The Silent Menace: Indoor Air Pollution

Did you know that, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air pollution is among the top five environmental health risks? When it comes to dirty air at home, you don’t want to mess around. It’s about the health and safety of you, your family and your pets.

You may want to consider using an air cleaning device, or air filtration system, in your home. Air filtration systems remove pollutants from the air inside your home. You can get the type that is installed in the ductwork of your Phoenix or Tucson air conditioning system and cleans the air in the whole house or invest in portable air cleaners that clean the air in a single room or specific area.

Know Your Pollutants

Before you invest in an air filtration device, you should know about the two types of air pollutants in the home:

  • Particulate matter: This is the dust, smoke, pollen, animal dander, tobacco smoke, dust mites, molds, bacteria, and viruses that may be lingering in the air you breathe.
  • Gaseous pollutants: This type of air pollution results from combustion that comes from gas cooking stoves, vehicle exhaust, tobacco smoke, building materials, furnishings, and the use of products such as adhesives, paints, varnishes, cleaning products, and pesticides.

Now that you know what is lurking in the air you breathe at home, what can you do to get rid of it? Let Chas Roberts Phoenix air conditioning contractors tell you how!

Breathe In, Breathe Out: Clean Air Solutions

The type of air filtration device you need depends on what type of pollutant you want to remove.

To remove particulate matter, look at getting a mechanical air filter or electronic air cleaner. Mechanical air filters remove particles by capturing them on filter materials. You may have heard of a “HEPA” filter. This stands for high-efficiency particulate air filter and it is a type of mechanical air filter. An electronic air cleaner traps charged particles through a process called electrostatic attraction.

To remove gaseous pollutants, you’ll want a gas-phase air filter. These have a material called a sorbent that adsorbs the pollutants, but are designed to remove only one or two specific gaseous pollutants, not all.

And finally, don’t forget to change the filter on your Phoenix and Tucson air conditioning system regularly. This will help decrease the pollutant matter coming in through your HVAC system. Now, Chas Roberts can help with this – order a filter easily through ChasRoberts.com. Chas is now offering one- and four-inch filters with a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) of one, all the way up to 13. One-inch filters come in packs of 12 and four-inch filters come in three-packs.