To keep a home energy efficient during the winter, it needs to have strong insulation against the outside. This prevents heat from escaping and creating cold drafts. But there’s a negative side-effect to maintaining this seal against the outdoors, which is that it allows the concentration of contaminants inside your house to build up without any way of escaping. This often leads to a serious decline in indoor air quality that triggers asthma and respiratory problems.
Don’t worry, however! There are ways to improve IAQ during winter. Below are some of the options that we offer.
Air duct cleaning
It’s unfortunate that there are many door-to-door scam artists who claim to offer duct cleaning services, because it has caused many people to believe that duct cleaning itself is not a good idea. But as long as you approach actual professionals to handle this service, and not someone offering suspiciously low prices at your door, you’ll definitely get your money’s worth. Thorough duct cleaning removes an enormous source of airborne pollutants and will significantly raise your home’s air quality.
Air filters
A basic air filter can do wonders for cleaning the air. Make sure that you contact professionals to help you select the right air filter, however, since one that is too powerful will end up harming your heating system’s efficiency.
Air purifiers
When a mechanical air filter isn’t enough to remove the particles floating through your air, an electronic air purifier can be added to take care of small pollutants. Air purifiers use ionization to draw such impurities as pesticides, odors, smoke, and carbon monoxide from the air.
Energy recovery ventilators (ERVs)
These installations in an HVAC system draw fresh air from the outside, then pre-heat it using the warm air from inside. This allows a house to enjoy fresh air circulation without it adversely affecting the heating system. Energy recovery ventilators also function during the summer, pre-cooling the outdoor air to relieve strain on the air conditioner.
When you’re looking for improvements for your indoor air quality, call on Hall’s Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration in Shreveport, LA.
