You might have heard about the perils of poor indoor air quality (IAQ), but do you know how it can affect you and your loved ones’ health at home? The air you breathe can impact your health and wellbeing in more ways than you might expect, especially if mold and mildew, carbon monoxide, and pet dander lurk within your home.
The pros at Worley’s are your trusted local HVAC team, and they have some suggestions to get you started by filling you in on how to improve your indoor air quality and how to reduce indoor air pollution.
What Causes Poor Indoor Air Quality?
Many homeowners are surprised to learn how much of an impact poor indoor air quality can have on your life. Have you experienced more coughing and sneezing than usual? Having trouble sleeping and can’t put your finger on the cause? It could be due to poor indoor air quality!
Potential sources of indoor air pollution can include:
- Dirt and dust
- Dust mites
- Pollen
- Pets
- Mold and too-high or too-low moisture levels
- Radon
- Pesticides
- Asbestos
- Tobacco smoke
- Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) found in cleaning products
While some of these can be introduced to your home by normal household activities like pet ownership and cleaning products, they’re still important to keep in mind when considering the health of your home and wellbeing of your family.
Others, like mold and tobacco smoke, are easily remedied by making changes like managing moisture levels in the lower levels of your home with crawlspace insulation & encapsulation, and not permitting smoking indoors.
How Can You Tell if You Have Poor Indoor Air Quality?
It’s nearly impossible to know how healthy your IAQ is without air quality monitors in your home. Still, your indoor air could be affecting you in subtle ways. Here are some of the most common symptoms that could indicate that you’re dealing with poor indoor air quality:
- Allergy-like symptoms
- Eyes, nose, and throat irritation
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Poor sleep
How Can an HVAC System Help?
Dealing with funky odors? Don’t reach for chemical air fresheners if you don’t want to sacrifice your indoor air quality! And while house plants create a lovely environment, you’d need a lot more of them than you have space for to meaningfully freshen the air you breathe at home. Opening windows can help, but it’s not always practical during pollen season, or during hot, wet, cold, or humid weather.
The good news is that you can freshen your air with the help of your HVAC system! When your HVAC is running, it will circle your home’s air and heat or cool it to match your desired temperature. This means it’s a good idea to do everything you can to keep it in good condition. Here are a few suggestions for keeping your HVAC in peak condition so your air is fresh and clean:
Change Out Your Filters
We always recommend replacing your filters on a regular basis. The average homeowner should replace their HVAC filters every 30 – 60 days, but if anyone in your household suffers from allergies or you have pets, replacing them monthly is a good rule of thumb. The best part is that most filters are easy to replace yourself! There are many online resources to show you how to do so with your specific model.
Schedule Routine Maintenance
Routine maintenance can look different from system to system, but most homeowners find that annual maintenance is sufficient to maintain their air quality. With a maintenance plan from Worley’s, consider your system covered! This investment in the longevity of your system includes:
- Service reminder & priority, pre-season scheduling
- Annual maintenance for your heating system and AC
- Comprehensive tune-up
- Transferable coverage, which increases the value of your home
Clean Your Ducts
Dusty ducts? If you can see debris in your ductwork it’s a pretty good indicator that you’re due for a cleaning. Worley’s high indoor air quality standards have you covered with duct cleaning services!
Add iWave Purification
Do you have concerns about removing viruses, bacteria, and other tough-to-catch particulates like smoke and dust from your air? An iWave Purification system is a top-of-the-line air ionization system that can be installed directly into most new and existing HVAC systems to further improve the quality of your home’s indoor air. Call Worley’s today to ask about installation!
