Indoor air quality products keep your home comfortable and healthy all year round
Indoor air quality equipment works with your home’s heating and cooling system to provide balanced humidity levels and cleaner air throughout the year. Whole home humidifiers and dehumidifiers add or remove moisture from the air as needed to keep your home comfortable and safe from damaging mold growth. Media air cleaners offer superior contaminant control, while ultraviolet air cleaners stop the growth and spread of mold, viruses and bacteria in your home. Programmable thermostats give you the power to control your home’s HVAC system effortlessly for ideal indoor temperatures and energy efficiency.
Signs Your Air Ducts Need Cleaning
Is your home dusty no matter how many times you clean? Do you find breathing difficult, especially after the central heat or air has been turned on? Are your heating and cooling bills skyrocketing regardless of weather or insulation? If you answered yes to any of those questions, odds are that your air ducts need to be cleaned. Indoor air pollution causes can be numerous, but most of the time they come exactly from where you would expect – your air ducts. Surfaces in an average home are dusted and swept 1-2 times weekly, and yet when it comes to air vent cleaning, the average American family tends to neglect that. This is despite the fact that dust in your air ducts gets circulated through your house every time you turn the heat or AC on.
Is Cleaning Air Ducts Worth It?
There is mounting evidence that having your air ducts professionally cleaned can increase the efficiency of your heating and cooling systems. Furthermore, field research has shown that the best way to achieve air quality improvement in your home is through a simple, affordable process of having a professional clean your air ducts. The EPA reports that:
“If not properly installed, maintained and operated, these components (air ducts) may become contaminated with particles of dust, pollen or other debris. Some of these contaminants may cause allergic reactions or other symptoms in people if they are exposed to them.”
While dusting a table or bookshelf is something anyone can do, few Americans have the air duct cleaning tools at their disposal to clean their own vents. Luckily many air duct cleaning companies exist to help you protect your family from allergens and bacteria.
Furnace Duct Cleaning Pros and Cons
According to the EPA: “EPA does recommend that if you have a fuel burning furnace, stove or fireplace, they be inspected for proper functioning and serviced before each heating season to protect against carbon monoxide poisoning.”
The truth is that furnaces and other direct heat sources can be hazardous if they are not clean. As dust and other particulate matter builds up in the furnace it can create a dangerous situation in which the dust becomes flammable. This is not the type of job you want to try to handle yourself. Companies like Stiles Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing can take care of your furnace affordably and efficiently, protecting you and your family.
Duct Vents Cleaning
While it seems like cleaning your duct vents would be a simple task, the truth is that it’s not nearly as straightforward as it may seem. Sure you could pull your grates and scrub them, but without cleaning the full system the vast majority of the pollutants and bacteria will remain in the system even after cleaning the grates. Like a mausoleum, the vents may look pretty and clean, but what is below the surface is decaying and toxic.
Indoor Air Quality
Indoor Air Quality is defined by Wikipedia as:
“Indoor air quality (IAQ) is the air quality within and around buildings and structures. IAQ is known to affect the health, comfort and well-being of building occupants. Poor indoor air quality has been linked to sick building syndrome, reduced productivity and impaired learning in schools.”
While there are a variety of indoor air pollution sources, one of the biggest contributors to indoor air pollution is dirty ducts and vents. Whether you searched for full duct cleaning services or were merely looking for “dryer vent cleaning near me,” if you are concerned about the air quality in your home the best course of action is to call a professional.
How to Improve Indoor Air Quality
No amount of dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, or mopping will improve the air quality in your house as much as one professional air duct cleaning. Furthermore, air duct cleaning will improve not only the quality of the air in your home but also the efficiency of your heating and cooling system. Many people call an air conditioning repair service and spend thousands upon thousands of dollars when the actual problem could have been addressed much more affordably by simply having your air ducts professionally cleaned.
Indoor Air Quality Standards
While there are no specific standards placed by the EPA on what is considered high indoor air quality, the proof is, as they say, in the pudding. If you are finding it hard to breath in your own home, if there is dust on furniture less than 3 days after cleaning it, or if you have been experiencing recurrent respiratory issues, these are all good indicators that it is time to have your air ducts cleaned. Even if you aren’t experiencing any of this, if you don’t know when the last time your air ducts were cleaned, or if it has been longer than a year or two since they were cleaned, your best bet is to call Stiles Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing and schedule a free consultation today.
