Archive for the ‘Air Purifier’ category

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Did the Clean Up Crew Miss a Spot?

January 30th, 2012

Remodeling projects and repairs leave a big mess in the home especially if the repairs involve drywall. Drywall dust and debris can get all over everything and if your contractors did not take the necessary steps to prevent making a mess, you could have this stuff all over your home and the clean up won’t be easy. You may think that they cleaned everything up but a few cycles of the furnace will prove that they missed a very big spot. The duct work and the furnace are probably filled with debris from your construction project and the only way to get rid of it is to have a professional cleaning performed.

HVAC Clean Up:

  • Duct Cleaning: Every time air circulates through the home it will pick up debris from the job that was done. This along with years of dust and other debris may be lurking in your HVAC reeking havoc on the air quality in your home. A professional duct cleaning will clear out everything that is inside your ducts and collect it safely outside the home for disposal. This will leave you with much cleaner air inside the home.
  • Heating and Cooling Systems: Now that the ducts are clean lets take a look at the furnace and air conditioner. Many homeowners use cheap fiberglass filters that do little to protect the furnace from the particles that flow through the air in the home. All of that construction debris may have found its way into your heating and cooling systems and it needs to be cleared out. A dirty furnace or air conditioner cannot do its job properly or in an efficient matter. You will end up wasting money on excess energy use that could have been prevented with a simple cleaning. » Read more: Did the Clean Up Crew Miss a Spot?

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Air Purifier, Air Quality, Duct Cleaning, Heating, Home Services, Maintenace

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How Much Electricity Does Your Furnace Use?

December 12th, 2011

All furnaces were not created equal, and when it comes time to purchase a new system for your home, this fact will become overwhelmingly obvious. In the past, most furnaces were similar, but with all of the technological advances in the heating industry, furnaces have many different gizmos and gadgets to choose from. All of these advances are designed to improve performance and many are also made to increase energy efficiency. If you are looking for a new high performance furnace, AFUE ratings will tell you a lot about the systems energy efficiency, but they don’t tell the whole story. Gas furnaces don’t just use gas to heat your home. You need to consider how much electricity your unit will require as well.

The Furnace and Its Blower Motor

Many homeowners don’t even realize that gas powered furnaces use electricity, but if you have a unit with an inefficient blower motor in it, your furnace could be using a lot more electricity than necessary. The standard blower motor has one speed: high. The unit comes on and the blower forces air all over the home until the home reaches the desired temperature. If you have an air purifier, humidifier, or fancy air filter, you may keep the fan running between cycles as well. This helps improve air quality and evens out the temperature in the home. However, these old motors waste much more energy than necessary and there is a better option out there. » Read more: How Much Electricity Does Your Furnace Use?

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Posted in Air Purifier, Air Quality, Furnace, Heating, Information

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Energy Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality

October 26th, 2011

The air inside your house is said to be 4 x dirtier than the air outside, and this dirty air can be one of the many things that contribute to a decrease in the energy efficiency of the heating and cooling system. If this is true, it only makes sense that someone replacing old and inefficient equipment would also want to purchase that best indoor air quality products available to them.

Air Quality should Matter to Everyone

Indoor air quality products are most commonly purchased by to those with medical issues, and they are seen as unnecessary by those without medical concerns. The fact is the air in your house is dirty enough to cause damage to the new equipment, and once you make a big investment like that, you should want to do everything to protect it from harm. The other major concern consumers have is energy efficiency and the cost of their utility bills. This is often the reason why homeowners upgrade their equipment in the first place. However, the efficiency of the new unit is adversely affected by the poor indoor air quality. » Read more: Energy Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality

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Potted Protectors: Using Plants to Improve Air Quality

February 7th, 2011

When it comes to improving the air quality in your home, you have several choices. Air purifiers, furnace filters, UV lights, and air cleaners are all popular products that homeowners have been using for years to clean the air in their homes, but there is one option that you may not have considered. This “air cleaner” doesn’t get plugged in and you may even already have a few of them in your home. They are plants! Living plants have the ability to absorb and make use of the harmful contaminants in your air supply, and as a result, they clean the air in your home.

Common Contaminants

Plants absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen during their food making process. During a study performed by NASA, it was found that plants also absorb:

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Posted in Air Purifier, Air Quality, Go Green, Home Improvements, Information

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The Portable Problem

January 20th, 2011

If you are in the market for an air purification system, you have probably already acknowledged that you have an air quality problem in your home. Whether you have a child with asthma or musty smells in the basement, air purifiers are one of the best ways to take care of your indoor air quality problem.

While searching for a new system, you may have noticed that there are both “whole house” and “portable” air purifiers to choose from. When deciding between the two, as yourself one question. “Do I want to clean the air in my entire home, or just one room?” The answer should be simple, but if you need a little more convincing, here are a few more reasons why you should choose a whole house air purification system over a portable unit:

  • Limited Coverage: Portable air purifiers have only a specific amount of square footage that they are able to cover, and many only have a small fan to help circulate air through the filtering devices within the unit. This can leave plenty of areas in the home unaffected by the benefits of owning an air purifier. » Read more: The Portable Problem

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Posted in Air Purifier, Air Quality, Information, Maintenace

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4 Ways to Relieve Winter Allergies

January 6th, 2011

Winter allergy relief can be hard to find, but what many people don’t realize is that taking care of the HVAC systems can have several benefits upon the air quality in the home. Improving indoor air quality is a great way to improve your allergy symptoms. Here are four ways that that you can help relieve your indoor winter allergy symptoms:

  1. Duct Cleaning: Having a duct cleaning performed will rid your home of excess dust and debris that may be lingering in the air ducts. Most allergy symptoms are caused by dust, mold, dander, and pollen, and a professional duct cleaning service can safely and effectively remove all of these particles from your air duct system.
  2. Installing an Air Purifier: After you have the duct work cleaned, it is also important to install an air purifier. The air circulating through the duct work was also full of dust, mold, dander, and pollen, and a whole house air purifier will pick up any remaining particles that were floating in the air outside of the duct work. » Read more: 4 Ways to Relieve Winter Allergies

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Posted in Air Purifier, Air Quality, Duct Cleaning, Furnace, Maintenace

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UV Lights in Your Duct Work

September 13th, 2010

When you think of ultra violet light chances are the first thing that comes to mind are the harmful rays of the sun and not your HVAC systems. However, UV light can be harnessed and put to good use in the duct system of your home. If installed properly by a reliable HVAC contractor, UV lights can improve indoor air quality by destroying odors and harmful particles, and it may even boost the efficiency of your heating and air conditioning systems.

What is a UV light and how does it work?

A UV light is a machine that is mounted into your duct works supply and return vents or over the air conditioning coil. It uses a light bulb that emits powerful UV-C rays into the duct system. UV-C is an invisible part of the sun’s light spectrum. It has the ability to alter the DNA and RNA of microorganism which will sterilize them. Once sterilized, the microorganisms can no longer grow or reproduce and are killed off in a short amount of time. » Read more: UV Lights in Your Duct Work

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Air Purifier, Air Quality, Duct Cleaning, Heating, Home Improvements, Money Saving, Safty

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Ozone Air Purifiers: Harmful or Helpful?

August 25th, 2010

Every air purifier is not created equal. In the world of air purifiers, there are several options to choose from. From HEPA to ionic to ozone air purifiers, the process of choosing the right unit for your home can become confusing and maybe even a little overwhelming. But, you can check ozone air purifiers off your list right now! Contrary to what you may have heard about ozone air purifiers, these units are in reality very dangerous and most don’t even effectively purify the air.

What is Ozone?

Many of us have probably already heard about ozone. This is the gas that is commonly associated with our atmosphere. It is made up of 3 oxygen atoms. We normally breathe oxygen in its most stable form that consists of only 2 oxygen atoms. The third atom of oxygen that is present in ozone makes the molecule unstable. This instability is what allows that third oxygen atom to break off and combine with other organic molecules in the environment. The combination of the lone oxygen atom will alter the chemical make-up of the molecule it binds with. » Read more: Ozone Air Purifiers: Harmful or Helpful?

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Posted in Air Purifier, Air Quality, Consumer Protection, Information, Safty

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Types of Air Cleaners

October 5th, 2009

Several air cleaners are available to consumers to clean the air in their homes.  Indoor air can be tainted by dust, chemicals, mold, and even the radioactive gas known as radon—and all these pollutants can be detrimental to your health.  Although the EPA does not endorse or evaluate specific air cleaners, they have provided a list of types of air cleaners on their web site.

Mechanical filters are the most common and consist of pleated or flat filters.  Flat filters tend to catch only larger particles and don’t filter out much of the smaller particles that we tend to breath in.  Pleated filters catch more contaminants because they have denser fibers so they are able to catch smaller particles at the cost of reduced air flow.

Another type of cleaner is of an electric nature.  Electric air cleaners use electrical field to help capture oppositely charged particles.  These types of cleaners can be in portable devices or attached to a central air/heating system.

Some electronic air cleaners and ion generators have been known to produce ozone, which the EPA says can be harmful to our lungs.  Careful consideration should be taken when choosing these types of cleaners.  More information on the dangers of ozone can be found on the EPA’s web site.

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Air born viruses and bacteria

October 1st, 2009

Are you doing all you can to protect your family from the H1N1 virus (Swine Flu)? If you think the danger from the Swine Flu is over, think again. It’s only getting worse. I found out the only way to prevent infection is to avoid contact with the virus.

So far, the only advice coming from the medical community is to take normal precautions. You should cover your nose & mouth with a tissue when you sneeze or cough, wash your hands with soap and water, avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. That’s sound advice to be sure, but it doesn’t go far enough. That should be your last line of defense not your first and only.

While these steps may help reduce the spread of the virus, they do not eliminate it. I believe a layered defense that uses the latest indoor air quality technology is your best bet.

Winter is upon us and if you live in Chicago, you know what that means. We will be closing our windows and spend a lot of time indoors breathing the air in our homes that is up-to 10 times worse for us to breathe then fresh outside air.

I recently installed a Healthy Climate UV, Air Purifier, Humidifier and Media Air Cleaner. I also have a variable speed blower on my furnace, so my blower runs 24/7 and constantly attacks any bacteria or viruses that are in my home.  I could tell instantly the air in my house smells and feels better. So the UV Air Purifier kills the bacteria & viruses, humidifier controls the moisture and the media filter eliminates up-to 98% of the dirt, dust and allergens.

Prepare yourself for the fight against the Swine Flu like I’ve have and protect your family.

MADMAX

*This topic has been discussed before.  To read the past related article click the link.

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