Tips To Improve Your Indoor Air Quality
Estimated Reading Time: 4.5 minutes
Indoor air quality has many variables, and Platinum Air Care can help you with most - if not all of them. Here are a few tips to start with:
1. Reduce or limit the amount of pollutants in your home
Maintaining a clean home is one of the easiest ways to start: If you have carpets or material furniture, you might notice on bright sunny days floating particles when you walk around or sit on your couch. These floating particles get kicked up from the floor during your day-to-day activities and can be any number of things; such as dust mites, pet dander, dried skin particles, pollen spores and other allergens. Vacuuming and cleaning regularly can reduce these number of particulates, especially on carpets.
If you or a family member are a smoker (tobacco, vaping or marijuana for example) the most obvious way to reduce pollutants is to smoke outside the home and eliminate second hand smoke. Another way to ensure removal of second hand smoke in the home is by having proper ventilation or filtration, most of our smoking customers use the RPS 600S (or older models) portable air purifier in their smoking room. With consistent filter replacement, the air cleaner absorbs the second hand smoke allowing a clean room environment.
Dirty Dryer Vent
2. Clean out your vents
One of the most inexpensive and immediate solutions to improving your home’s indoor air quality is Duct Cleaning. By removing years of accumulated dust in your ventilation system, you effectively reduce the amount of particles that are constantly circulating throughout the home. This can also maximize the effectiveness of your furnace and air conditioner by reducing the strain needed to blow the air through the vents.
3. Filter and purify the air
After a thorough Duct Cleaning, you can reduce and limit the build-up of dust in your vents by constantly changing your furnace filter (every month is best if possible). However, for the best quality of air filtration, consider the Platinum TrueHEPA system. If you live in an apartment or a home without forced air; a portable air purifier such as the RPS 600S will give excellent filtration with air purifying capabilities, and depending on the positioning of the portable air purifier can provide immediate results.
Dirty Furnace Filter
Clean Furnace Filter
Replacing your furnace filter on a regular basis is an effective and inexpensive action towards reducing dust in your system.
Combined with the Platinum TrueHEPA System, our Platinum PCO Ultra-Violet Light System will neutralize odors and biological bacteria that are too small to be filtered. This combination ensures that both particulates and odors (from pets, smoke, cooking and more) in the air that are too small for the naked eye to see are purified. By keeping the core of your home filtered and clean, you keep the entire house filtered as well.
4. Rejuvenate fresh air into the home
Filtering the air is an extremely powerful tool, however clean air can still become stale air. Since 2017, all newly built homes in Ontario are required to have a Heat Recovery Ventilation System (HRV) or Energy Recovery Ventilation System (ERV) installed. Ontario recognizes that by today’s standards, modern day homes are built air tight with energy efficiency in mind, which limits the amount of fresh air that flows throughout the home.
The Platinum ERV System allows fresh air to enter from outside, while expelling stale air from the inside- all while retaining the temperature of the home keeping energy savings in mind.
This illustration shows how fresh air enters and stale air is removed from the home.
In the summer with overly humid conditions, we constantly feel sweaty and hot.
5. Control the humidity
While not the most important step, controlling the home’s humidity can make a world of difference depending on the circumstances. In the winter the home’s air can be too dry, you might notice your clothes hold more static than usual, static shocks when you touch certain things in the home, or your skin or nostrils constantly feel dry.
Low humidity can increase the likelihood of getting colds, flu and other upper respiratory ailments according to The American Society of Otolaryngology. If you notice any of these, you should consider having a whole-home humidifier installed.
On the reverse side, in the summer when humidity is abundant you might feel sweaty, or find the air too thick to breathe. Overly humid conditions can create a growth environment for mold. A build-up of mold can stem from any location in the home but most commonly starts from the basement and/or ventilation system.
When you have a quality dehumidifier installed in your home combined with air filtration products such as the Platinum PCO, the air in your home won’t feel thick, and that musty basement smell will be non-existent. Having a controlled humidity environment has more benefits than listed above, you can learn more by clicking the links in the description for more information.
