Easy Ways to Improve Air Quality

Do you suffer from allergies, damp musty household smells or high humidity levels in your home? You would benefit from improving the quality of the air in your home. The less humid and cleaner the air in your home the lower the chances are of the air containing allergens that will trigger an allergic reaction. You are more likely to get a better nights sleep and the chances of mold growing are vastly reduced if the humidity level is lower.

Here are a few things you can do to improve the air quality in your house:

Use a dehumidifier. These are extremely efficient at extracting water and moisture from the air. This is an excellent way of decreasing humidity levels. It follows then that the chances of fungus and mould growing in the house are significantly reduced. An air dehumidifier will be reliable and do the job more than adequately. In fact a special bathroom dehumidifier would definitely be worth the investment as many humidity problems stem from there.

Buy an air filter that uses a HEPA filter. These remove even the smallest particles from the air in your house. Some newer vacuum cleaners will filter the air at the same time as cleaning the floor. These can be purchased from the Electrolux company.

Make attempts to allow air to circulate efficiently. If prevailing conditions permit try to allow air to circulate by leaving windows or doors ajar. This is of considerable benefit in making the feel less stale and more fresh. This is especially important if you ever make us of indoor pollutants such as paints and so on.

Buy and use natural or organic household cleaning products through your house. The regular sprays found in the supermarket maybe ok for cleaning but they are much less beneficial to your air quality.

Purchase organic or natural furniture. Furniture strangely enough releases chemical gasses into the air particularly over the first few years. often the material they are made out of is actually hazardous for example plastics and sealants, these will all be released in to your air. Antique furniture or at least older furniture tends to have not been constructed with such harmful pollutants and therefore they pose less of a hazard.

With these tips in mind there is every chance that you will be able to improve the air quality of your home effectively. You may even want to go a step further and take a look at the special dehumidifier air filter products that are available now, they could prove invaluable to you.

As always, if you have any questions about your air quality or any related HVAC question, don't hesitate to call DeLong Air, Inc. We're happy to answer your questions. Click here to go to our website for more information.

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I just got this ready for the new website I'm working on but couldn't wait to share! Just print this out and call DeLong Air at 323.2300 when you need service on your heating or air quality products. Remember, we service all brands and models.

Simple Tips to Reduce Heating Bills

Although there's not much that can be done to lower the price of natural gas this winter, there are some no- or low-cost things you can do to save on your gas bill. Having DeLong Air perform a professional energy audit of your home can also help identify additional ways to tighten up your home and save on heating bills.

Reduce thermostat setting to 68 degrees.
Reducing your thermostat setting can substantially lower your heating costs. Putting on those extra layers will help you stay comfortable while saving on your heating bill.

Set back thermostat at night and when you leave home.
Setting the thermostat back 10 degrees at night or when the house will be unoccupied can save up to 15% on heating costs. The furnace will have to run more to reheat the house, but the energy saved while the home is cooler more than offsets the extra run time to reheat the home.

Install a programmable thermostat.
Programmable thermostats allow you to reduce your home's temperature at night and during the day and still have the home warm when you wake up or come home from work. Some programmable thermostats cost less than $50 and can be installed by homeowners.

Change furnace filter monthly.
Clogged furnace filters lower the heater's efficiency by preventing proper airflow through the furnace. Low-cost filters are available from your local hardware store. Check filters monthly to see if they need changing.

Have furnace "tuned up" annually.
Having your furnace cleaned and tuned annually helps the heating system operate safely and efficiently. Tuning may involve resetting the fuel-air mixture for proper combustion as well as cleaning of the blower and burners to assure maximum airflow and complete combustion. New furnaces don't need to be cleaned and tuned for the first few years.

Let sunshine in south windows.
Open drapes on the south side of your home during winter days and close them at night. Sun angles are low in winter, allowing substantial solar heating through all south windows. You may want to trim vegetation that shades south windows.

Check and replace weather stripping on doors and windows.
Air leaks around faulty weather stripping on doors and windows not only make your home drafty but they also increase heating costs. Check for drafts, and repair or replace worn stripping.

Close storm windows and doors.
Storm windows installed over primary windows are almost as good as double-pane windows for reducing heat loss, but they only work if they are kept closed. Be sure all your storm windows are properly closed when cold weather arrives.

Operate kitchen and bath vents minimally.
Bath and kitchen vents exhaust moisture, along with heated air, to the outside. If your home is dry during the winter, you may not need to operate these vents at all. However, if you have condensation on windows, operate the vents as needed to remove cooking and bathing moisture.

Lower the thermostat set point on your water heater.Keep water temperatures at about 120 degrees. You can check your water temperature by carefully placing the back of your hand under a steady stream of hot water—if you can't keep your hand there, your water is too hot.

Install a water heater blanket.
Older water heaters may not have adequate insulation. Installing an insulating water heater jacket can save energy costs. Be careful to follow manufacturers' recommendations and don't cover the thermostat.

Reduce hot water use.
Reducing hot water use reduces the cost of heating water. Low-flow showerheads save water and energy. Showers generally use less water than baths. Using the cold water setting on your washing machine and repairing leaky faucets will save on water and water-heating costs.

What is Sick Building Syndrome?

Sick building syndrome or SBS is the term use to describe the condition, in which building occupants suffer from health problems and discomfort, but no specific illness could be identified to the sufferers. Health problems of the occupants may localized in one compartment or the whole building. There is another similar term used related to building is called Building related illness or BRI, in which illness are specific and causes related to the building are identifiable. Recovery from illness takes days or weeks after leaving the building.

In sick building syndrome, health problems are unidentifiable and no co-relation could be established directly with the building. The occupants complains of headache, itchy skin, irritation of eyes and nose, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, difficulty and in concentration and similar other problems of severe discomfort. The symptoms relieved soon after leaving the building.

Most of the high rise buildings have very less scope of entering natural fresh air by manual arrangement. The air handling system called HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) is does all the functions of keeping inside atmosphere of the building comfortable by heating, cooling and mixing measured quantity of fresh air from outside with recalculated air inside. The system is set to do a complete air change few times a day depending on the number of occupants, types and numbers of office equipment and other sources of airborne pollutant in the building.

Some building may set complete air change or mixing of outside air too less to save the energy and in turn the environment inside becomes uncomfortable. Another reason could be poor design of HVAC, where the fresh air intake is too close to pollutant emitting atmosphere like multistory car park, toilet or kitchen exhaust vents, etc. Filters of the building's HVAC system is able to filter out solid particles but fine gasses mixed with air can easily pass through the filter.

Bacteria, molds, pollen, and viruses can breed at many components of the building's air handling system due to ageing, poor design allowing water to stagnant in ducts, dehumidifier and drain pans. The breeding of contaminants could be from inappropriate maintenance of the HVAC system also. Molds and polen can form in wet ceiling, carpeting or insulations also.
There could sources og indoor pollutants. Example of indoor pollutants could be adhesives, carpeting, upholstery, manufactured wood products, copy machines, pesticides, and cleaning agents.

When sick building syndrome become prevalent, foremost responsibilities of the building management authority would be to carry out investigations, identify root causes of the pollutant, eliminate the source or sources and alleviate sufferings of the building occupants.

References: http://epa.gov/iedweb00/pubs/s bs.html.

http://en.wikipedia.or g/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome