8 Tips To Enhance Indoor Air Quality In Joliet
What's Lurking In Your Air?
You can take 22,000 breaths a day. Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) has been known to either cause or aggravate 50 percent of all respiratory illnesses, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
Poor indoor air quality can cause or contribute to the development of infections, lung cancer and chronic lung diseases such as asthma according to the American Lung Association.
Four Basic Strategies To Improve Air Quality:
- Source Control. Usually the most effective way to improve indoor air quality is to eliminate individual sources of pollution or to reduce their emissions.
- Improved Ventilation. Ventilation helps remove or dilute indoor airborne pollutants coming from indoor sources. Natural through windows. And cracks, gaps in the building or mechanical ventilation through your HVAC system.
- HVAC Maintenance. Keeping your HVAC system cleaned, tuned and rejuvenated improves indoor air.
- Air cleaners, filtration and humidity control improves breathing.
- Get a quick glimpse of some of the most important ways to protect the air in your home by an Interactive tour of the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Demo House. Room-by-room, you'll learn about the key pollutants and how to address them from the EPA.
Here Are Eight Solutions To Improve Your Indoor Health.
Solution #1– Maintain Your HVAC System
Change Air Filters Especially If You Have Pets.
Regular heating and cooling maintenance is essential for keeping your indoor air quality at its best. Over time, dust, dirt, and other pollutants can build up in your HVAC system, reducing its efficiency and circulating contaminants throughout your home.
- During a tune-up, your system is thoroughly cleaned.
- Receive consistent airflow and proper humidity levels, which are key factors in keeping your home’s air clean and healthy.
- Address potential mold growth or leaks early so that your system will not inadvertently contribute to indoor air pollution.
- Learn more of PDM's heating maintenance and air conditioning rejuvenation.
Please feel free to contact PDM for HVAC maintenance in SW Chicago suburbs since 1885.
Solution #2 - Clean Your Air Ducts - Save $100
Duct cleaning plays a role in maintaining and improving the quality of the air inside your home.
- Dust, pollen, pet dander, and other airborne contaminants can accumulate in your ductwork, creating a breeding ground for mold, bacteria, and allergens.
- As your HVAC system circulates air throughout your home, some pollutants can be dispersed into your living spaces.
- You know dust builds up every day. Some studies say an average home collects up to 40 lbs of dust a year.
- What is dust? A mix of dead skin cells, hair, bacteria, dust mites, bits of dead bugs, food particles, clothing fibers, pollen, and microscopic particles of plastic.
- If you have not cleaned your air ducts for years, open a vent and wipe the inside with a wet paper towel. What do you find?
If we can help you improve your home’s Indoor Air Quality, please feel free to contact PDM for a no-strings-attached FREE duct cleaning consultation in SW Chicago suburbs.
Solution #3 – Get an Air Purifier
Research has shown that whole building air purifier can help to remove harmful pollutants and particles from the air you breathe. Whole home Air Purifier helps to:
- Reduce Harmful Particles. Ion Generator air purifiers are designed to reduce allergens, mold spores, and even certain bacteria and viruses
- Reduce Allergy and Asthma Symptoms by filtering out common irritants
- Reduce Unpleasant Odors and improve sleep too
- Better Respiratory Health and can boost your immune system
- Improve HVAC Efficiency. Help keep your heating and cooling equipment cleaner, potentially improving efficiency and extending the lifespan of your HVAC system
If we can help you improve your home’s Indoor Air Quality, please feel free to contact PDM for a FREE indoor air purifier consultation in SW Chicago suburbs.
Solution #4 – Whole House Humidifier Improves Health and Lowers Heating Bills
Benefits of a whole home humidifier:
- Improves Respiratory Health by easing congestion and coughs.
- Improve Immune System - Your sinus is protected by paper thin and fragile mucous membranes. When dry, they crack and allow infectious germs a direct path to your bloodstream. Dryness can also cause a bloody nose.
- Virus Protection - Keeping indoor humidity between 30%-50% minimizes virus survival rates.
- Avoid nosebleeds itchy skin, scratchy throats, and irritated sinuses caused by dry winter air. Helps with coughing & sore throat. Dry eyes. Itching, flaking skin. Chapped lips.
- Lower Heating Bills Up To 4% - Moisture regulates body temperature. When perspiration evaporates, it absorbs heat from your skin. The dryer the air, the quicker your body cools. When chilly, you turn up your furnace thermostat which dries the air even more. With a furnace humidifier you can lower the temperature, which will save 1 to 3 percent for every one degree you lower the thermostat.
- Preservation - Humidifiers can help prevent cracks and damage to wooden floors, furniture, plants, and even animal health.
- Reduces Static Electricity. Raising winter humidity level in your home via a humidifier will reduce random static shocks, static cling, and static in your hair.
- Improve Sleep Quality - research suggests that the best relative humidity for sleeping is between 40% and 60%. This range is also helpful for reducing indoor pollutants that can interfere with sleep.
- Moisture Added To Air: Most furnace humidifiers can deliver anywhere between 12-18 gallons of water per day into the air.
Please feel free to contact PDM for a FREE humidifier consultation in SW Chicago suburbs.
Solution #5 – Germicidal UV LED Air Purifier In Joliet
Help reduce both the surface mold and the airborne bacteria that grows on your HVAC air coils with this UV Treatment system.
- Designed to help improve indoor air quality in your home.
- The system also helps with energy efficiency and can save money by not needing your HVAC coil to be cleaned as often.
- Installed inside HVAC system to minimize the risk of airborne bacteria, mildew, and mold particles.
- UV lights work by disrupting the DNA in these microorganisms, killing them at a rate of 99% in optimal conditions.
- Not effective against viruses. Will not filter air particles. Some bulbs require annual bulb replacement.
- Additionally, smart technology optimizes the lamp's run time, and a LED notification alerts you when replacement is needed.
Next-Generation Commercial UVC Light
Disinfect high-traffic, high-touch areas safely...without chemicals. Effective against a wide range of bacterial, viral and fungal pathogens. Maintenance-free and can be mounted or light fixtures.
Great for hospitality, schools, gyms, offices, retail, elder care, your place too!
Designed to bring continuous surface and air disinfection to:
- Bathrooms
- Waiting rooms
- Classrooms
- Food prep area
- Sinks
- Equipment closets
Contact PDM for free commercial UV air quality advice and estimate.
Solution #6 - Upgrade To An Advanced Media Air Filter
A media air cleaner is an advanced air filtration option that is up to 85% more efficient than a standard air filter at capturing indoor pollutants like dust, smoke, mold spores and pet dander.
Benefits of a 5" Media Air Cleaner
- Traps up to 85% more airborne particles compared to a standard one-inch filter
- Captures both microscopic particles and larger contaminants
- Lasts up to four times longer than a standard one-inch filter
- Replace filter every 6-12 months
- Compatible with most HVAC systems
PDM professionals will install your media air cleaner cabinet in the return air duct of your HVAC system. As air passes through the system, airborne particles are trapped within the media air filter. Media air filters also require minimal maintenance. Contact PDM for a free media filter estimate.
Solution #7 - Improve Ventilation
There are four basic mechanical whole-house ventilation systems -- exhaust, supply, balanced, and energy recovery. Energy.gov
- Exhaust Ventilation Systems work by depressurizing your home. The system exhausts air from the house while make-up air infiltrates through leaks in the building shell and through intentional, passive vents. Rely in part on random air leakage. Can increase heating and cooling costs. May require mixing of outdoor and indoor air to avoid drafts. Can cause backdrafting in combustion appliances.
- Supply Ventilation Systems use a fan to pressurize your home, forcing outside air into the building while air leaks out of the building through holes in the shell, bath, and range fan ducts, and intentional vents. Can cause moisture problems in cold climates. Will not temper or remove moisture from incoming air. Can increase heating and cooling costsMay require mixing of outdoor and indoor air to avoid drafts in cold weather.
- Balanced Ventilation Systems, if properly designed and installed, introduce and exhaust approximately equal quantities of fresh outside air and polluted inside air. Will not temper or remove moisture from incoming air. Can increase heating and cooling costs.
- Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) exchange indoor air with fresh outdoor air five times per hour to remove contaminants and improve carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. Balanced ERV ventilation brings fresh air into the home while retaining up to 60% of the energy value of the exhaust air, and rejecting about 40% of the moisture in the fresh air stream. Reduces the workload for your humidifier (dry seasons) by retaining up to 40% of the moisture from the humidified air leaving the home; similarly, it reduces the workload for your dehumidifier, air conditioner or heat pump (humid seasons) by rejecting moisture from the humid air entering the home (humid seasons).
- Helps remove odors. The whole-home system exhales bad and inhales good air. Contact PDM for free advice and estimate!
Solution #8 - CO2 Air Quality Monitor
In most indoor settings, a CO2 concentration of 400-1000 ppm is considered acceptable. This range is commonly used as a guideline for maintaining good indoor air quality in homes, offices, and public spaces. Be proactive and stay informed about the air you breathe with a CO2 Air Quality Monitor. What are your home and office CO2 levels?
Joliet’s Indoor Air Quality Specialists!
We are always here for you at PDM Plumbing, Heating, Cooling Since 1885! If we can help you improve your home’s Indoor Air Quality, please feel free to contact us for a no-strings-attached FREE indoor air consultation in SW Chicago suburbs.
How do I know if my Joilet home has bad indoor air quality?
You can tell if your home in Joliet has poor indoor air quality a few different ways:
- Do you have health symptoms only while inside your home, but when you leave, they disappear?
- Do you see evidence of mold or dust in your vents or on your unit?
There are indoor air quality audits that can be performed on the quality of air inside your home. They measure humidity, pollutants, allergens and other contaminants that could be present in your home’s air.
For help identifying air quality issues, contact PDM today to learn more!
How often should I change the air filters in my home near Joliet IL?
When it comes to how often you should change the air filters in your home near Joliet IL, there are a few guidelines you can follow:
- Replace every 20 - 45 days if you have more than one pet or suffer from allergies.
- Replace every 60 days if you have one pet.
- Replace every 90 days if you have no pets.
- Replace every 6 - 12 months if it is a vacation home that is not occupied often.
It’s also important to follow the guidelines put into place by the air filter manufacturer. For more information we are here to help. Call PDM today!
What causes poor indoor air quality?
Poor air quality in a home is caused by a number of things:
- Cleaning Supplies - Volatile Organic Compounds and fragrances are in many products sprayed around our home, including cleaning supplies. These chemicals will circulate in the air and throughout a home as soon as they are sprayed. Look for low VOCs in cleansers and other home products.
- Poor Ventilation - A heating and cooling system should circulate outdoor air inside regularly. If your HVAC system is not working properly or the airflow is clogged, your home might not have the right air circulation and pollutants can get trapped inside.
- Mold & Mildew - When there is too much moisture in the air, mold and mildew can form, which can be harmful to your health.
- Life - Pets, dirt, dust, paint, candles and pollen can all cause the indoor air quality in our homes to go down.
What Makes Indoor Air Quality Unhealthy?
- Bacteria, viruses - through the air or from direct or indirect contact with an infected individual. Understanding viruses video.
- Cleaning supplies - can irritate the eyes or throat, or cause headaches and other health problems
- Cockroaches, pet dander - can make asthma worse and cause allergic reactions in people who are sensitive
- Duct mites and dust allergy - inhaling proteins in dust that comes from dust mite feces, urine or decaying bodies.
- Particulate matter - tiny pieces of dust, dirt, soot, smoke, droplets of liquid and other pollutants
- Volatile organic compound - can irritate the eyes, nose and throat, cause difficulty breathing and nausea, and can damage the central nervous system and other organs.
- When mold has spread throughout a building, occupants may notice unpleasant odors and experience a variety of health problems, such as headaches, breathing difficulties, skin irritation, allergic reactions and aggravation of asthma symptoms.
When these accumulate, they can start to cause symptoms such as headaches and difficulty breathing, particularly in people with conditions such as asthma and allergies. It’s important to look after the health of your household - PDM air filtering can help.
Solutions For Your Indoor Air
Keep your air quality safe and save energy with products that keep your home systems running cleaner and greener. By addressing your indoor air purifier quality, greater energy savings can be achieved, pollutant and germ exposure issues can be lessened, and your health can be improved.
Nothing is more important to us than your health and comfort. We are always glad to give input on what products would best suit your home's individual needs. When you are in need of reliable air quality solutions, you can count on PDM to exceed your expectations.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. Call 815-390-7095 and we'll be glad to help!
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