Indoor Air Quality

Have you ever noticed that your eyes get watery when you are at home or you get a stuffy nose or even a cough that is not present when you leave the house? Do you feel fine when you get home from work yet the next morning the aforementioned symptoms appear for no reason, and then seem to clear up when you leave your house? If so, chances are you may have an indoor air quality issue.

I am finding that these symptoms seem to worsen in homes that were built in the last ten years or so, and the reason is that these homes were built using better construction methods and the buildings themselves are often tighter, not allowing any indoor/outdoor air exchanges. This is especially true here in the Deep South where opening windows and doors are rare occurrences.

According to a recent article published by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the air in our homes can be up to up to ten times more polluted than the outdoor air. If you have a world of time on your hands and really want to see how much of an issue the government thinks indoor air quality is you can literally spend hours here . I think it is fair to say that we can all agree that indoor air pollution is an issue and the question becomes, what can we do about it? Let’s take a look at some of the options available for you and your home depending on the situation:

• Thou shalt know thy ducts. Having your ducts checked to see if they are properly sealed is super important to indoor air quality. I’ve written many articles on the importance of duct sealing and if you scroll back through the blog you’ll find a treasure trove of information on duct sealing.
• Proper air filtration. Air filters not only keep the equipment clean but depending on the MERV rating they can really do a great job cleaning the air in your home. For more information on MERV ratings check out my MERV
• Ultra Violet lights. UV lights come in many shapes and sizes for different applications. Again, consult with your friendly neighborhood HVAC tech to see which UV light might be right for you. The one thing UV lights do very well is preventing biological growth on the indoor coils of your air handler.
• Hydrogen peroxide generators. This unit is placed in the ductwork and using a light and a special honeycomb changes the moisture in the air into the same hydrogen peroxide that we use on cuts and scrapes. The hydrogen peroxide is in an aerosol form that mixes with the regular air stream. Great for killing germs and sanitizing surfaces.
• Ozone generators. These work on similar principles to the H2O2 generators using lights and a core to produce ozone. Ozone is awesome at killing odors, you just need to be careful if you are choosing this option as some people have adverse reactions to ozone.
• Go Bipolar! No, I’m not talking mental health here. We have an ion generator that takes the existing moisture in the air and converts it to millions and millions of positively and negatively changed ions. These ions are super attracted to each other so as they come back together in the air stream they trap contaminates between them and fall harmlessly out of the air currents or get trapped in the air filter.

I’m sure I haven’t covered every possible option when it comes to improving indoor air quality, however all the above examples are a great place to begin. The reality of the situation is that you don’t have to live with poor indoor air quality, We Can Fix It!

Until next time my friends, I have arrived at the conclusion that oxygen is a toxic gas. Any human that breathes it typically dies in eighty to one-hundred years.

House Whisperer out!!