Have you ever looked up and seen a trail of dust on the ceiling or wall coming from the air conditioning vent? Does dust accumulate on your furniture on a regular basis? Do you find yourself dusting items in your home more than you normally would have to? These are all signs of poor indoor air quality and can lead to irritating allergy conditions. incorrect and or dirty filters, leaky or dirty duck work or windows that may need to be changed are all causes of poor indoor air quality. Read more to find out a few Simple Solutions to help you maintain High indoor air quality in your home. We will go over a few problems and their most common Solutions while explaining what indoor air quality is.

If you notice after you vacuumed that dust has accumulated on your furniture it may be time to get a better vacuum. Nowadays most vacuums have a HEPA rating which means they filter dust particles down as small as 3 microns. That is a 99.97% efficiency of Airborne particles. Most dust that accumulates on furniture or surfaces in your home is going to require HEPA filtration to remove the dust from the air. For the Covid virus you will need smaller filtration down to .1 microns. Separate filtration systems are required to get down and catch particles that small.

If your air filters are of a low quality they will not be able to catch small dust particles that will be accumulating on your home furniture. Dust particles are made up mostly of dead skin cells pollen dust mites clothing fibers hair and bugs. In order to catch dust particles you will want to buy a high m e r v rating air filter between five and eight should do. If you have a washable filter remember that it is a useless device that will not catch small enough particles to improve your indoor air quality. Most washable filters will barely do the job enough to protect your equipment from dirt. I suggest if you do have a washable filter locate the correct size disposable filter and use it. If no disposable filter is available in that size I suggest changing your filter setup to accommodate a more common filter size. When Builders install air conditioning units sometimes they do not install a sufficient filter system and force the homeowner to use the factory filter section of the unit. This Factory filter section is not set up for common filter sizes, and should not be used on a regular basis.

Carpet is one of the largest contributors to dust in your home. If you wear your shoes inside remember that you are bringing dirt and dust inside of your home and contaminating the carpet. Every time anyone walks on the carpet clean or dirty shoes this dust will be put into the air. Ask your family and guest to take off their shoes before coming in to help prevent the spread of dust. Also vacuuming the carpet on a regular basis two to four times a week will help prevent dust accumulation and reduce air contaminants. Remember if your vacuum cleaner is not catching small enough pieces of dust then vacuuming is not going to work until you upgrade your vacuum cleaner. The ultimate way to prevent carpet from affecting your indoor air quality is to remove it and install wood flooring or tile. Being more durable for long-term use it is also easier to clean 100% of the surface unlike carpet.

Your air conditioning ductwork is very important when it comes to managing dust and improving your indoor air quality. Small leaks in your ductwork on the return side allow your AC unit to suck in dust and dirt along with hot air from the attic. Small holes on the supply side after the air has been conditioned waste your conditioned air into the attic where it never reaches your conditioned home reducing the units air conditioning efficiency and increasing your utility bills. Repairing air ducts can sometimes be tricky but for the most part indoor air duct sealant and aluminum foil tape will do the job just fine. Seal everything up anything you find leaking air or sucking air in from the attic that you can seal will increase your efficiency and indoor air quality.

Making sure that your indoor air quality is maintained at a high level along with the efficiency of your home is an ongoing effort. This is something that will have to be done at the beginning and or end of every summer. Checking to make sure technicians you sent in the Attic haven’t destroyed anything while up there working, or Pest and rodents that destroy parts of your home. The most common thing you should be looking for every year is maintenance. The air filter is the highest maintenance part of the air conditioning system in your home. It is the largest variable in your indoor air quality also. Expensive filters that have electronic destruction of dust along with UV lights and mechanical filtration filters can increase your indoor air quality extremely high. Making sure all of your ductwork is sealed is also very critical not only for your indoor air quality but for the efficiency of your air conditioning system.

For other indoor air quality tips installation of equipment and maintenance by a professional this should be done at least once a year.

When you are air conditioning technician comes to your house you should expect him to check a few things

Cleaning you’re outside air conditioning unit should be done at least once a year. Changing your indoor air filter should be done approximately once a month depending on the thickness of your filter. The thicker your indoor air filter the longer it will last. Clearing of the drain line should be done once a year to prevent clogging and backing up of water. Older air conditioning and heating units used to require yearly oiling of the motor bearings. This has been changed to make all motors with sealed bearings. If the water backs up in the drain of the air conditioning system most of the time it drips on the ceiling and damages your home. Make sure your air conditioning maintenance technician does everything he can to prevent damage to your air conditioning system and your home when he shows up for spring air conditioning maintenance.