Why Your Home's Air Quality is Important

May 23, 2016

You may constantly be told about new matters that should worry you and your loved ones. Don’t purchase merchandise containing BPA. Stay away from the microwave. Only keep your leftovers in glass containers, not plastic.

Now everyone is telling you about indoor air quality (or IAQ) in Calgary. Don’t use anything with chemicals to wipe down your counters. You need to invest in an air purification system. You have to use essential oils instead of air fresheners.

The chatter never ends.

So you stop listening to all the noise and just do the best you can. We understand - why panic about one issue if you will have to constantly worry about everything else?

But, of all things, indoor air quality is certainly an issue you should pay attention to, and here’s why.

It affects your health

We’ve told you how to fight sickness and stay healthy with indoor air quality; and, we’ve shown you how to Stop the Sneezes and help alleviate the symptoms of allergies and asthma with recommendations to improve indoor air quality; we’ve even introduced you to the APCO Whole-House Air Purifier to help keep your indoor air quality supreme. So now, we’ll put it bluntly: poor indoor air quality is going to result in poor health . We spend around 90% of our life in home and buildings and with indoor air contaminants, including pet dander, dust, fibers, and virus-causing germs, lurking around our homes, it’s critical to have an air purification system that can clean our air and help remove the germs that cause illness.

It affects your home

Bad air quality can affect your lungs, but it can also affect the operation of your home. Indoor air with high levels of impurities floating around is more exhausting on your home’s HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) system. Pollutants clog the parts of the blower system and the home’s air filters more rapidly, causing your heating and cooling system to work harder to keep your home comfortable. Your duct system can also become dirty faster, resulting in inefficient airflow.

It affects your workplace

Many studies have proven that poor indoor air quality can have a substantial effect on workplace production. Not only can it exacerbate the symptoms of allergies and asthma, but the contaminants put off by copying machines, cleaning supplies, poorly maintained HVAC systems, and electrical equipment can cause headaches (even migraines), dripping eyes, and itchy throats. While these symptoms may be short-lived, extended exposure to poor indoor air quality (after all, you do spend at least 40 hours a week at the office) can result in skin inflammation, respiratory illness, and other chronic sicknesses. On the more severe side, radon or asbestos sneaking in through cracked foundations or ceilings can actually cause cancer and other deadly conditions and a high concentration of carbon monoxide can result in sudden death.

So when someone starts talking about indoor air quality, listen intently because it could be critical for your health and for your home. If you are unsure if your home’s indoor air quality is healthy or struggling, call Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning for a no-charge in-home analysis and we’ll confirm your indoor air quality levels and review whole-home air cleaning choices with you.