Why Your Home Air Quality is Awful in March and What You Can Do About It

It’s March and your house has been locked up, windows shut and air recirculating for months. The air quality inside isn’t what it was 8 months ago.

Indoor air quality is at its worst around March of every year, leading to:

• Greater susceptibility to cold and flu.
• Aggravated respiratory problems.
• Restlessness.
• Sleep interruptions.

New homes are built to high efficiency standards. But keeping the outside out means we trap the inside in, and indoor air can be as much as 500% more polluted than the air outside.

So what should you do this time of year to ensure your family doesn’t spend the next month perched on the sharp edge of a cold, flu, or something worse?

Install a whole home humidifier.

A whole house humidifier is small and out of the way, but has a huge impact on air quality at home.

A whole home humidifier eliminates all the work of moving, filling and turning on multiple small humidifiers around the house every day.

A whole home humidifier integrates with your furnace and keeps the whole house at a healthy level of humidity through the dry winter.

Why does humidity matter?

• Dry air is linked with weakened immune function.
• Humid air helps keep your skin, eyes and nostrils from drying out.
• Humid air feels warmer.

The last point is important because it allows you to set your thermostat lower, potentially saving hundreds of dollars over the winter.

Filter the air as thoroughly as possible.

We recommend families leave the furnace fan on through the winter, circulating the air constantly and running it through the furnace filter over and over.

Because of this, a good furnace filter is important.

A HEPA filter catches smaller particles than the run-of-the-mill filter.

• Mould.
• Pollen.
• Bacteria.
• Viruses
• Dust.
• Tobacco, wood and cooking smoke.

A dirty air filter should be replaced every 3 winter months.

UV air cleaners go a step further by actually destroying the viruses, bacteria, allergens and moulds found in your indoor air.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

Your house is full of VOCs.

Carpet and tile glues, wall paper and paint, furniture, household cleaners and more all leave behind chemical traces impacting your respiratory health.

We’re almost sure if you had the air tested you’d find:

• Carbon monoxide.
• Asbestos.
• Radon.
• Lead.
• Formaldehyde.

This is the kind of stuff you’d avoid like the plague if you knew it was nearby.

Well it’s nearby, and you can take care of it by filtering with an electronic air cleaner or any of the options listed above.

Ultimately, you’ll notice the impact of anything you do to address the air quality problems at home -a humidifier, filters, or even opening the windows regularly in the winter.

The biggest impact will come from installing a whole home humidifier or a UV air purifier, and we’re happy to help you find the right one for your home.

Give us a call today and cut the contaminated indoor air out of your family’s lives forever.