What’s an Air Purifier?
Worried about the Indoor Air Quality in your home? Think just closing the windows and doors will help keep the air clean in your home? Think again. Homes are being built more airtight now than ever. This can cause pollutants in your home no way out except to be eliminated. Your heating and cooling system is designed to circulate air inside your home. How do you keep air pollutants out of that circulating air so your home and your family can breathe easier? By adding an air purifier (or two).
Air purifiers help eliminate a range of smaller airborne particulates that your filtration system can not capture, which includes everything from allergens, VOC’s and odors, cooking smells, smoke and other airborne pollutants. Everything you don’t want breathing into your lungs.
This post discusses why it’s important for your health to have a home air purifier and exactly how air purifiers work. Specifically, we’ll take a look at:
- Why you should be concerned about indoor air quality
- How an air purifier works as part of your central home heating and cooling system
- The six benefits of air purifiers and better indoor air quality
- Best practices to achieve better indoor air quality
- How to ensure professional installation of your home air purifier
Why an Air Purifier is Important to Your Health
Wood smoke from raging California wildfires reminds us all of the serious health effects of poor air quality. These include respiratory issues, as well as an increase in heart attacks and strokes. Air quality is important to your health, and just because you’re indoors doesn’t mean you’re protected from outside air pollution. In fact, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), inside air can be two to five times more polluted than outside air. Considering that the EPA also estimates American on average spend nearly 90 percent of their time indoors, the quality of your home’s indoor air is an important health factor.
Many people realize the importance of filtering and purifying their water. But they don’t give a thought to purifying the air they breathe day in and day out.
Here’s some eye-opening facts about indoor air quality. According to the EPA, there are both immediate and long-term health effects from indoor air pollution. Even a single exposure can result in irritation to your eyes, nose and throat, as well as headache, dizziness and fatigue. While these short-term symptoms can be treated medically, they will recur if the source of the problem isn’t remediated.
Over time, long-term exposure can result in serious health consequences. These include respiratory and heart diseases and even cancer. While the health effects of continued exposure to poor indoor air quality vary, as different people react differently to pollutants, why take unnecessary risks?
Fortunately, there’s a cost-efficient way to lower your indoor AQI (Air Quality Index) values to maintain green levels of less than 50 where pollutants cause little or no risk. All you need to do is add an air purifier to your existing HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) system. Central HVAC Air Purification not only helps remove air pollutants, but also volatile organic compounds (VOCs), surface contaminants, mold, viruses, pet dander, odors, smoke and dust.
What is Central HVAC Air Purification?
Central air purification systems are installed on the supply air side of your HVAC system.
Air purification is initiated by applying light waves and a catalytic process to produce scrubber ions, molecules with a negative electric charge that react to airborne particles and make them sufficiently heavy to be trapped by a filter. Thus, scrubber ions remove dust particles from incoming air and help eliminate particulates ordinary filtration systems cannot contain. In addition, active airborne scrubber ions help eliminate bacteria, mold and viruses from surface areas.
The result is that a home with ionized air is a cleaner, healthier and more efficient home.
The 6 Benefits of HVAC Air Purification
The six chief benefits of an air purifier attached to your central HVAC system are:
Cleaner Air
Removes a range of contaminants to Improve the overall cleanliness of your indoor air. Your AQI levels are significantly reduced by eliminating VOCs and other pollutants traditional filtration systems aren’t designed to capture.
Healthier Air
A proper HVAC air purification system can eliminate up to 99 percent of common flu virus, DNA virus, RNA virus, mold and bacteria growth that is likely present throughout your home. However, not all air purifiers have this germicidal capability. You can trust that an air purification system from Ongaro and Sons can effectively stop the spreading of germs from one sick person’s room to another. Within 60 minutes of installation, you’ll be breathing healthier germ-free air.
Odorless Air
When air purifiers trap airborne particles, they also trap the odors that come with them. Your home smells fresher faster even after cooking foods with strong odors. Not to mention filtering odors associated with smoke, pets, mildew/mold or tobacco smoking. The latter is especially dangerous, as continued secondary exposure to tobacco smoke associated with asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis and heart disease. Children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable, and it can aggravate existing lung conditions such as emphysema.
Allergy-Free Air
Suffer from seasonal allergies? Your HVAC air purifier provides relief. By removing the vast majority of pollutants that contain allergens from your indoor air, you decrease the risk of breathing them in. Which means your body has no reason to create antibodies to fight infection, which is the cause of an allergic reaction. Your reaction to an air purifier is to just continue to breathe. By eliminating pollen and other allergens, an air purifier makes your home safer and healthier for your entire family.
Less Pet-Messy Air
You don’t have to be allergic to pet dander to be tired of dealing with fur balls and persistent pet odors. We love our pets, so we put up with it. You don’t have to put up with it anymore with an HVAC air purifier. You won’t even know by smell if the cat litter boxes need to be cleaned, so you should set a regular notification to remind you to check.
Slower Dust Buildup in the Air
Dust can consist of anything from dirt, pollen, human skin and other airborne particulates. All of that dust buildup is significantly reduced with air purification.
Initially, during the first two to three weeks after installing your upgraded purification system you will start to see a bit more dust on surfaces. This is because your purification system is helping to remove the excessive amount existing in the air. After the initial break-in period, dust starts to dissipate to almost nothing.
Besides being unsightly, dust mite and mold spores can trigger asthma reactions. Asthma is a condition of inflamed bronchial tubes, which air pollutants cause to tighten further and restrict breathing. Asthma is one of the most chronic diseases, especially in children. Cleaner indoor air can mean fewer asthma attacks.
Best Practices to Get the Best Air
Adding a purification to your HVAC system can help supercharge your filter work together to produce the best possible indoor air quality and reduce your AQI. The best way to use your air purification system is with a thermostat that has an “Air Circulation” mode. Set your system to run the “Fan Mode” every 15 minutes every hour for 12 hours to help keep the air clean. This program can be adjusted based on the current outdoor air quality and your personal needs. The purification system also works anytime you are cooling or heating your home.
It’s also a good idea to check your filter system in about three to four weeks after installing your air purification system. Most likely you’ll need to change the filter with all the extra dust that’s getting captured. After this initial quick change you can return to regular maintenance every three to six months, depending on your filtration type..
It also may be beneficial to purchase an AQI monitor for your home. This can help warn you if the air pollutant is increasing and you need to increase the time you run your purification system.
Breathe Better with Ongaro and Sons
Most people can change their own filters. But installing an air purification system, and installing correctly, requires professional skill and knowledge. Call the heating and cooling specialists at Ongaro and Sons.
Investing in an air purifier pays off in peace of mind, especially if you or any member of your family have allergies, are frail or elderly or have an existing health condition. Even if you don’t have any current medical conditions, air purifiers help ensure a healthier and safer environment for all concerned.
We are Trane Comfort Specialists certified in high-efficiency HVAC systems and indoor air quality. As we like to say, “Ongaro and Sons puts the V back into HVAC.” If you want fresher air, the freshest way to start is a consultation call from Ongaro and Sons. We can configure an air purification system that fits your house and your budget. So you and your family can breathe easier.