During the long San Diego cooling season, most homes are closed up tight to prevent cooled air from escaping. While keeping your home sealed does in fact help keep it cooler, it can also significantly impact your indoor air quality — and not in a good way.
If your home doesn’t have some kind of ventilation system to bring in fresh air, indoor pollution is a very real concern. The EPA ranks indoor air pollution among the top five environmental health risks faced by most Americans.
Indoor air pollution comes from a wide variety of sources:
- Dust and dust mites
- Pet dander
- Textile fibers
- Fumes from common cleaning products or smoke
- Carbon monoxide
- Mold, mildew and pollen
- Bacteria
Without good ventilation, all of these pollutants build up in your home’s air. Obviously, breathing in pollutants is unhealthy, and in severe cases can cause chronic or even life-threatening conditions.
Poor ventilation also contributes to stuffiness, mold growth, lingering odors and allergy symptoms. Keeping filters changed helps, and air cleaners or purifiers can make a big difference for allergy sufferers. But the single most important thing you can do is be sure your home is well-ventilated.
The best ventilation solution that works without compromising the tight seal of your home is an energy recovery ventilator also known as an ERV. An ERV utilizes fans to circulate fresh air throughout the home, while exhausting stale indoor air outdoors. A standard fan can accomplish the same thing but you may be bringing in extremely warm air in the summer or cold air in the winter. An ERV recovers the energy so you ventilate without wasting valuable energy dollars. An ERV can usually be incorporated into your existing ductwork system. In some cases you may want to run a completely independent of your heating and air-conditioning system.
There are a wide variety of energy-efficient heat recovery ventilators or air-to-air heat exchangers. Ventilation systems are inexpensive to operate, and the benefits of clean, fresh air far outweigh the cost. Our technicians can calculate the optimal air exchange rate for your unique home.
There’s not a lot you can do about the air quality outside, but with a ventilation system, you can ensure that the air inside of your home is safe. Contact ASI Hastings Heating and Air Conditioning with any questions you have, and get started taking control of your home’s air quality.
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