Indoor air quality has an effect on everything in a home, from the health and comfort of household occupants, to controlling the spread of microorganisms like mold and dust mites, to preserving porous structures and possessions. Explore your options for air quality systems that will provide better humidity control, air cleaning and ventilation. These benefits will boost the health and comfort of you and your loved ones this allergy season, and all year long.
Humidity control
Indoor humidity is often overlooked for its important role in occupant health, as well as protecting porous objects and possessions in the home. Humidity above 50 percent provides a welcome environment for mold and dust mites. Humidity below 33 percent tends to dry the nasal and throat passageways of household occupants, making them more susceptible to infections. That’s not good news considering flu viruses thrive in dry air.
Whole-house humidifiers and dehumidifiers solve indoor humidity problems by adding or removing moisture from air as it passes through the ductwork. You generally want to reduce indoor humidity in the summer and increase it in the winter.
Air cleaners
Homeowners may choose an air purification system that captures or neutralizes all classes of contaminants, or air cleaners are available that target specific contaminants, as follows:
- UV (ultraviolet) light systems eliminate microorganisms (mold, dust mites, viruses and bacteria) by exposing these contaminants to UV radiation inside the ductwork.
- Electronic air cleaners give particulates an electrical charge, and then the particulates stick to collector plates with opposite charges, like a magnet.
- Gas-phase filters target specific odors, but do not remove particulates from the air.
- HEPA filtration systems remove all particulates from the air (down to 0.3 microns), but do not remove odors.
- Some air purification systems combine all the above cleaners into one system for complete indoor air quality protection.
Mechanical ventilation
Ventilation is crucial to replace stagnant, contaminated air with fresh outdoor air. However, it’s not often pleasant to open up windows in the middle of Twin Cities area freezing winter temperatures or when summer heat is at its worst.
Energy recovery ventilators (ERVs) solve this issue by exchanging heat and moisture between inflowing fresh air and out-flowing stale air. Like other whole-house air cleaners, humidifiers and dehumidifiers, ERVs utilize the ductwork for airflow.
For more information about indoor air quality systems, please contact us at Marsh Heating & Air Conditioning today.
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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