Improve the Air Quality of Your Stockton Home
The fastest way to beat indoor allergies in Stockton is to put your HVAC system to work: seal out outdoor pollen with proper ventilation, trap fine particles with a quality filter, add an air purifier, keep your ductwork clean, and hold indoor humidity in the ideal 30 to 50 percent range. Together these steps pull dust, pollen, pet dander and mold spores out of the air you breathe every day.
That matters here in the Central Valley, where almond and fruit orchards, grasses and long, dry summers keep pollen counts high for much of the year. You cannot control what blows in off the San Joaquin County fields, but you can control the air inside your home. Below are the HVAC upgrades that make the biggest difference for allergy sufferers – and when it pays to have a professional handle them.
Ensure Proper Ventilation
Despite the outdoor triggers for your symptoms, the answer is not to keep stale air in your home. Indoor allergens can build up and make you just as sick, or worse. Fresh air is critical for allergy sufferers and the right ventilation system will keep the allergens to a minimum.
Upgrade Your Filter To HEPA
HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air and it works by forcing air through a mesh that traps allergens like dust, pollen and pet dander. Keep in mind that HEPA filters have larger pressure drops and can adversely affect airflow through your furnace, reducing its heating and cooling performance. Talk to a professional before you replace your regular filter.
Use A Room Or Whole-House Air Purifier
Air purifiers can be portable units placed in various rooms in your home, or they can be integrated into your HVAC distribution system. Besides filters, you can choose from ionizers, UV light purifiers or adsorbents like activated charcoal. Ionizers charge dust and other particles so that they either stick to charged plates in the ionizer or bond with other particles and become too heavy to remain airborne. UV light neutralizes and kills microorganisms. Adsorbent materials, like charcoal, trap particles on their surface and in their pores.
Clean Your Ductwork
Dust and other allergens can build up in your ductwork and get distributed throughout your home. Have your ductwork cleaned regularly to keep your air clean and free from these particles.
Add Humidifiers or Dehumidifiers
You need the right humidity levels in your home to fight allergy symptoms. Too much moisture causes mold that worsens symptoms and too little can dry out mucus membranes, giving easy entry to allergens and germs. Installing a humidifier or dehumidifier (depending on the climate where you live) will work to keep indoor humidity in the ideal 30-50% range to help you fight allergies and symptoms. If you have issues with the air quality in your Stockton home and want to reduce your allergy symptoms this spring, call Greener Solutions at (209) 946-5796 and we can help you make the right changes to your home’s HVAC system.