Guest Post - 7 Purifying Tips to Improve Air Quality at Home

We always want to protect ourselves from the terrible pollution outside our home. But we tend to forget the quality of the air we breathe inside our home. 

Bacteria, fungi, molds, pet fur, and dust can all accumulate inside the home without you even noticing. These can gather under your furniture, at the corners of your home, or even on your mattresses. And this is the very reason the air quality inside our houses is worse than the air quality outside. 

So, to keep yourself and your family healthy, here are the seven purifying tips you can follow to improve the air quality in your home: 

Keep your house clean

The number one thing, and probably the most obvious one, is you need to keep your house clean. 

As low air quality is often caused by dust, dusting, sweeping, and vacuuming are the main things you should do. Don’t just dust on the areas that can be seen by your eyes. Remove all the items, move the furniture, and make sure you reach every corner. 

Do this at least weekly to prevent much accumulation. You can also seal big openings where particles come in, groom your pets often, and don’t let your outdoor footwear in. 

Keep the greenery outdoors

Usually, people place plants indoors to improve air quality. But most of the time, it doesn’t help a lot.

These plants can be a source of mold growth, which also trigger allergies and weaken your health. If you’re someone sensitive to allergens, it’s something to stay away from. 

Change your filters

If you’re using air filters, you should check and change them regularly.

Why? Because it ensures that the air you breathe is always fresh, clean, and healthy. At the same time, you prevent the system from getting damaged, thus prolonging its life. 

So, how often should you change your air filter? Well, this usually depends on what type of air filter you have. However, we recommend changing it once every 1-3 months. 

Invest in an air purifier

Cleaning your home can be very tiring, even when done weekly. So, if you want to minimize cleaning but still maintain good air quality, investing in an air purifier is a must. Here are the top reasons why: 

1. Air Purifiers help clean pet dander in the air if you have a filter designed for it. 

2. Air Purifiers will also help reduce any respiratory problems. This is very important for households with children and the elderly. 

3. Air Purifiers will help you breathe in a cleaner and pleasant-smelling air. Whether it’s cigarette smoke or the smell of cooking, air purifiers can help clear that, leaving you with a great smelling home at all times. 

As you can see, air purifiers offer you great benefits as it does not only keep your house clean and fresh, but it also keeps you and your family healthy. 

Check your air ducts

If you have air ducts or passageways that transport hot and cold air throughout your house, you should check it. The buildup of pollutants in the air ducts is possible as years pass by, which will cause the air quality to decrease. 

So make sure to include cleaning your air ducts as part of your regular home maintenance. But you don’t have to worry too much as it is usually recommended to clean the air ducts once every 3-5 years. 

Use cooking vents

Food is always part of our lives. But, you may not know that cooking can also contribute to your poor indoor air quality. Does this mean you have to stop cooking? Well, of course not. You just need to use cooking vents. 

Poor ventilation can cause severe problems in your health. You see, when you’re cooking, gas and electric burners release toxic chemicals that, when inhaled, can affect your respiratory system. 

Control humidity in your home

Lastly, control the humidity in your home. It has been found that high humidity levels will cost some objects in your home to moist and thus gather molds. The spores from those are what will cause irritation and other allergic reactions. 

One way to deal with this is through heat pump installation. The best thing about heat pumps is that it can act as a heater and cooler. So, it can alternate between heating and cooling to maintain a stable temperature for your home when it comes to dehumidification. In other words, the humidity level is just always right. 

Conclusion

After a long day at work and outside, it’s only right that you get to relax inside your home. But dust, pet dander, molds, bacteria, and foul odor can prevent this from happening. 

Good thing that improving air quality and maintaining good air quality is now easier than usual. Just follow the tips above to keep your house clean and, at the same time, protect yours and your family’s health always. 

Author Bio: Robert Helms is a freelance writer based in a NYC. When not writing for clients, he spends most of his time on DIY projects that can make his 800 sqft. apartment a home. 

Should I Repair or Replace my Airconditioner

As summers approach, your ac might be the one resource in your house you want to blindly rely on. If your ac starts showing fritz you might start speculating if it needs to be changed or replaced? That decision can be a tough call depending on your finances and your plans.  

What are some of the factors to be kept in mind while contemplating whether to repair or replace your air conditioner? 

1. AC’s unit age 

• According to the rule of $5000 if the age of the AC unit multiplied by the cost to get it repaired is more than $5,000, it should be replaced. If the amount is lower than it should be repaired.  

• In deciding when to repair and when to replace your air conditioner one thing to keep in mind is the unit’s age. If it’s more than 10 years old you might want to consider replacing it because older units tend to run with much lower efficiency than newer models and more than often have lesser seasonal energy efficiency ratios (SEER).  

• Furthermore, you can take professional advice by a renowned company like iceage pro, https://iceage.pro. 

2. AC unit repairing 

How do you know if your AC needs repairing? 

• If your AC is permanently disabled, 

• If it needs continuous maintenance  

• If it works with unnecessary noise. 

• If it has water leaking issue  

• Perhaps you want to upgrade the machine.  

3. AC Unit advising  

• Often contact a reliable HVAC contractor to decide if your AC device can be fixed or if it should be replaced.  

• Depending on the problem, the technician might be able to repair it and save you from the need to buy a new device.  

• However, if the problem is beyond repairing, costs too much to repair, or if the machine is too old or unreliable, replacement may be your only viable choice. 

What else can be done to improve your AC’s quality? 

• Usually preventive maintenance conducted regularly by a specialist will help improve the consistency of your AC.  

• Even, if your ac needs minor maintenance now and then that's fine. 

• If you are still unsure you can get it checked by a reliable renowned company like iceage pro, https://iceage.pro. 

How else can you improve your AC quality? 

• Programmable thermostats: They help improvise temperature control to make the machine operate more effectively. 

• Dehumidifiers: Keep your home cool and comfortable, and help increase the cooling performance of your AC.

Terms to Know When Purchasing an HVAC Unit

When purchasing a new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit for your home, you will likely come across several terms and acronyms that largely resemble alphabet soup. While they may seem like a random assortment of letters and numbers, that jumble of letters can have a large impact on how efficiently a system works in your home. As such, knowing what certain terms mean when buying an HVAC system is essential. To learn about some of the most important terms to know when purchasing an HVAC unit, continue reading.

BTU

One of the most important terms to know when purchasing an HVAC unit is BTU. BTU is an acronym for British Thermal Unit and refers to the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one point of energy by a single degree in Fahrenheit.

Essentially, the BTU rating will give you an idea of how effective the HVAC unit will be at heating and cooling your home. If the BTU rating is too small, then the system won’t have enough power to successfully control your home’s temperature. The exact BTU rating that you should look for in an HVAC system will depend on several different factors such as your space’s size, your home’s location, and how well your home is insulated.

SEER

Another acronym that you should keep a close eye out for when purchasing a new HVAC system is SEER. Standing for seasonal energy efficiency ratio, the SEER rating on an HVAC unit indicates the cooling output of an HVAC system in BTUs divided by the watts that it uses each hour.

In other words, the SEER rating will give you a good idea of how energy efficient your HVAC is. The higher the SEER rating that the HVAC system has, the more energy efficient it will typically be. Because your HVAC unit is most likely the largest consumer of energy in your home, choosing a more energy-efficient system can have a large impact on your monthly energy bill. As such, keep a close eye out for this acronym when choosing a new unit.

AFUE

Also pertaining to efficiency, the acronym AFUE stands for annual fuel efficiency ratio. This ratio refers to the amount of fuel the HVAC system converts to heat vs. how much fuel is lost through exhaust. The higher the AFUE rating is, the more efficient the HVAC system is.

To provide some perspective, an HVAC system with medium efficiency will typically have a rating between 80 and 85 percent. High-efficiency units, on the other hand, will have an AFUE rating above 90 percent.