As the cold weather takes over in the upper Midwest, it’s the best time to address the air quality inside your home. Whether you have a new home or one that has been providing warmth and shelter for many decades, a focus on indoor air quality should be high on your priority list.
One of the key reasons is that as the weather becomes colder, you allow less and less air in from the outside. You seal your windows and doors, and patch gaps that allow cold drafts into your home. The result of these actions is that the air inside your home does not get “freshened” and can become stale. It is re-circulated and can accumulate pollutants that can negatively impact you and your family’s health.
To address this issue, here are a couple of ideas:
Change your furnace filters more frequently. You should change the filters regularly, but it becomes even more necessary during the winter months. Pick a date and mark it on your calendar.
Install a UV light system. While a high-efficiency filter will scrub your indoor air of non-organic contaminants, to eliminate microorganisms in your air – the nasty germs that really aggravate and cause respiratory ailments and allergies – have a trusted HVAC technician install an ultraviolet light germicidal system in or near your ductwork. Harmless to humans, these lights will neutralize and eventually kill bacteria, viruses, mold and other unwanted organic particles.
Open the doors in your home occasionally and air it out when the outdoor air temperature allows it. Refreshing the indoor atmosphere in your home will eliminate the accumulation of unhealthy pollutants.
In the Twin Cities metro area, Marsh Heating & Air Conditioning can examine your home systems and help you improve your indoor air quality. Contact us today to set up an appointment for our technicians to review your home.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about indoor air quality and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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