Improving the Air Quality in Your Home
Indoor comfort is more than ensuring you are effectively managing indoor temperatures in your Illinois home. Indoor air quality (IAQ) plays a big part when creating a comfortable environment for your family. Having poor air quality in your home can increase your family’s allergy and asthma symptoms, and cause headaches and fatigue. It can also affect overall comfort by impacting the efficiency of your air conditioning system. It is important to recognize when the IAQ is poor and take steps to improve it before it leads to serious problems.
Recognizing Poor IAQ
Contaminants can enter your indoor air from a variety of sources and some of these tiny particles such as bacteria or viruses are too small to be seen with the naked eye. Other pollutants such as dust, pet dander, and mold are more easily seen, especially as they accumulate on surfaces. These particles can come from pets, cleaners, dirty air filters, or from the outside air. Pollen and other allergens often enter our homes through windows or doors, or even by our shoes and clothing.
High levels of humidity and poor ventilation can also affect air quality. A musty smell accompanying humid air is a sign of mold and mildew growth. If you have symptoms like headaches and fatigue that tend to go away when you leave the house, poor IAQ is likely to blame.
How To Improve IAQ
Ventilation is key when trying to improve IAQ. Open doors and windows when possible, especially after using cleaners that contain harmful chemicals. Indoor air has been found to be even more polluted than outdoor air. Clean your house regularly to get rid of airborne pollutants. Proper sanitization will help to reduce, or prevent the spread of viruses and bacteria.
Your heating and cooling vents can pollute the air with dust and dirt. Schedule seasonal cleaning of your heating and cooling systems to make sure the fans and vents stay clean and dust free. It is also very important that you clean or replace your air filter regularly.
Tempco Heating & Air Conditioning offers experienced indoor air quality services to ensure your indoor air is safe for you and your family. Call us at (847) 670-7000 to schedule an appointment or to learn about our indoor air quality systems.