The Air You Breathe
Solutions to improve your indoor air quality

What is Indoor Air Quality?
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the air inside our homes as well as the amount of pollutants that exist there. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor air can be even more polluted than a major metropolitan city. With people spending more than 90% of their time indoors, this is a significant problem in even the cleanest homes.

Causes for indoor air problems include the release of gases or harmful particles, inadequate ventilation and high temperature and humidity levels. Common items that cause indoor air pollution are oil, wood, damp or wet carpet, household cleaning products, personal care items, certain types of pressed wood furniture and outdoor pollutants.

Now that you know what indoor air pollution is and what causes it, how does this affect your family and comfort? These indoor pollutants can cause allergy symptoms to worsen, as well as raise the chances of more serious physical problems developing, such as lung disease.

How to treat it
You can’t live comfortably without heating and cooling in your home. So, what are your options? The EPA suggests taking a 3-step process to identifying problems:

1. Be aware of new allergies or health problems.
2. Identify potential sources of indoor air pollution.
3. Consult with an expert on these possible causes and look for signs of ventilation problems. (Signs include: moisture condensation on windows or walls, stuffy smell to air, dirty central heating or air equipment, or moldy books, shoes or other items)

Indoor Air Quality Options

• Portable Single Room Air or Ionic Cleaners
  Beware! These air cleaners often use a process called ionization that can actually produce ozone levels that exceed that of cities. We do not recommend the use of these room air cleaners.
• High-Performance Air Cleaners
  The following air filters are inserted into your heating/cooling equipment to clean your indoor air by capturing allergens and harmful particles. They are designed for whole house filtration.
• Box/1" Pleated
  These filters help protect the integrity of your heating and cooling equipment, can reduce air flow and work best with variable speed blower systems. They require no electricity and the media filter should be replaced approximately every 7-12 months.
• Electronic
  These require about 40 watts of electricity to operate. The filter catches pollutants between two oppositely charged plates and allows only small amounts to escape.
• HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arresting)
  Considered to produce the best results, the HEPA filter requires a separate blower and replaceable media, making the initial investment more expensive. However, it effectively removes approximately 99% of pollen as well as many asthma and allergy causing pollutants. The core to the HEPA air cleaner technology is a paper filter that has very small holes and limits the size of any particle than can pass through.
• Whole House Dehumidifiers
  Excellent in reducing humidity problems throughout entire households.
• Humidifiers
  Primarily used in the northern states with cold, dry winters.
• Energy Recovery Ventilators
  Allow the exchange of fresh air from outdoors with stale air from indoors without a loss in heating or cooling efficiency.
• UV Lights
  Helps to reduce bacteria, fungi, and microbial growth on wet indoor cooling coil surfaces. Can be used with other IAQ products.

Contact us today to have an Indoor Air Quality professional help you design an IAQ system to meet your family’s exact needs.