As you know by now, indoor air quality – or “IAQ” for short – is crucial when it comes to ensuring that individuals that spend their time in different environments – including living and working spaces – remain healthy. Bad air quality can easily lead to a wide range of health issues and illnesses, including allergies and asthma, and in some situations, it could even lead to serious respiratory illnesses that can drastically impact how someone carries on with their life.
The main factor that could affect indoor air quality in different environments is the HVAC – heating/ventilation/AC – system in place. Because it plays such a critical role in IAQ, it’s important that you understand its role, as well as how you can make sure that the air in your house or workplace remains healthy. Luckily, this is exactly what we’ll talk about in our article today, so, here is what you have to understand:
The Role of the HVAC System Plays in Indoor Air Quality
An HVAC system such as this one is responsible for maintaining a comfortable and pleasant indoor environment by allowing you to control and monitor the humidity, temperature, and air rate levels at all times. It does this by circulating air via the space, while at the same time, it purifies any pollutants and particles, thus, regulating the humidity and temperature levels. Though, if the unit in place isn’t installed and maintained properly, it can easily and quickly cause a poor IAQ.
The primary way that it could affect the IAQ in a space is by controlling the number of pollutants in the area, which could include things such as dust, pet hair, pollen, as well as organic matter emitted by the products we use. If the system cannot filter out such pollutants properly, they’ll accumulate, and they can cause respiratory irritation, as well as various health issues and illnesses that we’ve mentioned at the beginning of this article.
Besides controlling the temperature, the system is also in charge of controlling the moisture in the air. High humidity can lead to the growth of mold, which again, can cause various health problems such as allergies. On the contrary, low humidity grades can lead to someone having frequent nosebleeds, as well as dry skin. The unit in place should regulate the humidity levels by removing excess condensation from the area.
So, How Can I Ensure Healthy Air?
No matter if you wish to ensure healthy air in your house or workplace, there are a few important tips that you need to keep in mind, especially those that revolve around properly maintaining and operating the HVAC system that you’ve installed. To help you and other people remain healthy, here is our list of tips that could help you guarantee that the area is healthy in the building you spend most of your time in:
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There is Nothing More Important Than Regular Maintenance
When it comes to ensuring that the HVAC unit operates properly, one of the most important things that you can ensure and do is to regularly maintain it. The maintenance process should include things such as cleaning out the filters and air ducts, checking for any leaks or damages, as well as inspecting and cleaning the condenser coils. If you cannot do this by yourself, there are experts that could assist you, and hiring them will also help you ensure that you save energy and lower your expenses.
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It Must Be Installed Properly
Proper installation of the HVAC unit will not only ensure that it works properly but, it’ll also ensure that it works efficiently – meaning that you can save resources. If it’s poorly established, it could lead to leaks, uneven flow, and other problems that’ll, of course, lead to a poor IAQ. If you suspect that the initial contractor didn’t establish it in the proper way, you must hire a contractor that’ll check it and see what the problem is – if there is any.
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Using High-Quality Filters is Crucial For a Good IAQ
You may not realize it, but utilizing high-quality filters could and will quickly and significantly enhance the air grade in your house, simply by doing a more satisfactory job of removing pollutants and particles from the area. Because of this, you must to opt for a filter that contains a high MERV rating since it’ll effectively remove the contaminants from the building. But, you should know that choosing the wrong ones can restrict flow and cause more stress on the unit, hence, you must choose ones that are compatible with the machine you own.
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Understand How to Control The Moisture Levels
When it comes to improving and maintaining a healthy IAQ, you must guarantee that you understand how to control the humidity levels properly. Hence, you should always keep the humidity levels between 30 and 50 percent. Doing this will keep a comfortable environment in the building, but more importantly, it’ll prevent any mildew and mold from growing – something that you’ll prefer to avoid at all costs. Additionally, if required, you could utilize a humidifier or a dehumidifier to regulate the levels of humidity.
Conclusion
As you could learn from our article above, the HVAC unit you own plays the most important role when it comes to keeping and maintaining healthy indoor air quality. Since it’s in charge of regulating the temperature, moisture, and IAQ, it’s crucial that you follow our tips from above so that you can guarantee that it operates properly, as well as efficiently – which could help you save a lot of money in the future.
Since you’re now well aware of all the things you have to do to maintain a healthy and comfortable IAQ, you really shouldn’t waste any more of your time reading 2024 guides similar to ours. Instead, you might want to start searching for a professional HVAC contractor that’ll help you learn whether or not the unit you have is installed properly, and more importantly, whether or not it operates to its full potential.
