Saddleback Plumbing Heating & Air Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Indoor Air Quality’

How to Keep Your Indoor Air Quality High During the Summer

Monday, August 22nd, 2016

Keeping cool isn’t the only thing you need to worry about during the summer season. Indoor air quality plays a big part in determining your overall health and comfort all year round. During the summer, though, many people inadvertently take steps to actually reduce their indoor air quality. Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to keep your indoor air quality high this summer.

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How You Can Cope with Allergy Season This Year

Monday, April 18th, 2016

Spring may be coming to a close, but allergy season will be around for a while yet. For some unfortunate souls, allergy season is never really over. If you’re one of those people struggling with allergies this season, read on. Let’s examine some of the best ways to cope will allergies this year.

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Why It’s a Good Idea to Install a Humidifier in Your Home This Winter

Monday, November 23rd, 2015

Your indoor air quality is affected by a lot of different factors, and affects you in turn. Your health and quality of life can be substantially impacted by poor indoor air quality, without you even realizing it. One of the biggest problems for indoor air quality in Southern California, especially during the winter, is chronically low humidity. Dry weather is more than simply uncomfortable; it can lead to you getting sick more often, as well. Read on to find out why it’s a good idea to address chronic dryness with a humidifier this winter.

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Reasons Why You Need to get Your Ducts Tested Every Year

Monday, August 3rd, 2015

We’ve posted about the importance of duct sealing on this blog before. Ducts may not seem like they need a lot of professional attention, but they can develop some serious issues if left alone for long enough. One of those serious issues is duct leaks. Duct testing serves as a way to identify any leaks in your ducts, so that they can then be sealed. Let’s take a closer look at what duct testing entails, and why you should have it done at least once a year.

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How Duct Sealing can Improve Your Air Conditioner Efficiency

Monday, July 13th, 2015

Summer is here, and everyone is firing up their air conditioners in order to keep their homes comfortably cool. Many people are getting their air conditioners tuned up, in order to make sure that they can deal with the added strain of daily use. Far too few people, however, are conducting one of the most important services for air conditioners: duct sealing. Let’s take a look at why duct sealing is so important for improving your air conditioner efficiency.

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Types of Indoor Air Purifiers That Can Benefit You

Monday, April 20th, 2015

Though your indoor air may seem clean, chances are you are inhaling millions of microscopic contaminants with every breath you take. The average home contains many varieties of airborne pollutants, including dust, germs, pollen, and mold spores. These various contaminants are responsible for allergy attacks, as well as illnesses like the cold and flu. Fortunately, there are air purifiers available on the market that combat the contaminants that cause poor indoor air quality. Let’s have a look at a few different types of indoor air purifiers.

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Air Conditioning Tip 7: How to Improve Indoor Air Quality This Spring

Monday, April 8th, 2013

While many Laguna Hills homeowners are concerned with energy efficiency as summer approaches, we should also consider indoor air quality. Much of our comfort (or discomfort) during the summer months stems from poor indoor air quality as we seal our homes tightly against the incoming rays of heat. Fortunately, there are many options available that can dramatically improve your air quality, such as air filtration, UV germicidal lights, and humidifiers. Beyond installing these systems, there are other steps to take. In this post, we’d like to review some things you can do to ensure your home is cool and comfortable this cooling season. For Laguna Hills air conditioning, call Saddleback today!

  • Clean and replace your air filter. As you fire up your AC this season, remember to change out your air filter on a regular basis. This simple step prevents a lot of problems, including blocked airflow and poor air quality. Your air filter is designed to prevent the passage of noxious particles throughout your ductwork and into your indoor air. It should be replaced once a month during peak cooling times.
  • Install UV germicidal lights. If your indoor air is musty and uncomfortable, then you may be at risk for mold infestation. Consider installing UV germicidal lights directly in your air handler or ductwork in order to destroy any microbiological growth before it enters your indoor air. While we may notice mold when it’s growing in our bathroom, it’s much harder to notice when it’s growing deep within our ductwork or in the walls.
  • Enroll in a maintenance program. Become a Saddleback MVP by joining the Membership Value Program. Enrolling in a routine maintenance program will improve your energy efficiency, extend the life of your equipment, and reduce the need for major costly repairs. It also provides you with various benefits such as warranties, discounts, and preferred priority service. Professional inspection, cleaning, and tuning-up makes your system shine even during the hottest days of the year.

For more information about how you can improve you indoor air quality, or to schedule Laguna Hills, CA air conditioning service, call Saddleback Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning today!

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HVAC Tip 1: Factors Contributing to Poor Air Quality

Monday, September 10th, 2012

The truth is that most people don’t even realize that they have poor indoor air quality in their Irvine homes. It is imperative that you be aware of this problem if it exists. The following are some signs and symptoms that point towards poor air quality.

  • Irritable eyes, throat and nose with cold like symptoms
  • Dry skin
  • Rashes and other skin irritations
  • Sleepiness, fatigue and headaches
  • Other symptoms such as wheezing, dizziness, nausea as well as hypersensitivity reactions can also be attributed to poor air quality

The onset of most of these symptoms is not very direct or immediate. They usually build up gradually and become a part of your daily life without you even realizing it. These symptoms are highly subjective and can also be brought about by a variety of other co-existing factors such as stress, so you might not realize right away what’s causing you to feel the way you do.

This is why it is very important to evaluate the problem of poor air quality in an objective and scientific manner. The following are some of the primary causes of poor air quality.

  • Poor ventilation system leading to inadequate supply of fresh air in the house
  • Pollutants coming from the paints and chemicals on the walls and furniture in your home
  • Pollutants arising from various other building products, cleaning material, gases, new materials, pesticides, office machines and stationery
  • Micro-organisms, as well as other contaminants coming from the atmosphere
  • The presence of allergens such as pollen, pet dander, mold spores or dust mites

The primary reason for all these problems taking root in your home is poor ventilation which does not allow enough air circulation and exchange between indoors and outdoors. That means not enough fresh air enters your home, making the air rather stale and providing no way for any types of pollutants to get out, and these contaminants tend to increase in concentration over time.

Luckily, all of these issues can be addressed by adding a good indoor air quality system to your home. A professional Irvine HVAC contractor can tell you exactly what types of pollutants are causing trouble in your home and get the right systems in place to eliminate them effectively. Call Saddleback Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning today to learn more about how to improve the air quality in your home!

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Incorporating Air Filters into Your Comfort Systems in Orange County

Monday, August 27th, 2012

If you desire cleaner air in your home, one easy solution is to incorporating better quality, higher rated air filters into your comfort system.  The Mission Viejo air quality specialists at Saddleback Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning can help you breathe easier by installing a good air filtration system.

One of the first things you want to do is determine what types of allergens and air pollutants you are most concerned with, as each air filter will specifically target certain sized particulates in the air.  Then you must determine where those items fall along the MERV scale so that you know what MERV rating to look for when finding an air filter.

Not every air filter is alike, so once you have decided what particulates you want eradicated it is important to pay attention to the MERV rating listed on each air filter, that way you can determine which will give you the desired results you are looking for.

In addition to knowing the proper MERV rating, you will want to learn a little bit more about the types of air filters out there.  Media filers are also known as passive filters, they are the kind that sits in the ducts and as air passes through them, they capture the particles that are smaller than its membranes such as pollen, dust and animal dander.  Electronic filtration uses electricity to ionize the air as it passes through and eradicates smaller particulates such as smoke and exhaust.

Using multiple types of air filters within a home comfort system will usually provide the best results with the cleanest air.  If a media filter is used to capture larger particles, followed by an electronic filter which captures the smaller particles, then your home will have a drastic reduction in the presence of not only allergens but harmful elements that can cause illnesses such as colds.

Air filters can be placed in numerous places within your duct system; it all depends on your system’s specific design.  This can include being placed at the central air return register, at the attic air handler, at a basement air handler, or next to an electrostatic air cleaner.  Additionally, some systems have multiple air filters at varying places for different purposes such as fiberglass or pleated paper filters, washable filters, and electrostatic filters.

Speak with the air quality professionals at Saddleback Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning if you are interested in learning more about how to improve the air quality in your Mission Viejo home!

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HVAC Tip: How Electronic Air Filter Works

Monday, April 2nd, 2012

For a long time, the most frequently used kind of air filter has been the mechanical variety, and it probably what you already have in your Orange County HVAC system. This is the kind you probably think of when you hear the terms air filter, air cleaner or air purifier. They use pleated fibrous filters in-line with an air handler to trap particles in the air before circulating it back out into the home.

Many models of these work very well and have for many years. They have the added benefit of being flexible because you can put in whatever filter you need depending on what size particles you need to trap.

However, these traditional devices are not the only option. A second kind of air filter exists for trapping particles in the air– one that does not use a fibrous filter that physically snags them out of the air on the way through.

These electrostatic — or electronic — air cleaners work in a different way to produce a similar result. The filtering component is still a fibrous sheet, but the difference is that the fibers are made of plastic, which becomes charged when air passes through it and causes friction.

(Think something like when you rub a balloon and stick it to the wall.)

These friction-charged fibers carry an electronic charge, which attracts the ions in the air around it. These ions — and the particles that they are a part of — get trapped in the fibers and stay out of your air supply.

 Electronic air filters are generally very good at trapping particles that are 1 micron in size or higher, putting them about on par with a mechanical air filter that carries a MERV rating of 12. The electrostatic method works well for many common household air pollutants, such as dust, pollen, mold and pet dander.

As with many ventilation-related decisions, the choice of what kind of air filter is right for your Orange County air conditioning and heating system depends on your needs and those of your family. If you are having trouble deciding, then an air quality assessment and consultation with Saddleback Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning can be a good way to reach a decision.

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