Did you know that your air ducts can contribute to subpar indoor air quality in your home? The air is filled with small pollutants like dander, pollen, and dust inside your house. When your furnace or AC pulls air, airborne particles are also drawn in. Over time, within the ducts, these pollutants will build up, reduce airflow, and recirculate in your living space.
Celco Heating and Air Conditioning Blog : Posts Tagged ‘Indoor Air Quality’
Get Those Ducts Squeaky Clean!
Monday, July 22nd, 2019Is the Air in Your Home too Dry?
Wednesday, January 17th, 2018
Hopefully not, because it is much more than a “minor” issue, despite what some homeowners may seem to think. What many homeowners don’t seem to realize is the fact that very dry air can strike your home at any time of the year—even when the weather is hot and muggy outdoors! Today, we’re going to discuss the effects that dry air can have on your property, as well as the greatest solution to the problem that is currently available to homeowners.
That is the whole-house humidifier. It is true that there are portable, standalone humidifiers that you may place throughout your home. That is fine if you’re just trying to humidify, say, a child’s nursery. However, for a whole-house solution, a whole-house system is without a doubt the best way to go. Give us a call if you are ready to start using a whole-house humidifier in Westport, CT.
Is Your Ductwork in Great Working Condition?
Monday, June 26th, 2017
The heat of summer is settling in, and hot days are becoming the norm once more. Are you completely satisfied with the performance of your air conditioning system thus far? If not, then you had better take the steps necessary for getting your system back on track before the remainder of the summer season takes its toll. While many homeowners think that having their AC tuned up will do the trick, they are overlooking a vital part of the system that doesn’t get tuned up: their ductwork.
If your air ducts in Stamford, CT are not in great working condition, then you are not going to be able to use your air conditioner with the results that we know you deserve. That is why you should learn to recognize the warning signs that your air ducts are compromised. Once you can do that, you can go about hiring qualified professionals to resolve the problems leading to the symptoms that you’ve noticed.
When Is a UV Air Purifier Necessary?
Monday, May 29th, 2017
Every home needs an air conditioner to keep it cool and comfortable in the summer, and a dependable heater to get the homeowners through the long, cold winter season. There are other considerations to be made, though, such as those surrounding your overall indoor air quality. While not every home will use indoor air quality systems the way that they do their HVAC systems, it is definitely worth exploring your options if you’ve encounter problems with aggravated allergy symptoms or certain other issues in your home.
In many residences, airborne pollutants like dust and dirt are going to be the primary allergens of concern. Sometimes, though, biological pollutants are at the root of one’s IAQ problems. If this is the case, you cannot really hope to effectively resolve the problem by simply filtering the pollutants out of the air. They need to be destroyed, and a UV air purifier in Fairfield, CT is the perfect weapon for the job.
Air Purifiers That Can Help You This Winter
Monday, February 29th, 2016Did you know that every time you inhale, you are breathing in millions of microscopic airborne contaminants? If you didn’t, don’t panic! Most of these contaminants are dispersed widely enough that your body can easily fight them off. Over a long enough period of time, though, there is a very real possibility that you will start to suffer some negative effects. Increased flu and cold virus infections, allergy attacks, asthma, and a host of other problems can arise from prolonged exposure to airborne contaminants. If you want to protect yourself against these issues, the best thing to do is to install an air purifier in your home. Let’s take a look at some common air purifier types that can help you this winter.
Worried About Allergies This Spring and Summer? Consider an Air Filtration System
Monday, April 6th, 2015After our long New England winters, spring is always a welcome season, but for many people, spring is the beginning of another season: allergies. Spring allergies can range from irritating to flu-like, and finding refuge from pollen and other allergens can be difficult. While it isn’t possible to filter allergens in the outdoor air, it is possible to filter allergens from your indoor air with the help of a whole home air filtration system. Air filters, also known as mechanical air filters, can trap a number of types of allergens, removing them from your indoor air. But there are some important factors to understand about installing an air filter in your Fairfield County home, and we’ll discuss these factors in more detail below.
MERV Ratings
Every air conditioner comes with a standard air filter, but the job of this air filter isn’t to improve your home’s indoor air quality; instead, the standard air filter helps keep dirt, dust and debris from entering the system. Improving your indoor air quality with a mechanical filter requires using a filter made to do the job, and the best way to determine how effective a particular filter will be is to review its MERV rating. MERV stands for minimum efficiency reporting value, and the MERV scale runs from 1-20; household filters used for allergy control typically span the 5-12 MERV range. MERV ratings over 12 indicate usage of a HEPA filter, and while these filters are excellent at removing allergens, they are often so strong that they can restrict the air flow in your system. If you want to use a HEPA filter in your AC system, always consult with an expert first.
Which Is Best for You?
The best way to assess what type of air filter you should use (i.e., what MERV level to choose), is something best decided with an expert. An indoor air quality specialist can review with you the different contaminants captured at each MERV rating. Some homes may only need help with dust, while others may need help removing pet dander and pollen, in addition to dust. The trained IAQ specialists at Celco Heating and Air Conditioning can help determine which air filter will be best for your needs and install it seamlessly into your AC system.
It’s officially spring! Call us today and get ahead of seasonal allergies with a whole house air filtration system!
How Can I Benefit from Duct Replacement?
Friday, December 12th, 2014The ventilation system connected to an air conditioner and forced-air heater is essential for proper comfort inside a home. The ductwork must retain an airtight seal so that the air inside won’t lose pressure and won’t either gain or lose heat. Should the integrity of the ducts decline because of holes, gaps, or lose connections, it will jeopardize the entire HVAC system.
Celco Heating and Air Conditioning offers services to care for residential ductwork, such as duct sealing. But sometimes sealing holes along ducts is insufficient for restoring the HVAC system; in these cases, replacing the ducts is the better option. Ductwork replacement is also helpful for upgrading to a new heating and cooling system, where the older ducts are not suited to the replacement system, or in situations where the ducts were poorly installed in the first place. Our ductwork specialist will provide you with the duct replacement in Hamden, CT that you need. Call us today to set up an appointment.
How ductwork replacement will benefit you
- Energy savings: When ducts sustain enough damage that they require replacement, they will have a devastating effect on energy efficiency. Air leaks and drops in air pressure will press the heating and cooling system to work harder than they should, and you will see energy bills skyrocket. Fully replacing the faulty ducts will shore up your HVAC system against large energy losses.
- Indoor air quality improvement: When you consider that most of the ductwork runs through closed-in, dusty areas of a house (between the walls, through ceilings, crawlspaces), you’ll understand why a broken duct can allow in so many harmful contaminants. You don’t want such pollutants, many of which are toxic, to end up blown into the house. New ducts will help you protect your indoor air from a steep decline.
- Better comfort: Along with reduction in airflow and temperature changes that will reduce the level of heating or cooling that you receive, damaged ducts can also lead to changes in the humidity inside the ducts and consequently inside the house. New ducts will keep your comfort levels stable. They will also help with upgrades to your heating and cooling system so you will get the most out of a new installation.
Make sure you watch for warning signs that you may need new ducts put in: loss of airflow from the vents, rumbling and rattling sounds, odd odors, and massive leaps in heating and cooling costs. At the first indication that your home’s ducts are losing integrity, call Celco Heating and Air Conditioning. We will determine if you need ductwork replacement in Hamden, CT, and can supply whatever work necessary to secure your ventilation system.
The Top 3 Ways to Improve Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality
Wednesday, September 18th, 2013You want to be comfortable in your home in Connecticut, whether the sun is shining or snow is falling. But you also want the air you breathe indoors to be protected from excess dust and other particles. Because modern homes are well sealed against the outdoors to improve the efficiency of their heating and cooling systems, there is little opportunity for fresh air to get inside. This, along with the possibility of biological contaminants growing in your ducts, can lead to a decline in air quality inside your home. This can be especially worrisome if there are people with allergies living in your house. Your indoor air quality in Stamford, CT is something we take seriously at Celco Heating and Air Conditioning, so we wanted to draft this blog post for you to give you some ideas on how you can improve the quality of air in your house.
Here are three recommendations to improve the air in your house:
Regularly change your filters: Furnaces and air conditioners both rely on filters to trap dust and other contaminants in their air flow so they won’t damage the interior. A clogged filter will not only make your system work harder, but it can cause the air quality in your home to decrease. You should change filters once a month when your system is frequently running, and every three or four months during other times.
Repair broken ducts: Because ducts are usually hidden from us, it’s difficult to notice when they develop cracks or breaks. Gaps along the metal of ducts can result in your air conditioner or heater drawing air from other parts of the house, like the attic or a crawlspace. The air quality in these spots is usually lower than in the rest of the house because of the dust that settles there. You don’t want this air blowing from your vents. A routine maintenance check from a professional can locate where repairs need to be made.
Install UV germicidal lights: Nobody wants mold or other biological contaminants growing inside their ductwork. Unfortunately, these enclosed dark spaces are prime places for microbacteria to grow, especially if there is excess moisture. UV germicidal lights use high-frequency waves to destroy these pollutants and keep them from coming back.
Although you can take care of changing your filters on your own, you’ll need trained experts to seal broken ducts and set up UV germicidal lights. Celco Heating and Air Conditioning can handle these tasks for you when you want to improve your indoor air quality in Stamford, CT. We can come up with other solutions as well, so contact us today and make sure you’re breathing the best air possible.
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