If you live in the Fresno area, you’re probably spending a lot of time indoors during the summer months and understand the difference between a home with good ventilation and one without. Having a properly ventilated home doesn’t just make the air in your home feel better, it’s safer for you to breath and helps avoid serious health problems.
If you have a poorly ventilated home, there are steps you can take to improve your ventilation and health.Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a term used to describe how good the air is inside your home. According to the EPA, if enough fresh air doesn’t enter your home, pollutants can accumulate and lead to serious health problem. In fact, the air inside your home can be as much as nine times more toxic than outside air. Several things can negatively affect air quality in your home, including:
- Cigarette smoke
- Gas stoves
- Old building materials
- Furniture made from pressed wood
- Household cleaning products and chemicals
- Outdoor air pollution
If your home isn’t properly ventilated, these pollutants can become trapped in your home. You might not even realize the air in your home is toxic. Some early symptoms of dangerous problems are dizziness, headaches, fatigue and eye irritation. Long-term effects of poor air flow include asthma, respiratory diseases, heart disease and cancer. With the dangers of poor ventilation established, there are some things you can do to increase the air flow in your home and improve the IAQ. Here are just a few suggestions:
- Regularly change the air filters on your air conditioner and furnace. Generally, changing the filters every two months is fine, but in high-use months, you should change them at least once a month.
- Perform preventive maintenance on your ventilation system. Have a professional inspect your home at least once a year.
- Install more air ducts to increase ventilation. You’ll need a professional to inspect your ducts, and provide a recommendation on how to improve them.
If you need help taking these steps in your San Joaquin Valley home, feel free to contact Donald P. Dick Air Conditioning. We’ll be happy to help you improve your indoor air quality.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Donald P Dick Air Conditioning services the greater Fresno area in California. To get started, check out our website.