Air Filtration Systems: How to Ensure Great Indoor Air Quality!

Air Filtration Systems – Why are they important?

Think of all the harmful things that float around the world you live in: bacteria, pollen, mites, and other insects; viruses, chemicals, and even pet dander. These things are constantly bombarding our immune systems, causing allergic reactions and illness, especially in young people, elderly people, and those with compromised immune systems.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a safe haven where none of these things can do any harm? Unfortunately, a lot of these tiny attackers come from within our homes as well as from outside.

But there is one sure-fire way to ensure great indoor air quality in your home—free of mites, bacteria, pollen, and all those other nasty things. First, we’ll identify what makes the air quality in your home poor, and then we’ll show you how to improve it.

Microscopic Space Invaders

Seasonal Allergens

Pollen. In the early spring in San Diego, homeowners will experience mid to high levels of pollen. If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you know what that means. (Check the pollen forecast in your area.)

Risking exposure to pollen, for many seasonal allergy sufferers, feels like a slow, painful death by runny nose, itchy eyes, sore throat from nocturnal postnasal drip, and strong, debilitating sneezing. It’s bad enough those allergens are literally floating in the air as soon as you step outside. Why invite those allergens into your home as well?

Pet Dander and Mites

Even if you don’t own any animals, the dander from outside animals or other animals you come in contact with can follow you home. Dander is basically skin cells; and the proteins of those cells cause extreme allergies in many people.

Mites are alive. They can even cling to your animals, though they are so small you’ll probably never notice them if you aren’t looking. Mites carry allergens much like the proteins of dander that make some people react severely.

Chemicals

Unfortunately, the products we use to clean up these problems can actually cause even more issues. Even if you wipe down chemicals or dilute them to decrease their potency, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re ridding your home of their harmful effects. Think about it: if the Drain-O you put in your sink is designed to eat through hair and other organic matter, what do you think it would do to your body?

Air Filtration Systems can help

The gist of all this is that bad things are floating in the air we breathe. For the most part, our bodies fight back and we remain healthy. But outdoors, there is much better ventilation than you probably have in your home, where your walls, windows and roof working together to keep contaminants inside.

What you need is to look into proper air filtration systems. By filtering the air in your home, you can remove these harmful particles, leaving clean and fresh air to breathe. This is how to ensure great indoor air quality.

Understanding contaminants

The first thing to understand is that each contaminant (pollen, chemicals, dander, viruses, etc.) is a different size. Pollen is larger than dander, which is larger than the particles from a sneeze, which is larger than a virus. This is very important; the smaller the contaminant, the more precise the filters that grab the contaminant need to be.

Your HVAC system is fitted with filters but knowing how well they perform is critical. Each filter has a MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) number that determines what type of contaminants it can filter out.

Filter options

The higher the MERV number, the more contaminants you’ll filter out of your home. The more you filter out, the better your air quality will be.

So, air filtration systems with a MERV rating of 1 to 4 will get rid of the pollen, mites, and other larger particles in your home. This amounts to about 20% of all contaminants.

Go higher up the MERV ladder from 10 to 12, and you’re filtering out auto emissions and lead, along with the pollen and mites.

Continue to a MERV of 16 and you’re filtering out bacteria, insecticides and auto emissions, lead, pollen, and mites. This amounts to 95% of all contaminants.

This is one instance where you definitely get what you pay for. In order to get the best possible air quality in your home—which also means reducing your family’s potential for illness, allergies, and exposure to other toxins—you need to go high on the MERV scale and install air filtration systems that can remove all of these harmful contaminants.

Talk to a Pro

There are other factors that go into making sure certain high efficient, air filtration systems will work with your equipment. Call or contact Bob Jenson Air Conditioning and Heating today to find out how to clean up the air in your home. Remember, your home is your safe haven from all the harmful things floating around outside. We install air filtration systems that will do the job right.