Ways That Poor Indoor Air Quality Impacts the Comfort of Your Home
Every time you take a breath of your indoor air, you’re inhaling oxygen as well as a number of other components. Depending on your indoor air quality, you could be breathing in particles of pet dander, pollen, mold spores, dust, viruses, bacteria, gases, pollutants, and even volatile organic compounds. When these sources of indoor air pollution become very prevalent, they can result in decreased comfort, irritation, and even illness.
The Effects on Your HVAC System and Comfort
In regard to particulates in your indoor air, they can make their way into the inner components of your HVAC system. When this happens, it can decrease the efficiency and effectiveness of your furnace and air conditioning unit. Regardless of what temperature you have your thermostat set to, your equipment may have a hard time keeping up. This puts a lot of wear and tear on your HVAC system over time, resulting in poor system performance, poor indoor air quality, and decreased comfort. You can schedule routine maintenance to keep up on any potential repairs that your equipment needs, but it’s ideal to address your poor indoor air quality.
Your Health and Wellness
Your home should be a place where you can go to relax and unwind after a long day. If you’re not feeling well, you probably don’t feel as relaxed as you should be. Poor indoor air quality can cause a number of short-term symptoms. This includes feelings like dizziness, brain fog, fatigue, headaches, shortness of breath, nausea, and skin irritation. Exposure to chemicals in your home from things like cleaning products, paint, and new carpet can affect your hormone production, your lymphatic system, and your respiratory system.
If you’re prone to allergies or asthma, you may find that your symptoms increase when your indoor air quality decreases. It’s not uncommon to have more asthma attacks or to experience symptoms like itchy eyes, a stuffy nose, and a scratchy throat when too many irritating particulates are circulating in your indoor air. For some people, pet dander or dust are an issue. Other people are allergic to mold spores or pollen that has made its way indoors.
When you’re exposed to poor indoor air quality for a long period of time, this can negatively affect your mood, your respiratory health, and your cardiovascular health, and it can even increase your risk of developing cancer. When young children are exposed to unhealthy indoor air quality, this can lead to developmental delays.
Indoor Humidity Control
The humidity levels inside of your home directly contribute to your indoor air quality. Professionals recommend that humidity is kept between 30% to 50% at all times, regardless of the time of year. Depending on what season it is in Somerset, you may need to adjust your humidity levels one way or the other to make healthier accommodations. If your home doesn’t have enough moisture in the air that you’re breathing, this can make your home feel cold and uncomfortable. Appropriately humid will feel warmer and more comfortable.
If you have too much moisture in your indoor air, this can set the stage for mold growth. Exposing yourself to mold can cause a lot of health problems, including shortness of breath, inflamed airways, respiratory illness, and asthma. Excessively moist area can also feel very uncomfortable. It has a very heavy feeling, making it difficult to breathe comfortably.
If you need to adjust the humidity level of your home, an experienced HVAC professional can provide you with information regarding a whole-house humidification system. This equipment will add moisture to the air when it’s needed or turn off when you don’t need it. It’s a very low-maintenance and automatic process that makes a really big difference in the overall comfort and quality of your indoor air.
There are a lot of risks associated with having poor indoor air quality inside of your home. If you suspect that your comfort or health is being affected by your indoor air quality, you can reach out to Jeffries Heating & Air + Plumbing for assistance. Our staff of qualified and experienced professionals can help you understand what the current state of your indoor air is. They will then make recommendations regarding what can be done to improve your indoor air moving forward. If you’re in the Somerset, Kentucky area, Jeffries Heating & Air + Plumbing also offers other helpful HVAC services, including heating, cooling, and plumbing repairs, maintenance, and installation.
