A Rough Allergy Season is on the Way – Prepare Now
After a cold winter that brought record snow to parts of the nation and record cold to others, it’s a relief to see warmer weather moving in. However, that means allergy season is here and weather patterns over the last six months mean it could be a brutal one. A warm fall coupled with the recent wet and cold winter often causes trees and flowers to produce more pollen. Higher pollen counts mean more allergy symptoms for the millions of Americans that suffer each year.
A few basics to prepare include seeing your allergist, starting any recommended treatment early and avoiding the outdoors when pollen counts are high. Also, keep doors and windows closed, and keep your HVAC system filter clean.
Indoor Air Quality: Controlling The Purity of Your Home’s Air
“The air inside your home can be many times more polluted than the air outside,” says Norman E. Woolley, President of Woolley Home Solutions in Maplewood.
“According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), our homes are loaded with pollutants like pollen, pet dander, dust mites, mold spores, bacteria and viruses. It’s no wonder they list indoor air quality as one of the top five environmental risks to public health today.”
What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
“Unfortunately, most homeowners believe the standard throwaway furnace filter is doing the job and they couldn’t be more wrong”, Woolley says. “The typical one inch filters people use on the furnace only traps about 5-15% of airborne particulates, leaving 85% to 95% of particulate matter to blow around in their homes,” says Woolley.
The American Lung Association tracks indoor air quality and its impact and reports the following:
Polluted air causes 94% of all respiratory problems.
More than 31 million Americans have been diagnosed with asthma, about 1/3 are children under 18.
About 40,000 dust mites, a common household allergen, can live in one ounce of dust.
An estimated 10-15% of the entire population may be allergic to cat or dog dander.
“When you consider what can occur without controlling your home’s air purity,” says Woolley, “it’s hard to believe more people don’t take advantage of whole-home air cleaning systems for health’s sake”.
How They Work
Installed as part of your home’s central heating and cooling system, Whole-Home Air Cleaners are out-of-sight and out of your way, according to Woolley. So, each time your system runs, the air in your home is filtered through state-of-the-art filtering media, so potentially harmful contaminants are removed from every room and permanently trapped in the filter. The result is your heating and cooling system distributes cleaner, healthier air to your entire home. Better yet, the whole-home systems are easy to maintain (generally once or twice a year unlike portable units that require monthly care or standard filters that need cleaning every 1-3 months).
Clean Air On Your Terms
“And now, with new technology from Aprilaire, you can control the air quality in your entire home from a convenient location on your wall – your thermostat – (and soon your smartphone) – and you can choose various cleaning modes based on your own needs, whether you have allergies or you are kicking up extra dust while cleaning or if there’s construction going on around your house. There are also options to control your ventilation or humidity from the same location. It’s the way to control air cleaning today.”
Saving Your Expensive Heating/Cooling System from Harmful Grime Build-Up
According to Woolley, using high-efficiency filtration also means you are doing a better job of protecting your expensive HVAC system from harmful build-up of dirt and grime. “I see it all the time. It’s amazing how dirty a system can get when only a standard filter is used”, Woolley continued.
“Often, homeowners forget to change these filters every month or every three months as required. With a whole house system, we can change out the high efficient filter just once a year and the system is much better protected. Aprilaire even offers a guarantee on the system coil if the homeowner properly maintains the use of their filter.”
Consider taking a look at your indoor air and how you can reduce the allergens you breathe at home. At the same time, you can prolong the life of your serious investment in heating and cooling.
Woolley Home Solutions is a local HVAC business specializing in Indoor Air Comfort. For more information call Woolley Home Solutions at (973) 762-7400
