A typical home has more indoor air pollutants than most people realize. The tiniest airborne particulates can threaten health and indoor air quality in general, and they need to be controlled. Luckily, a variety of effective air-cleaning technologies are available that can help combat airborne pollutants.
Types of Pollutants
- Tiny particulates include a variety of microscopic materials, including pollen, dander, dust mites and cockroach body parts.
- Living micro-organisms can include mold spores, viruses, bacteria and other germs in your air.
- Air contaminants in the form of gasses are the third type of pollutant that you will find in your home. These include food odors, pet odors and vapors from cleaning products and paints.
Cleaning Technologies That Combat Indoor Air Pollutants
- Mechanical air filters are the most common type of air cleaning technology used today, and these types of filters are useful in removing larger particles from the air. The material that’s inside the filter captures the pollutants when the air passes through the mechanical air filter.
- Gas-phase air filters are designed to remove one, or a limited number, of gaseous pollutants from the air. These types of air filters use a material such as activated carbon to absorb gaseous air pollutants.
- Electronic air cleaners remove indoor air pollutants through a process called electrostatic attraction. Ionizers release charged ions into the air that then attach to airborne particles. The newly charged particles will attach to nearby surfaces and settle faster.
There are also three main types of air cleaners on the market, ultraviolet germicidal irradiation cleaners (UVGI), photocatalytic oxidation cleaners (PCO) and ozone generators that have been designed to destroy indoor air pollutants in different ways.
For more information and expert advice about indoor air pollutants and other issues related to home comfort, please contact us at Donald P. Dick Air Conditioning. We have been serving the Fresno area for close to 40 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the greater Fresno, California area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about indoor air pollutants and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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