Indoor Air Quality

What Affects Indoor Air Quality & What Can You Do About It?

Why is air quality so poor today? One of the reasons is that homes have improved insulation and heat sealing for better energy efficiency, but at the cost of less fresh air circulation. Numerous contaminants get trapped indoors without regular fresh air currents to remove them.

Another reason is that there are more sources of indoor air pollution today than ever before. Sources of chemicals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), fumes, and other harmful pollutants commonly found inside homes include:

• Combustion sources: Gas stoves, fireplaces, furnaces, wood-burning stoves
• Building materials and furnishings: Asbestos insulation, certain paints, treated wood, new carpet
• Household cleaning products: Cleaners, disinfectants, air fresheners
• Personal care and hobbies: Hair sprays, nail polish, candles, glues, paints
• Heating and cooling systems: Poorly maintained HVAC systems, dirty filters, and ductwork
• Biological Pollutants: Pet dander, mold, mildew, pollen, and dust mites
• Pesticides: Insecticides, rodenticides, and other pest control chemicals

This makes it sound like you are up against an army of sources of air pollution. However, there are solutions for all of these.

• Improved ventilation: Heat and energy recovery ventilators are effective ways to bring in fresh air without having to open up your doors and windows on hot or cold days.
• Humidity control: High and low humidity are both problems for homes that result in reduced comfort, an increased chance of illnesses, and even damage to furnishings and building materials. Whole-house humidifiers and dehumidifiers can solve this.
• Air filtration: Using mechanical air filters and air cleaners can eliminate a range of the larger contaminants found circulating through a home.
• Air purification: Air purifiers use processes like ionization and UV lights to eliminate many of the smallest but most harmful pollutants. They work well in conjunction with an air filtration system.

Affordable Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. can assist you with all of these indoor air quality devices and services.

Best Solutions for Improving Indoor Air Quality in Your Home

Where do you start when you’re looking for better air quality in your home? You’ve already got a head start since you’re on this page reading about your IAQ options. The next step is to call us to schedule a consultation. We can find out the ideal type of IAQ device or service to make your home an oasis of comfort and healthy living.

Air Filtration

This is often the first step in cleaning a home’s air. Air filters work on the simple principle of trapping particles that attempt to pass through them using a media like fiberglass mesh. The filters we install are special whole-house filters that we integrate into the HVAC system. They’re much more powerful and effective than the basic filter found on your HVAC system, which is only there to protect the interior of the air conditioner and furnace cabinet.

Air Purification

We often recommend that our customers pair their air filters with an air purifier. Air purification devices can target much smaller pollutants than air filters, and they can also cause pollutants to clump together so the filters have an easier time trapping them. There are several types of purifiers available. The most common are ionizers, which alter the charge of airborne contaminants to remove them from the air, and UV germicidal lights, which use ultraviolet radiation to destroy organic pollutants like viruses and mold spores.

Air Cleaners

These are powerful systems that combine several different types of filtration and purification for a broad approach to IAQ. We carry several of the best air cleaners on the market and can find one that will work best as a whole-house solution.

Heat and Energy Recovery Ventilators

It’s difficult during the height of summer and the depth of winter to allow fresh air into your house—especially in Northern Colorado. With a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) or energy recovery ventilator (ERV) installed, you can have fresh air brought into your home without also bringing in the outside heat and cold. These devices pre-heat or pre-cool the air they draw into your living space.

How Do Air Purifiers and Air Filtration Systems Work Together?

Think of air filters as the first line of defense for your home, the physical barrier that stops larger particles such as dust, lint, dander, and dust mites from circulating through the air of your living space. Filters have different strengths (measured as MERV, minimum efficiency reporting value) and can be powerful enough to stop particles smaller than .1 micron in size.

However, filters of this strength are not for residential use, as they’re thick enough to block airflow and damage the HVAC system. Professionals can help you find the MERV-rated filter that will effectively clean the air without interfering with the rest of the HVAC system.

Since residential filters have an upper limit on how powerful they can be, air purifiers become an important addition to most home’s IAQ strategy. Purifiers can assist a filter in two ways. First, they can eliminate the smaller pollutants that may slip through the filter. Second, they can cause particles to clump together through ionization, which makes it easier for the filter to catch them.

The Affordable Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. team is your best partner for finding the double defense of filters and purifiers for your needs.

Benefits of Whole-Home Air Purification Systems for Healthier Living

Whole-home air purification—whether through air cleaners or a combination of filters and purifiers—offers several benefits for healthier living. And just plain better living. Here are some of the best benefits of working with Affordable Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. for air purification and other IAQ improvements:

• Reduce allergens: Air purifiers trap common allergens like pollen, dust, and pet dander, helping to alleviate allergy symptoms and improve respiratory comfort for allergy sufferers.
• Remove harmful particles: IAQ systems filter out airborne contaminants such as bacteria, viruses, mold spores, and dust mites, which lowers the risk of respiratory illnesses and infections.
• Eliminate odors: By capturing particles from cooking, smoke, and pets, IAQ devices reduce lingering odors, creating a fresher indoor environment.
• Improve sleep quality: Cleaner air can enhance sleep by reducing irritants that may cause nasal congestion, sneezing, or coughing during the night.
• Support respiratory health: By reducing particulate matter and pollutants, IAQ devices help protect the respiratory system, especially for people with asthma or other lung conditions.
• Increase HVAC efficiency: Devices that prevent dust and debris from accumulating in the HVAC system will help to lower the cost to heat and home.
• Reduce cleaning needs: With less dust and dirt circulating, you’ve got less buildup on surfaces and much less time spent cleaning and dusting.

No single air purification, air filtration, or IAQ system will provide all of these benefits in a single package. This is one of the reasons it’s so important to work with professionals like ours. We’ll find out the areas where your home needs the most assistance and then find the solutions that solve the problems you need solved.

The Importance of Humidity Control

Humidity swings to extremes in Northern Colorado during the year. Summers can suffer from high humidity that makes hot weather feel much more intense and unbearable. Winters can turn bone-dry when most of the moisture has frozen into snow, and this puts an unpleasant edge on the cold. Excessive dry air (lower than 30% relative humidity) and extremely humid air (higher than 60% relative humidity) also creates unhealthy conditions. Humidity encourages the growth of harmful molds. Dry air causes dry and itchy skin and makes it easier for illnesses to transmit from person to person.

If your home has humidity problems, we can help with humidity control, finding that ideal balance between too dry and too humid.

Whole-House Humidifiers

A whole-house humidifier adds water moisture to the air moving through the HVAC system through a series of damp pads. A water pump keeps these pads continuously damp. Whole-house humidifiers need special annual attention from maintenance technicians to avoid problems with mold developing.

Whole-House Dehumidifiers

To remove moisture from the air, a whole-house dehumidifier acts similarly to an air conditioner, except it replaces any heat it removes from the air as it draws out moisture. An effectively installed dehumidifier will work in conjunction with your air conditioning system to prevent the house from becoming too dry.

How to Choose the Right Indoor Air Quality Products for Your Home

With so many different ways to approach indoor air quality improvements, you may feel overwhelmed. That’s understandable. It’s why you have professionals like us to assist you. Affordable Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. has a long history serving the comfort needs of homes in Northern Colorado, and we know the many types of air quality challenges that affect households.

We are focused on helping you locate the air purifiers, filters, HRVs, ERVs, air cleaners, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, etc. that will give your home the cleanest and freshest air possible. We don’t aim just to relieve the troubles of asthma and allergy sufferers with our services—we want everyone in your home to feel better thanks to our IAQ services.

From installing a whole-house air filtration system to humidity control, you can trust us to take your family’s health and comfort seriously. We have a 5-star mindset that has made us popular for more than three decades with homeowners who want the best. We also won’t attempt to upsell our customers on any services or products they don’t need. Contact us today and you’ll discover why we’ve been trusted for so long by the local community.

We serve Weld and Larimer Counties, Greeley, Fort Collins, Windsor, Loveland, and many more - check out our service areas page to see if we serve you.