With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimating that indoor air quality can be up to five times more polluted than outdoor air, it’s no surprise you’re likely concerned about protecting your indoor air quality. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to boost the air quality in your home to ensure optimal safety for your family.
How Can an Air Purifier Work?
Air purifiers are devices designed to remove unwanted airborne contaminants from your home. Most air purifiers have a fan that draws air in and filter media that trap unwanted pollutants. There are a few different types of air purifiers that you can purchase for your home, depending on your budget and specific needs.
HEPA air filters are among the most commonly used on the market. HEPA stands for high efficiency particulate air filter and can capture around 99.9% of airborne particles as small as .3 microns in size. To put this into perspective, it can trap pollen, pet dander, dust, mold spores, and even fine smoke particles. With seasonal pollen and coastal dust prominent in Long Island, HEPA filters can be the gold standard for boosting your air quality.
Another popular option is activated carbon filtration. Activated carbon is effective at absorbing gases, odors, and volatile organic compounds, or VOCs for short. These are chemicals that are emitted by paint, cleaning products, furniture, and other items. You may want to consider using organic or VOC-free cleaning products in your home to minimize their concentration.
Some purification systems have integrated UVC lighting. This has a germicidal attribute that disrupts the DNA of bacteria, viruses, mold spores, and other airborne pathogens. This works to effectively neutralize them by preventing them from reproducing. All of these air purification options can easily integrate with your existing HVAC system to seamlessly purify your air throughout your entire home.
What Do Air Purifiers Remove?
There is a wide range of indoor contaminants that can affect the quality of air in your home. Some of these may be visible, while others are invisible to the naked eye. Air purifiers work to effectively remove all types of airborne contaminants from your household. One of the most common is particulate matter. This category includes items like pet dander, pollen, dust, and mold spores. HEPA filters are particularly effective at capturing these tiny particles.
With Long Island experiencing a coastal breeze that can carry salt, sand, and dust, it’s no surprise that a lot of people have worsening allergy symptoms. With the right air purification device, you can effectively remove these to minimize your symptoms. Air purifiers are also well-known to remove allergens like grass pollen, ragweed, and even tree pollen. By capturing these allergens in an air filter, you can effectively reduce your allergy symptoms.
Air purifiers are great for removing unwanted VOCs from your carpet, furniture, and other surfaces throughout your home. If you purchase a UV-C air purification device, it will take care of reducing airborne bacteria and viruses. This can minimize the spread of any illnesses throughout your family. Many air purification systems are outfitted with carbon filters that are effective at absorbing unwanted smells from your home. These include things like cooking odors, mustiness from humidity, smoke, and even pet smells.
Health Benefits of Boosting Indoor Air Quality
Investing in a whole-home air purification system for your family can provide you with many great benefits. One of the most obvious is a reduction in asthma and allergy symptoms. By effectively removing known allergens, like pollen and pet dander, you will experience measurable relief in your symptoms. These include things like eye irritation, coughing, congestion, and even sneezing.
Many homeowners will experience better respiratory health. Diminishing symptoms like coughing and wheezing, or simply experiencing an improvement in your breathing, can all be possible with an air purification system. This is because they reduce particulate matter, like fine pollutants and smoke, that otherwise irritate the airways.
Another notable benefit of purifying the air in your home is that it improves your sleep quality. With fewer allergens and air irritants in your home, you have cleaner air at night to breathe in. This can alleviate nasal congestion and restlessness symptoms. With lower concentrations of airborne pollutants, you’ll experience enhanced cognitive function. This is signified by an increase in memory, concentration, and productivity.
With fewer airborne contaminants, you’re less likely to transmit illnesses like cold viruses throughout your household. Your immune system will have a lower stress level because it’s not constantly fighting off airborne irritants. These are just some of the many great benefits you can enjoy from investing in an air purification system for your home.
Why Air Purification Is Imperative in Long Island?
Long Island experiences some unique environmental factors that significantly impact indoor air quality for many families. The abundance of vegetation in Long Island, combined with the coastal breeze, allows allergens to carry significantly throughout the area. Sea spray and sand from the coastal winds are also unwanted contaminants that can contribute to your home’s particulate load. These are well-known to aggravate respiratory symptoms.
Long Island has many busy hubs like Freeport or Hempstead. These areas have higher levels of outdoor pollutants that can easily infiltrate your home if you live near one of these areas. To make it even worse, Long Island experiences hot and humid summer conditions. This encourages unwanted toxic mold growth that can spread mold spores. Mold spores are one of the biggest indoor allergens that can provoke asthma and allergy attacks.
Getting and Maintaining Your Air Purifier
When it comes to purifying the air in your home, you don’t want to leave it up to simple portable air purifiers. You’d essentially have to purchase one for every room of your home to effectively treat all the air in your home. A better solution is to invest in a whole-home air purification system. This gets installed directly inside your return ducting or at the evaporator coil for your air conditioning system.
It’s important to always have a professional do the installation process for you for several different reasons. One of the most important is that they’ll be able to pair you with the right type of air filtration device to target the specific problems that you have in your home.
All air purification systems need routine maintenance to stay in good working condition. If you purchase extended media filters, you’ll need to replace them every 6 to 12 months. UV-C germicidal lighting requires replacement every two years, depending on the type of lighting that you have. We highly recommend getting service for your air purification system every year alongside servicing for your HVAC unit.
Expert Indoor Air Quality Services
Cool Power LLC provides expert indoor air quality services for the Long Island, NY area. We can also assist with all your HVAC installation, replacement, repair, and maintenance needs. Call our office today to schedule your next service appointment with one of our experienced technicians.
