Your family’s health and safety are your top priority. Full stop. From seat belts and screen time to home security and smoke alarms, making sure your family is happy, healthy, and safe is always at the top of your to-do list.
But what about your home’s air quality? For many parents, air quality is an important issue but one that often gets lost in the shuffle. Why? It’s time we talked about how the everyday air we breathe is a direct contributor to our overall health.
So, let’s get you up to speed on improving air quality for the benefit of everyone in your household — even your pets!
Understanding Indoor Air Quality
Did you know the air inside your home can be more polluted than the air outside? It sounds unbelievable, but it’s true — and backed up by scientific research. Considering we spend about 90 percent of our time indoors, poor indoor air quality can have a significant impact on our families, leading to discomfort and even health problems.
While pollutants, allergens, and irritants from individual sources may not pose a significant health risk individually, most homes have more than one source of indoor air pollution. According to both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), long-term exposure to these pollutants can carry serious risks.
Indoor air quality can be affected by many pollutants, including airborne particles you can see and those you can’t. Some of the most common indoor air pollutants include dust, dust mites, lint, hair, pollen, pet dander, mold spores, smoke, smog, viruses, bacteria, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are gases emitted from things like cleaning products, paints, craft supplies, building materials, and even your furniture.
Sensitivity to indoor air pollutants and allergens varies from person to person, but if someone in your family has allergies, asthma, or a suppressed immune system, they will likely be the first to notice a problem. For everyone, poor indoor air quality can cause symptoms like itchy eyes, headaches, congestion, coughing, and more, with long-term exposure to certain indoor air pollutants leading to long-term health effects. Especially for vulnerable family members, improving indoor air quality can help improve overall health — or at the very least, not make it worse.
How to Improve Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality
The good news is there are steps you can take to improve your home’s indoor air quality. By focusing on six key areas, you can make your home healthier for everyone in your family:
- Improve ventilation. A whole-home ventilator swaps stale indoor air with filtered outdoor air, bringing fresh, pre-cooled or pre-heated air inside to help reduce odors, vapors, viruses, and more.
- Use higher quality air filters in your HVAC system. The better the filter, the more effectively you’re removing pollutants and allergens from your home. A clean filter is key, so replace disposable or clean reusable filters every 30-90 days, or according to manufacturer’s instructions.
- Install a whole-house air purification system. Also known as a whole-home air cleaner, a purification system helps your family breathe easier all year long by removing pollutants and viruses. For the record, a Trane CleanEffects® Whole Home Air Cleaner is 8x more effective than HEPA filters and up to 100x more effective than traditional 1-inch air filters.
- Manage humidity control. Dry air can be irritating, and too much moisture can cause problems for your health and your home. A humidifier and dehumidifier help keep moisture in balance.
- Reduce sources of indoor air pollution. Regularly cleaning air vents and ducts, using a kitchen cooking vent, and buying indoor plants can all help make a difference in your home’s indoor air quality.
- Maintain your HVAC system and filters. Add regular HVAC and filter maintenance to your household maintenance schedule every 30-90 days, along with the other tasks you already do to keep your family healthy and safe, such as changing smoke alarm batteries, deep cleaning carpets, and cleaning your chimney.
Don’t compromise on indoor air quality. Move it to the top of your to-do list today. For more information on how you can improve your home’s indoor air quality, visit Trane’s Indoor Air Quality Solutions page or schedule a call with your local Trane Specialist for assistance with navigating the possibilities for your home.
Learn about ways to save valuable household dollars by giving your AC a break here.
