HVAC & Allergies: How to Optimize Air Quality to Reduce Allergy Symptoms
Allergies can be a real pain, especially during the spring, as pollen and allergen counts climb. Your whole family can suffer if you have poor air quality in your home. Stuffy and runny noses, itchiness, and congestion are all symptoms of allergies that you can reduce. The good news is that there are a number of ways to optimize your indoor air quality and reduce the allergens in your home.
Air quality plays an important part in your home, both for your family and for your home’s structure. Mold growth can weaken wooden parts of your home, leading to further damage. It’s a good idea to regularly check the air quality index in your location, which can sometimes explain sicknesses and other ailments.
Quality Systems Heating & Cooling has broken down the common air pollutants and various ways to combat poor air quality.
Common Indoor Air Pollutants in Minnesota
If you think that you’re better off hanging out indoors during the spring, you’d be wrong. There are more pollutants in your home than outdoors. There are a few common indoor air pollutants that can be present in your Minnesota Home.
Some common allergens include tobacco smoke, gases from fireplaces and stoves, mold, dust, radon, and building and cleaning chemicals. Most allergens are broken up into three common categories, which include:
● Particulates: These are made up of dust, dirt, and soot from things that burn, such as candles, stoves, furnaces, hot water heaters, etc.
● Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): VOCs are from scented products like candles, paint, varnishes, air fresheners, thinners, and cleaning products. They can also come up from underground vapor.
● Mold: Mold is a type of fungus that goes on interior building surfaces if there is too much moisture. Mold can cause health problems, such as coughing, runny nose, wheezing, and sore throat.
Reducing these allergens in your home is important for your family’s health.
Why & How to Improve Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality
Now that you know about the common pollutants that can appear in your home, it’s time to talk about why and how you can improve your home’s indoor air quality.
There are several reasons why you should improve your indoor air quality. The first reason is to reduce allergy problems for your home’s occupants. Allergy symptoms can make you feel sick all the time, so improving your air can help reduce those symptoms. Plus, improved air quality can also improve long-term health because your breathing will be easier.
Earlier, we talked about mold, which can be prevented by improving indoor air quality. Reducing moisture in the humid summers can help keep mold from growing in walls and attics. You can also boost your home’s energy efficiency by improving your air quality. A clean HVAC system works better and more efficiently, which can translate into savings for you.
There are a few ways to get your air quality under control, such as:
Air Purifiers
One way to reduce the allergens in your air is by adding an air purifier to your home or office. There are a variety of air purifiers available to install in your home.
One of the biggest concerns with regard to allergies are the free-floating particles in the air. For this reason, you want to invest in a quality air purifier that removes particles such as dust, dandruff, pollen, mold, and other odors.
Some signs that you need an air purifier include allergy symptoms, worsened asthma, dusty furniture, and noticeable and unsatisfying odors. Air purifiers can help remove particles from the air and remove odors from your home, which makes the air easier to breathe.
By having an air purifier in your home, you can reduce allergens in your air and immediately experience relief.
Replace Filters Often
Air filters can easily become dirty as they remove air contaminants from your home. When the air filter is full, it becomes a problem, as it kicks dirty air back out of your air conditioning unit and into the indoor air.
For this reason, it is recommended to replace your air filters monthly during high-allergen months. This will help in providing clean air and lessening allergens, making for a more enjoyable time inside your home.
Get Indoor Air Evaluated by the Pros
When in doubt, the professionals are here to help you out. If you want to know how to better reduce the allergen particles in your indoor air, seek a professional's opinion. Not only can you get your air conditioning unit evaluated for performance, but your technician can also suggest and install the best indoor air quality solutions for your home.
Install a Dehumidifier and/or Humidifier
Another way to reduce allergy symptoms in your home is by installing a whole-house humidifier or dehumidifier. The premise of a humidifier is simple. It provides more moisture to your air. Likewise, a dehumidifier, as the name suggests, removes humidity or moisture from the air.
By decreasing the level of humidity in your home, you can prevent mold from growing in places. On the other hand, increasing the humidity levels in your home helps to reduce irritation in the eyes, nose, and mouth, all of which are common symptoms people with allergies experience at some point.
There are many other benefits to adding humidity to the air in the winter. Some include:
● Softer skin & hair
● Allergy relief
● Better sleep
● Fewer health concerns
● Reduced static electricity
There are three types of whole-house humidifiers, which are:
● Bypass humidifiers introduce moisture through your furnace.
● Fan-powered humidifiers use extra force to increase water evaporation from a pan of water.
● Steam humidifiers electronically boil water to add it to the air.
Add UV Lights to Kill Contaminants
Another way to reduce allergens in your indoor air is to install UV lights in your HVAC system. UV or ultraviolet light has enough radiation to kill off pathogens and other airborne viruses. These lamps are particularly effective at reducing mold and other types of bacteria.
To install UV lights, a UV bulb will be placed within the evaporator coils of the air conditioning unit. This is where most bacteria can build up.
While air filters are able to filter out most of the impurities in your air, bacteria and certain microbes are able to squeeze through. UV lamps can be installed directly inside your air conditioning unit. However, it is best to leave this task to the professionals.
Improve Your Family’s Health with Quality Systems Heating & Cooling
Here at Quality Systems Heating & Cooling, we take the air quality of our customers’ homes very seriously. We’ll work diligently to ensure you have an efficient HVAC system and clean indoor air. Schedule your free quote online, or call 952-226-2665 today!