How Does the AC Impact Indoor Air Quality?
The AC in your Panacea, Florida, home does much more than keep you cool and comfortable. It also plays an important role in your health. The cleaner the air, the easier it is for you and your family to breathe. The AC also impacts indoor air quality thanks to precise humidity and temperature control.
Sources of Indoor Air Quality Problems
Combustion of gas for clothes dryers, fireplaces, and stovetops can pollute your home’s indoor air. Other causes of poor indoor air quality include household cleaning products, air fresheners, and certain building materials like carpeting that emit harmful levels of toxins called VOCs. Inadequate ventilation is a common source of poor indoor air quality, as well. Poor ventilation makes it so that the home does not have adequate levels of airflow to carry the pollutants outside. Indoor air quality is especially compromised by high temperatures and humidity levels, too.
Today’s newer homes are built to have tight envelopes. While this works well to cut down on high heating and cooling expenses and improves indoor comfort, it also minimizes airflow. Tightly sealed homes have poor ventilation, which leads to many of today’s newer homes having higher levels of indoor pollutants than older homes that have air leaks. By having an HVAC technician improve your home’s ventilation, you can reduce backdrafts, filter out allergens, and reduce radon gas, all of which are important for improving indoor air quality.
Improving Indoor Air Quality
Thankfully, there are multiple other ways to improve a home’s indoor air quality. Indoor air quality solutions are available through many HVAC companies, including Advanced Air Care Heating & Cooling. The key to improving indoor air quality is to identify and address the primary sources of a home’s indoor air pollutants. It’s important to store all cleaning products outside of the home, and not introduce additional volatile organic compounds into the indoor air.
Change the AC Filter
The filter on the AC plays a vital role in a home’s indoor air quality. The dirtier the filter, the less effectively it can filter air. Unfiltered air that bypasses into the HVAC system is then distributed throughout your home. As you breathe in the unfiltered air, this can severely aggravate allergy and asthma symptoms. It can also worsen respiratory health conditions.
To reduce indoor allergens, you should change the filter at least once every one to three months. If you have indoor pets, it’s best to change the filter at least once a month to keep pet dander from infiltrating your home’s air. Changing or cleaning the air filter is also important because a dirty filter can cause the AC to overwork causing possible repairs.
Achieve Low Humidity Levels
High humidity levels are a common cause of biological growth and often cause poor indoor air quality. Plus, high humidity levels make a home feel warmer than it actually is, which leads to running the AC around the clock. This results in higher cooling expenses added wear and tear to the system, and causes the AC filter to get dirty very quickly.
Fortunately, you can use the AC to achieve better humidity control. To do this, make sure to leave the AC on the "auto" position. This keeps the fan running only when necessary, which helps condensation collected on the evaporator coils to drain out as intended.
You can also use the AC to lower humidity levels by pairing it with a dehumidifier. You have two options to choose from when it comes to indoor dehumidification. You can use a portable dehumidifier or a whole-home dehumidifier that’s connected to the HVAC system.
Contact Advanced Air Care Heating & Cooling at 850-688-9265 to learn more about improving your home’s indoor air quality. You can also schedule an indoor air quality inspection. This type of inspection will reveal various sources of indoor air pollution, and the HVAC technician can then create a plan of action for improving your home’s indoor air quality.
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