Whether you suffer from a respiratory condition or not, improving your home’s air quality is beneficial. There are many ways that help improve the air quality in your home. Some are all natural, but many rely on your Monmouth County air conditioner repair team. Some can be expensive while others should be part of your routine anyway. While there is some debate on how much some of these techniques actually help to improve air quality, we think that if there’s a chance that it might help us breathe better, it’s probably worth the risk.
There is a lot in our air that we may not know about. With each breath comes the possibility of inhaling something toxic or irritating. Inside your home some of the most common supply of air pollution is smoke from cigarettes or cigars, mold and mildew, and VOCs (volatile organic compounds). VOCs can be found in a variety of things such as carpeting, paint, glues, and disinfectants. It can be debilitating suffering from a respiratory condition and living in a home filled with contaminants. By following a few easy recommendations, you can improve your indoor air quality for everyone.
Cleanliness
This is one of the recommendations that should be done anyway. However, maybe not in the ways that you might suspect. Keeping your sheets and clothes clean is one way that helps improve indoor air quality. Dust and pet dander are two contaminants that tend to cling to fabrics. Regularly changing your sheets and cleaning curtains, blankets, and pillows with an allergenic soap helps cut down on irritation from them. Keeping rugs and carpets clean is another way that cleanliness can help decrease air contaminants in your home.
Monmouth County Air Conditioner Repair
One other item that should be cleaned regularly is your air conditioner. Keeping the area around you’re a/c unit clear of dirt and debris not only helps your machine run more efficiently, but it helps to keep the filter cleaner too. Even with keeping the immediate area clean, the filter in your furnace should be changed every few months. If you find that when you change your air filter, it is typically fully clogged with dust and other contaminants, you should consider changing the filter more regularly.
An important task in keeping your air conditioner running efficiently is having an annual inspection by a Monmouth County air conditioner repair team like Toms River Heating and Air Conditioning. This is crucial to keeping this appliance running at its peak performance. This can directly help keep from adding more contaminants to your air. The cleaner and more productive your air conditioner is, the cleaner your air.
On the Topic of Filters
Not only is keeping the air filter in your air conditioner clean important, it’s also worth noting how many other air filters are in your home. Do you have a kitchen hood? If you weren’t aware, you should keep the filter in there clean and free of grease and dirt. How about your vacuum? There is at least one filter in every vacuum. Some models have multiple filters. It’s important to remember to clean them according to the manufacturer directions fairly often to avoid putting contaminants back in the air after you’ve vacuumed. Lastly, what about your dryer. Not only is this crucial in helping you avoid a house fire, but keeping your dryer vent clean also helps your air stay cleaner.
Natural Cures
One of the easiest natural remedies for air quality is a salt lamp. Simply buy one, plug it in, turn it on, then start to enjoy cleaner air. Salt lamps work by emitting negative ions when the lamp is on. They contain a source of light inside a large piece of Himalayan salt. The negative ions from the lamp combat the positively charged air contaminants that often aggravate asthma sufferers.
Another natural way to improve your air quality is by having house plants. Not only can the help remove contaminants, but they also provide more oxygen to your air. There are certain types that seem to be more helpful. Some of these are English Ivy, Dracaena, and Bamboo Palm. We understand this may not be such an easy task for those of you who don’t have a green thumb, but talk to someone at your local nursery and get their recommendations on good beginner houseplants. They are such a great addition to your home.
Activated charcoal is great at cleaning the air. This element is often used in drinking water filters, gas masks, and HEPA filters in your vacuum and air conditioner. Making sure any filter you use in your home uses the assistance of activated charcoal is a super easy way to help you breathe better at home.
One last easy, inexpensive, natural way to reduce contaminants in your air is by burning beeswax candles. They work in a similar way to the salt lamp. When you burn a beeswax candle, it emits negative ions which cause the positively charged dust and debris to drop out of suspension.
Manage Humidity
It may not be immediately obvious how managing the humidity in your home can help improve your air quality. The reason your humidity levels are so important is because irritants like mold and mildew love a moist environment. If you have too much moisture in your home, this is when these things start to grow. You can use things like dehumidifiers and bathroom fans to help reduce the amount of moisture in the air and curb the growth of mold and mildew. As we mentioned earlier, it’s important to keep your a/c running efficiently with regular examinations by a Monmouth County air conditioner repair company. Using your air conditioner appropriately helps to eliminate humidity in your home.
Improving Air Quality is Easy
No matter if you decide to implement just one of these techniques or you jump in with both feet and try to accomplish them all, improving your indoor air quality isn’t difficult. One thing you can do that only requires you to set up an appointment, is to have a Monmouth County air conditioner repair technician inspect your unit at least once a year. By taking care of you’re a/c system, you’re checking a few things off this list. Keeping your air filters clean helps reduce the spread of contaminants. Maintaining the area around the air conditioner clear helps the machine run efficiently. Plus, a well-maintained a/c unit helps reduce moisture in the air. Furthermore, there are so many natural ways of helping to improve your home’s air quality. Regardless if you suffer from a respiratory issue or not, improving your indoor air quality is always a positive.
Looking for other ways to improve your home? Click here to read how important gutter cleaning is!
The Role of Ventilation in Monmouth County Air Conditioner Repair
Another crucial factor in maintaining good indoor air quality is proper ventilation. Many homes, especially newer constructions, are built to be highly energy-efficient, which can sometimes mean that airflow is restricted. Without adequate ventilation, indoor air pollutants like dust, pet dander, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can become trapped, leading to poor air quality.
One simple way to improve ventilation is by opening windows whenever weather permits. Allowing fresh air to circulate through your home helps flush out contaminants and bring in clean outdoor air. However, this method may not always be practical, especially during extreme weather conditions or high pollen seasons.
A more controlled way to manage ventilation is by using exhaust fans in key areas of your home. Kitchen range hoods, bathroom exhaust fans, and attic fans all help to remove excess moisture, odors, and pollutants. If you frequently cook indoors, always use your range hood to help eliminate smoke and grease particles from the air.
For those who live in areas with limited outdoor air quality or who want a more comprehensive solution, an air exchange system or a whole-house ventilation system can be beneficial. These systems help bring in filtered outdoor air while exhausting stale indoor air, ensuring a continuous cycle of fresh air.
Another effective ventilation strategy is integrating an air purifier into your HVAC system. High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters and UV purification systems can help remove harmful particles, bacteria, and allergens, providing cleaner air throughout your home.
By paying attention to your home’s ventilation, you can significantly reduce indoor air pollution, making it easier for everyone to breathe—especially those with respiratory conditions.