FAQ - Indoor Air Quality

Why should I be concerned about indoor air quality?
Your indoor air is on average five times more polluted than outside air. Sources of indoor air pollution are dust, pollen, cigarette smoke, volatile organic compounds, vapors from household liquids and biological material in the air. These particles and gases can accumulate and affect your health.

Improving your indoor air quality has significant benefits for all people, especially those who experience adverse health effects caused by indoor air pollution. Headaches, chronic fatigue, itchy skin, nervous problems, nosebleeds, allergies, asthma, or other respiratory illness could be due to the quality of the air in your home. If your home has special features such as extensive woodwork, antiques, and artwork, they all need to be protected from dirt, molds, and air that is too dry.

Do I really need to buy a piece of equipment to solve the problem?
Yes, follow these three steps before you start shopping:

• Try to determine as accurately as possible what causes your symptoms (ask your doctor for help). For instance, it would be helpful to know that you are allergic to molds, or that solvent fumes (e.g., from paints, glues, etc.) give you headaches.

• Once you have an idea of what the offending contaminants are, try to locate their source and eliminate them if you can. Do you have a wet crawlspace where mold is breeding? Do you keep fuel oil, paints, or pesticides in the garage attached to your house?

• If you can't eliminate the source of the trouble, seek the help of a professional HVAC contractor who has experience solving indoor air quality problems.

What kind of air cleaning products should I consider?
Most air cleaning products fall under one of two categories:

• Air-cleaning filters - They trap particles and come in a variety of types and efficiencies. Some air cleaners, such as those with HEPA filters, are 99.9% efficient. When combined with charcoal, they can remove mold spores and toxic gases.

• Air purifiers – They use ultraviolet light to kill molds and eliminate odours associated with some volatile organic gases (paint thinners, glues, pesticides, etc.).
  

Exactly which product you need depends on what you're trying to eliminate. Carefully read the manufacturers’ literature provided by your contractor on each product.

Will a ventilator help improve my indoor air?
Mechanical ventilators are extremely important for exhausting stale indoor air. The two categories of ventilators are:

Local ventilators - Local ventilators exhaust locally produced humid air, odours, gases, and particles. Kitchen range hoods and bathroom exhaust fans are local ventilators. If you operate a workshop inside your home or garage and work with chemicals, you should install a local ventilator to remove harmful contaminants.

Whole-house ventilators - Whole-house ventilators continuously exhaust a home's entire volume of stale indoor air. They also bring in an equal volume of fresh outside air. These ventilators can help to control humidity and dilute harmful gases (off-gases from insulation and press-wood furniture, carbon monoxide and other gases from cigarette smoke, etc.). Whole-house ventilators are generally sold as heat-recovery ventilators (HRVs) or energy-recovery ventilators (ERVs). Both types recover some of the energy you've put in to the air before it is exhausted outside.

I know managing humidity is important for indoor air quality, but how do I control it?
Ideally, the level of relative humidity inside your home should be between 30 and 50%. If you're not sure of your level, you can buy a hygrometer, which measures relative humidity.

If you have dry indoor air: You'll need to add humidity with a humidifier. Portable humidifiers from the hardware store won't humidify your whole house and they are notorious for breeding germs. Choose a power humidifier, an accessory that attaches to your furnace and is controlled by a humidistat. Power humidifiers are either flow-through or drum style.

Flow-through humidifiers use water that circulates continuously, and is eventually drained out of the system if it does not evaporate into the air. A flow-through humidifier is the safer option for preventing germ circulation.

Drum style humidifiers have a pan of water over which air passes. This is a standing source of water, so if it is not meticulously cleaned every month, mold and bacteria can easily be distributed throughout the house by the furnace fan.

If you don't have a forced-air heating or cooling system, there are special whole-house humidifiers available. These supply humidified air through a single outlet duct, which equalizes the humidity throughout the home.

If you have humid indoor air: In addition to a portable dehumidifier (or perhaps a few, depending on the degree of the problem), a central air conditioning system will help control humidity when it is the biggest problem—in the summer.

Your ClimateCare contractor can help you determine and control humidity levels in your home.

See Education & Tips for more information.