The average American spends 90% of their time inside. This means that you are constantly breathing and re-breathing the air inside your home or workplace. If you don’t have a good air filtration system, you will end up inhaling unhealthy air.
Wondering if you should invest in a new air filtration system? Thinking about upgrading your filters? Curious why you should change your HVAC filters more often? Then, check out the following reasons why it’s important to improve your indoor air quality.
1. Indoor air is more polluted than indoor air.
Indoor air has two to five times more pollutants than outside air. Obviously, this varies based on the quality of the outdoor air where you live. But one of the main reasons you should think about improving your indoor air quality is because it’s probably not that healthy. You can check out the situation with an air quality detector.
2. Indoor pollutants have increased.
The onus to improve your indoor air quality is more important now than ever. Energy-efficient home construction methods have tightened up homes so that they are easier to heat and cool, but unfortunately, these methods can also lock in subpar air due to reduced ventilation. Additionally, an increase in synthetic building materials and household cleaners also reduces indoor air quality.
3. Improving indoor air quality protects your health.
Poor air quality can wreak havoc on your health. It exacerbates existing conditions such as asthma and allergies, but it can also increase the risk of respiratory infections, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers.
If you live in an area with high levels of air pollution, you need to be especially careful. You’re breathing polluted air every time you step outside, and if you don’t take the right measures, that air can get inside your home. In these situations, you need an even stronger air filter, and you may need to change it more frequently than people who live in areas with better air quality.
4. Air filters reduce the effects of wood smoke, if relevant.
The ambient heat of a wood-burning stove feels great, but unfortunately, any smoke that comes out of the stove can damage your health. Wood smoke has fine particles that can hurt the tissue of your lungs.
When you use a traditional HVAC system to heat your home, the air passes through a filter, but obviously, a wood stove doesn’t have a filter. In this case, you may want to run your heater once in a while to filter your air, or you may want to invest in a standalone home air filter. In either case, keep in mind that the wood stove increases the dust in your home so you should change your filter more than usually recommended.
5. Improving air quality protects the vulnerable.
Tragically, the people who are the most affected by poor indoor air quality are the most vulnerable. This includes babies, elders, and people with chronic diseases. Whether you have someone in these categories living in your home full time or coming to visit once in a while, improving your air will make your home a safer place for them to be.
6. Better air means fewer headaches
Even if you don’t get any diagnosable health problems, poor indoor air quality can be a literal headache. If you’re noticing headaches that are resistant to your usual remedies (such as increasing water, taking a nap, or having some caffeine), the culprit may be poor indoor air quality. Try investing in a better filter and see if you get fewer headaches.
7. Air filters safeguard the lifespan of your equipment.
Improving your indoor air quality improves the quality of your life, but it can also help your HVAC equipment. All of the air in your home passes through the filter on your furnace and AC. When you invest in a filter and keep it clean, you safeguard your equipment.
Contact Us to Talk About Your Air Quality
Your HVAC equipment plays a significant role in the quality of your home’s air. At N.E.T.R. Inc., we want all of our clients to breathe air that’s as healthy as possible. We think about air quality when we help our clients select their HVAC systems. We also prioritize air quality when cleaning filters and maintaining equipment. Want to improve your home’s air? Then, contact us today.
