Clean, Healthy Indoor Air for Your Home

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the air quality within and around your home, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of your family and guests. 

Controlling common pollutants and irritants indoors can help reduce your risk of indoor health concerns.

Health effects from indoor air pollutants may be experienced soon after exposure or, possibly, years later.

There are many sources of indoor air pollution. These can include:

• Fuel-burning combustion appliances
• Tobacco products

Building materials and furnishings as diverse as:

• Deteriorated asbestos-containing insulation
• Newly installed flooring, upholstery or carpet

Other sources that lower indoor air quality

• Cabinetry or furniture made of certain pressed wood products
• Products for household cleaning and maintenance, personal care, or hobbies
• Central heating and cooling systems and humidification devices
• Excess moisture
• Outdoor sources such as:
•         Radon
•         Pesticides
•         Outdoor air pollution

Inadequate Ventilation

• If too little outdoor air enters indoors, pollutants can accumulate to levels that can pose health and comfort problems. 
• Unless your home is built or upgraded with special mechanical means of ventilation, those designed and constructed to minimize the amount of outdoor air that can "leak" in and out may have higher indoor pollutant levels.

• HEPA is a type of pleated mechanical air filter. It is an acronym for "high efficiency particulate air [filter]" (as officially defined by the U.S. Dept. of Energy).  
• This type of air filter can theoretically remove at least 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and any airborne particles with a size of 0.3 microns (µm). The diameter specification of 0.3 microns responds to the worst case; the most penetrating particle size (MPPS). Particles that are larger or smaller are trapped with even higher efficiency. 

• Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values, or MERVs, report a filter's ability to capture larger particles between 0.3 and 10 microns (µm). 
• What this means in plain English is that your furnace filter is designed to remove small particles from the air so you don't breathe them in.

The higher the MERV rating, the better the filter is at trapping specific types of particles.

We're not medical experts, so we recommend you visit the EPA to understand how  air purifiers, one of the key components that contribute to indoor air quality, leads to healthy air for your home.

Air cleaners may reduce the health effects from some particles - small solid or liquid substances suspended in air, such as dust or light spray mists.

• Some air cleaners, under the right conditions, can effectively remove certain respirable-size particles (for example, tobacco smoke particles). 
• These invisible particles are of concern because they can be inhaled deeply into the lungs. Removing such particles may reduce associated health effects in exposed people. These effects may range from eye and lung irritation to more serious effects such as cancer and decreased lung function.

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants.  

• Increasing the amount of outdoor air coming into your home helps to control pollutant levels, odors, temperature, humidity and other factors that can impact the health and comfort of your family

This is technical: The rate at which outdoor air replaces indoor air is described as the air exchange rate.  ASHRAE  (formerly called the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) recommends (in its Standard 62.2-2016, "Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Residential Buildings") that homes receive 0.35 air changes per hour  but not less than 15 cubic feet of air per minute (cfm) per person.

As fascinating as that technical detail is, you can be confident that the Gorjanc Healthy Home Experts will recommend the solution that provides the right amount of ventilation, purification, and humidity for your family.

By itself, using an upgraded HVAC filter is not enough to protect people from COVID-19. When used along with other best practices recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an upgraded HVAC filter can be part of a plan to protect yourself and your family.

Your HVAC system needs a MERV filter (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values) to effectively filer and capture airborn particles. 

• Filters with MERV-13 or higher ratings can trap smaller particles, including viruses.
• Many home HVAC systems will have a MERV-8 filter installed as the default.
• Upgrading to a MERV-13 rated filter, or the highest-rated filter that your HVAC system fan and filter slot can accommodate, could improve your system’s efficacy in removing viruses from circulated air. 
• Before making any changes to the air filter in an HVAC system, schedule a Healthy Home Assessment.  
• Be sure the HVAC filter is correctly in place. Also consider running the system fan for longer times, or continuously, as HVAC systems filter the air only when the fan is running. Many systems can be set to run the fan even when no heating or cooling is taking place. 
• Another measure that will help is opening the outside air intake, if your system has one. However, this is not common for home systems. 
• By itself, using an upgraded HVAC filter is not enough to protect people from COVID-19. When used along with other best practices recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an upgraded HVAC filter can be part of a plan to protect yourself and your family.