact Air Assurance. We offer dependable HVAC services that can help make the air in your home healthier.

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). For more information about other HVAC topics, call us at 918-217-8273.

Learn How to Control Pollutants in Your Household

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, homes are among the five worst environmental hazards many people encounter, largely because of indoor pollutants. The combination of manufactured products and tighter homes concentrates gases and increases the toxicity of many common products and biological agents found indoors.

Minimizing Pollutants

Pay attention to what you bring home, especially when buying:

• Cleaning products

• Makeup

• Air fresheners

• Remodeling materials, including paint, flooring, wall coverings, new flooring, caulk and adhesives

• Candles

• Plastics, especially vinyl shower curtains

Unless they're labeled otherwise, these products probably contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can cause minor to severe health problems. Look for alternatives that state they're low in VOCs or have none.Dust mite waste is one of the most common allergens and it's present in household dust. Control it by:

• Changing the air filter for your HVAC system whenever it's covered with dust.

• Using a HEPA filter bag with your vacuum cleaner.

• Vacuuming instead of sweeping hard-surface floors.

• Washing bedding in hot water and drying in the dryer.

Managing Pollutants

Besides minimizing particulate pollutants by changing your air filter, you can use your HVAC system to manage the pollutant load indoors with:

• A heat recovery ventilator (HRV) or an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) — Both of these devices remove stale air and replace it with an equal amount of fresh air. HRVs and ERVs make a minimal impact on heating or cooling costs by extracting the heat energy leaving the home and putting it back into the incoming air.

• UV (ultraviolet) lights — When placed in the air handler or ductwork, UV lights improve air quality by neutralizing VOCs and lowering the population of mold spores, viruses and bacteria in the air. The lights alter the structure of these compounds, leaving them harmless or unable to reproduce.

• Annual professional HVAC maintenance — Regular maintenance reduces the risk of toxic gas emissions from furnaces and mold growth inside the A/C. Tight ducts won't circulate polluting airborne particulates.

Controlling the pollutants in your home promotes better health and indoor comfort. To learn more, contact Air Assurance, providing trusted HVAC services for Broken Arrow homeowners.

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: “Jana Guothova/Shutterstock”

How UV Lights Work With Your HVAC System To Improve Indoor Air Quality

Problems with your indoor air quality? Perhaps what your Oklahoma home needs is a collection of UV lights to help you clean out all the nasty pollutants that have invaded your house. With their uncanny ability to destroy airborne particles, UV lights could improve your indoor air quality significantly.The power of ultraviolet raysWe all know the dangers from extended exposure to the ultraviolet radiation emanating from our sun. Why else would we lather ourselves with slimy sunblock and pay a fortune for a pair of sunglasses? Too much exposure leads to damaged skin and, in some cases, skin cancer.The reason for this is simple: ultraviolet rays have the ability to penetrate and cause mutation of our cells. In humans, this causes health problems. Airborne pollutants, however, have no way of protecting themselves, which means that exposure is a death sentence. UV lights literally break down and destroy these harmful particles.The power of cooperationAirborne pollutants, which include mold spores, bacteria, virus, aerosol contaminants, dust mites and quite a few other types of particles, can cause respiratory problems if they are inhaled. In the fight against these pollutants, the high intensity ultraviolet lights don't have to work alone. They have a partner in your HVAC system.How this works is simple, too: first, the UV lights are installed at either the induct or compressor coil of your HVAC unit. When the system is switched on, the particles are drawn into your ductwork. After a while, the pollutants make their way toward the coil, where the ultraviolet lights are lying in wait. Over time, this process will result in the destruction of many of the pollutants in your home.As if that wasn't enough, there's an added benefit of installing ultraviolet lights. By destroying the airborne pollutants before they finish going through your ductwork, they won't get a chance to clog up your HVAC system.For more expert advice about UV lights, or for questions relating to home comfort, please contact the friendly professionals at Air Assurance. We proudly serve the residents of Broken Arrow and its surrounding areas.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). Image courtesy of Shutterstock