Indoor Air Quality - Why Worry?

Indoor air quality is a growing problem because it is possible that the air inside our home may actually be more polluted than that of the largest cities. Since people spend the large portion of their time indoors, the indoor air pollution can cause serious harm to their health.

Causes of poor indoor air

There are many things inside the home that cause the air to be of lesser quality than is healthy for those living there. Some of these include:

• Fumes from oil or wood stoves
• Certain building materials
• Fumes from polishes and perfumes
• Cooking odors
• Dust mites
• Pet dander and odor

Identifying indoor pollution

If there is not enough ventilation in the home so that fresh air can circulate this also lessens the quality of the air indoors.

Sometimes it is very difficult to detect if there is any pollution in the air in your home. The most obvious signs occur when someone in the home develops allergies or comes down with asthma. This is the time that people start to be concerned about the quality of the air they are breathing and take steps to install an air purifier. There are many types of these units available, ranging in price to inexpensive to very costly. The most expensive units are actually the best because they are attached to your heating or cooling devices and purify the air in the entire home.

How effective the air cleaner is depends on how much of the pollution it removes from the air and how much air it draws in through its systems. You need to have a unit that has a high efficiency collector and a high efficiency circulation to obtain the best results.