As a heating and air conditioning contractor in Toms River, NJ, we know how important it is for our customers to be kept warm, comfortable, and healthy all throughout the winter season. While having your heating system checked will certainly help to ensure that clean air is circulated throughout your home, there are also many things that you can do to help guarantee that you breathe clean air.
First and foremost, if you didn’t know, the following items often release indoor pollutants and thus put you at risk for poor air quality:
- Feminine products such as perfume, nail polish, nail polish remover, and hair spray
- Air fresheners
- Cleaning products
- Cigarettes
- Paint, paint thinner, glue
- Pesticides
How can you help to improve your indoor air quality?
First off, you can improve indoor air quality by limiting the amount of harsh cleaning products, air fresheners, and pesticides you use. Also, another tip before scheduling a remodeling or painting job this winter is to look for non-toxic, low-VOC paints.
Helping the air circulate throughout your home can improve its quality.
There is no denying that getting fresh air to circulate throughout your home during the winter is difficult. If possible, consider using an attic fan, window fan in the kitchen, or a bathroom exhaust fan to help the clean air come inside and circulate. Window unit air conditioners can even increase air quality. And, if it ever happens to be a mild day, take advantage of the weather and open windows for a few minutes to let in fresh air and circulate.
Keeping a close eye on your home’s humidity level can help improve air quality.
When it comes to humidity, it is important to keep it between 30-60% in your home, as this helps prevent dust mites, mold, and mildew from growing. To help maintain your home’s humidity levels, you can keep a mist humidifier in each room, have a whole-house humidifier installed, or just place a bowl of water in front of your warm air vents.
Last, but not least, another tip to help you have fresh indoor air during those long winter months is to clean as much as you can. There is no doubt that dusting and vacuuming will minimize the amount of tiny air pollutants that populate your home!
These days, Americans spend about 90% of their time inside during the winter season. Furthermore, a majority of them live in areas where they are forced to close windows everywhere – at home, at work, and in their cars. Because of this, they are constantly breathing in non-filtered air until springtime.
In all, if you value warmth, comfortability, and having the ability to breathe clean air this winter season, strongly consider some of the things we mentioned above!