Indoor Air Pollution Threatens Your Family Much More Than What’s Outdoors

With its city smog and abundant pollen, Orlando has its share of outdoor air problems. What you may not realize, however, is that indoor air pollution is an even greater threat to your health.

What’s in Your Home’s Air?

When you clean house regularly, it’s natural to assume the air inside is just as clean as everything else. However, because many homes receive little airflow, contaminants tend to build up indoors more than they do outdoors where the wind continually blows. To make matters worse, certain air contaminants are produced indoors.

Gas and other fuel-burning appliances, especially improperly adjusted ones, produce trace amounts of carbon monoxide (CO). This small amount of CO can leave you with headaches and fatigue.

Even scented candles, which seem to freshen the air, actually do more harm than good. They mask rather than destroy odors and give off soot particles and harmful chemical fumes.

How to Clean Up Your Air

Using air filters with a MERV rating of 5 or higher cuts down on particles that may be in your air, such as pollen and mold spores. If you have allergies, use a MERV 10 or 11 filter. Check the filter monthly and replace it when it looks dusty or at least every three months.

To control indoor air pollution throughout your home, consider having a whole-house air cleaner installed in your heating and cooling system. There are several varieties, including:

• Electrostatic air cleaners – These systems use electrostatic attraction similar to static cling to capture the tiniest particles even higher-efficiency filters miss.
• Gas-phase air purifiers – These use an absorbent material, such as activated carbon, to soak up chemical fumes such as carbon monoxide and VOCs. They can also absorb odor-causing substances.
• UVGI air purifiers – The UV light these systems shine into your ductwork disables microbes such as mold spores and bacteria so they can’t reproduce.

Increasing your home’s airflow by having a balanced whole-house ventilation system installed can also help by sweeping out contaminants and bringing in fresh air.

For more expert tips on getting rid of indoor air pollution, contact us at Rindali’s Energy Solutions in Orlando.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Orlando, Florida and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about indoor air pollution and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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