Today’s homes tend to be built airtight to decrease air leaks and improve energy efficiency, but this can limit fresh air from entering the home. Breathing Clean, an initiative developed by the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA), is dedicated to educating homeowners on indoor air quality and the benefits of air duct cleaning. Among other information, they provide for maintaining indoor air quality in residential spaces. Through normal occupation, families generate a great deal of air pollutants and allergens such as dirt, dust, pet hair, and chemicals from hairspray, cleaning products, cooking oils, pet dandruff, and more.
When pollutants have nowhere to go, they end up entering the heating and cooling systems where they are recirculated and spread throughout a home several times per day. Over time, this can cause dirt and harmful chemicals to build up in the ductwork, further reducing the indoor air quality and promoting the circulation of allergens and bacteria. For those with asthma, the allergens in the air may trigger an asthmatic episode.
What can you do?
1. Make Sure Your Home is a Smoke-Free Environment
Most home owners today do not allow smoking in their home, especially where children live. This has resulted in massively cutting down exposure to secondhand smoke and reducing harmful air pollution indoors for children – resulting in lower respiratory issues among children.
Cigarette smoke contains more than 3,000 chemicals, and research shows that secondhand smoke increases a person’s risk of asthma, cancer and other diseases – especially for children. If smoking is allowed in the home then these chemicals get pulled into the HVAC system and re-circulated 5 to 8 times per day, exposing children and adults to not only the smoke that they are around at the time the person is smoking, but also later when it’s recirculated.
2. Mold Inspection
Mold is a type of fungus consisting of small organisms that can be found almost anywhere. In small amounts mold spores are typically harmless, but when they come in contact with a damp spot they can start to grow, get released into the air and become easy to inhale. The type of symptoms and their severity depend on the types of mold present and the extent of exposure. However, children, seniors and those with preexisting conditions can be at risk for major complications. To reduce the chances of, mold have all cooling coils inspected on a quarterly basis for mold growth and cleaned if necessary.
3. Clean Air Ducts
We similarly recommend coil cleaning and air duct cleaning as very beneficial for homes when done correctly, especially when evaluated by professionals like Tulsa Air Duct Services LLC. Not only do clean air ducts help reduce symptoms from indoor air pollution, but they can also increase energy efficiency by reducing the amount of energy required to filter the indoor air and maintain desired temperatures.
Have your home air ducts inspected once a year and cleaned as needed by a Duct Cleaning Company in Tulsa. When it comes hiring and air duct cleaning company, be sure to look for the NADCA certification, an indicator that the company is being held to the highest of industry standards.