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With the spring season right around the corner, that means allergies are on their way too!
Allergies are one of the many things that proper Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) enhancements can remedy. Continue reading for a list of some of the system enhancements Green Comfort Systems offers and how they can benefit your health and comfort.
Why is Indoor Air Quality so important?
According to the United States EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), Americans on average spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, where the concentrations of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations. People who are often most susceptible to the adverse effects of pollution (e.g., the very young, older adults, people with cardiovascular or respiratory disease) tend to spend even more time indoors.
Indoor concentrations of some pollutants have increased in recent decades due to such factors as energy-efficient building construction (when it lacks sufficient mechanical ventilation to ensure adequate air exchange) and increased use of synthetic building materials, furnishings, personal care products, pesticides, and household cleaners.
What can we do about it?
UV Lights
The evaporator coil of your air conditioning system can be the perfect breeding ground for bacteria and other microbial growth to flourish. While most people understand that air conditioners cool their homes, they might not understand that an even more crucial step of that process is dehumidification. This process happens when the hot humid air touches the surface of the cold coil, causing the moisture in the air to condense and go down the drain.
This leaves a dark damp place for microbes to grow. The system fan then comes on to cool your home and spreads these spores all over. This is why we recommend installing a UV light near the coil to kill any old growth and prevent new growth from sprouting. This also increases system air flow and efficiency as it prevents any organic material from growing on the coil and blocking the air passages.
Media Filters
These are a little easier to explain as the technology is fairly basic. These are similar to standard air filters, however they are larger and more dense, collecting more of the dirt, dust, pollutants, and other small particles that you'd rather not have floating around your home. While standard furnace filters help keep forced air furnaces and ductwork clean, they don’t improve the air quality in a business or home.
Media filters on the other hand are designed to improve air quality in residential and commercial facilities. Not only do media filters help improve air quality, they also are much more effective than standard furnace filters at keeping HVAC systems, including forced air furnaces, clean.
Dehumidifiers
The dehumidifiers we offer are larger versions of ones you may have seen or purchased at a big box store. These central dehumidifiers can be tied into your ductwork system to remove moisture from your whole house, not just from the room you have it in.
Dehumidifiers are less about keeping the air clean and more about keeping you comfortable. That said, they do still contribute to healthy air quality. Many people are aware that damp humid conditions can lead to mold and mildew growth, however there are also a lot of bacteria and other pollutants that thrive at the other end of the spectrum- having too low humidity. It is recommended to maintain between 30-50% relative humidity for the most healthy air.
This will also save you on your utilities, as a lower humidity level would allow you to keep the temperature at a higher set point, preventing your AC from running as often.
Air Scrubbers
The Air Scrubber attaches directly to the HVAC system ductwork to remove air pollution, VOCs, surface contaminants, pet dander, odors and dust, resulting in a cleaner, healthier and more efficient home. The perfect solution for homeowners and businesses who want to reduce and eliminate harmful contaminants. Technology used by NASA substantially reduces odors, visible smoke in the air, and microbial populations on surfaces using ActivePure technology consisting of a special UV light and photocatalyst target, creating an oxidation process containing many friendly oxidizers. Protect, Purify, and attack contaminants in your air!
The Air Scrubber pulls free oxygen and water molecules in the air through ActivePure's patented honeycomb matrix. The technology creates powerful oxidizers, known as ActivePure Molecules, that are then released back into the room, where they seek and destroy DNA and RNA viruses including SARS-CoV-2 (novel coronavirus), Swine Flu (H1N1), Avian Bird Flu (H5N8), Hepatitis A (HAV) and MS2 bacteriophage, regardless of their size, on surfaces and in the air.
As of October 2020 ActivePure technology was tested and approved for use by the FDA and in tests following FDA protocols it demonstrated a 99.98% surface kill rate of SARS-CoV-2 novel Coronavirus within 7 hours. For more information click here: The First Air Purifier Scientifically Proven to Reduce COVID-19 on Surfaces.
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