Indoor Air Quality and VOCs: Is Your Family or Business Exposed?

Healthy Indoor Air Keeps Your Family Healthy

It’s easy to panic if you read the newspaper regularly; every new scientific study or discovery seems like bad news. From bacon to backbends, everything we seem to be eating, or doing is either dangerous or wrong, or both.

Normally, we’d tell you just to lighten up. As long as you’re not eating BLTs twice a day, the evidence always seems to really be in favor of moderation, most of all. But when it comes to VOCs, the information is somewhat different. Exposure to these Volatile Organic Compounds found in many household products can be harmful. In fact, if you suffer already from asthma or any other allergic sensitivity, these products can throw a wrench in your day-to-day wellbeing and overall functioning.

What are these dastardly things? First, you can’t buy them at the store or order them online. They’re toxic gases or vapors that get released when exposed to sunlight, or used in their everyday roles.  This “off-gassing” is pretty much undetectable, too. Sure, mothballs, oven cleaner, and caulking materials, all of which release formaldehyde and other VOCs, smell funny, and instinctively you probably wouldn’t use them in areas without ventilation or rooms in which you spend a lot of time. But did you know furniture, carpets and even household paints meant for indoor application also off-gas VOCs? Flea and tick products, air fresheners, and even nonstick cookware have been shown to release these toxic chemicals into your indoor environment.

The degree to which you protect yourself from these chemical compounds is up to you, of course. Most of us have or use at least some household items that could be dangerous for our health. To mitigate these effects, experts recommend buying certain plants for use inside your home (philodendrons, for example, are great air cleaners), and maintaining as much indoor/outdoor ventilation as you can. But there is one solution that doesn’t require moving into a yurt in the wilderness: an in-home air purification system, installed as a part of your HVAC system.

Remember, HEPA filters are not enough. They remove a lot of bad things from indoor air, but not VOCs. Instead, consider a real HVAC air filtration system. There are several different types, often installed together for maximum effectiveness.

HVAC Ultraviolet Light Air Purification

UV light kills bacteria on contact. Mold, fungus, viruses and other microorganisms are simply eliminated as your indoor air cycles through your HVAC system.

Carbon Activated Filtration

These filtration systems remove smoke, smells and VOCs from your indoor air, every time your heating or air conditioning system cycles.

Electrostatic Purification

These purifiers work using an electrostatic charge, trapping tiny airborne particles down to .1 micron in size.

If you’re worried about the impact of VOCs and other contaminants in your home, talk to an HVAC specialist. As the safety of our environment becomes more and more of a priority for the community, equipment manufacturers and researchers are constantly developing new and improved, more economical ways of cleaning the air we breathe.

And we’ll all try lay off the bacon, at least as much as we can….

Need advice on how to maintain clean, healthy indoor comfort in your home? Call Air-Tro today to discuss how your family can benefit from the latest in air purification technologies. (626) 357-3535.