Central Air Purifiers and IAQ Products Protect Your Health
As we post this blog, in the spring of 2020, you may be spending a lot more time indoors as a result of COVID-19. While your household may not include a diagnosed case of COVID-19, you may still have a heightened interest in minimizing risk from contagious agents in your home (or work) environment. Homes are built tighter and more energy-efficient these days, and even with proper ventilation, indoor air pollutants can accumulate.
We offer the following overview of some of our preferred central indoor air quality products to suggest ways you can achieve a healthier living space. In the Denver-Boulder area, these products are typically installed on a home comfort system powered by a forced air furnace, often including central AC.
State-Of-The-Art Central Air Purifiers Treat Viruses and VOCs
If you have a central ducting system that provides heating or cooling to your home, a central air purifier can be added to safely treat the air throughout your home. Central air purification systems can significantly reduce a wide variety of indoor air pollutants, many of which your typical disposable air filter cannot adequately address, even if it’s of high quality.
The central air purifier that our team recommends has a design based on advanced technology that uses a process generally known as photocatalytic oxidation. These state-of-the-art air purifiers have been tested to be highly effective destroying a broad range of airborne and surface bacteria and viruses, including Bird Flu (H5N1) and Swine flu (H1N1), E. coli, Salmonella, and MRSA, among others. At this time, there is no testing data available for COVID-19, but some of the tested viruses are classed in families similar to the coronavirus.
A high-quality central air purifier can also neutralize a class of household pollutants known as VOCs, or ‘volatile organic compounds.’ VOCs are potentially harmful chemicals that are released as a gas from a very wide variety of common household products. In high enough levels, or in combination, VOCs could aggravate existing respiratory conditions or cause new ailments. Some of the many household sources of VOCs include gas cooking, cleaning sprays and disinfectants, cigarettes, cosmetics, printer toner, glue, wood preservatives, paint, and even furniture and flooring, to name just a few. The right central air purifier, professionally installed, will cleanse your indoor air of the vast majority of VOCs present in your home.
A great feature of the plasma technology in the central air purifier that Save Home Heat installs for our customers is that this product treats all of the air in the home, not just air passing thru the ducting and the furnace. As an added and important bonus, the technology is highly effective at neutralizing cooking and pet odors. Your nose will be pleased with the difference it can make.
A high quality central air purifier will also assist the furnace filter in doing its job by reducing certain pollutants that the filter also treats. With all of these benefits, it sounds like the beginning of a great team!
I’d like to learn more about a central air purifier for my furnace & AC system!
High-Performance Air Filters Remove Fine Dust, Pollen, and More
Our home comfort team recommends installing high-efficiency media air filters on all home furnace systems that can accommodate them. Installed in place of the standard filter that comes with most furnaces, this class of high-performance furnace filters, or air cleaners, is highly effective removing common airborne allergens that can aggravate asthma and other respiratory conditions. The most common of these allergens are dust, pollen, and pet dander. Equally important, however, these filters also help reduce airborne germs such as some common viruses, bacteria, and mold.
Some media air filters also incorporate activated charcoal for assistance in odor reduction, but possibly the most attractive feature of these high-performance furnace filters is that, due to the nature of their designs – with filter media thickness in the 5″ range – they typically require replacement only once every 6 to 12 months.
The most efficient filter isn’t always the best choice for every system. Whenever upgrading, care must be taken to match the new filter with the existing ducting system and furnace fan, to make sure you are not adding too much resistance to airflow. If a media air cleaner is not the right product for you and your home, our team is well versed in many other filter options.
Central Humidifiers Complete Your IAQ Home Team!
Proper humidity levels can also play a major role in improving your health at home in the normally arid Front Range region. A properly sized, professionally installed, quality central humidifier will help reduce the viability of airborne viruses and bacteria around your home by raising the indoor humidity to levels that are less conducive to their development. This helps reduce your chances of catching a cold or the flu. Proper indoor humidity levels also assist in alleviating and preventing many respiratory ailments, dry skin, and related conditions, and also helps reduce airborne dust, pollen, and dander.
There are other benefits to central humidifiers, such as reduced static shock, enhanced comfort, and lower utility bills, but for the sake of this discussion, our focus is on the significant health benefits mentioned above.
A brief word about types of central units: Central humidifiers can be generally classified either as standard, flow-thru humidifiers, or high-performance steam humidifiers. Our team would be glad to discuss the pros and cons of standard and steam humidifiers and help you decide which is the best fit for you.
Three Of A Kind: Your Best ‘Hand’ For Optimum IAQ!
A high quality central air purifier will cleanse your household air of a wide variety of potentially harmful pollutants, health risks, and odors that other products cannot address, while also enhancing the performance of your furnace filter. A high-performance furnace filter will remove a far greater amount and a wider variety of dust, pollen, and other indoor air pollutants than a standard air filter. Lastly, the right central humidifier will remedy the symptoms and ailments that accompany overly dry air, while complimenting the performance of your air purifier and air filter.
Installing any or all of these central indoor air quality products on your forced air home comfort system can help you significantly increase the ‘health’ of the air in your home. In the Denver-Boulder area, please reach out to our team at Save Home Heat Company for friendly, expert, low-pressure advice and recommendations on the right indoor air quality products to suit your needs.
Please contact me to provide more information, or to schedule a free install quote!
