Is Your Home’s Air Clean?
13 Apr 2023
The air we breathe in a closed space affects our health and ability to fully contribute to society and live a healthy our healthiest lives. For over two years, the impact of COVID-19 has highlighted that how clean indoor air plays an important role in response and recovery — the spread of the virus can be reduced by 80% by improving the indoor air quality.
Clean indoor air offers an effective layer of protection for people with disabilities, essential workers and others who serve on the front lines of their communities, in hospitals, grocery stores, schools, and beyond.
Your home should be a place of safety and security. Its primary purpose is to provide you shelter and protection from the outside. Unfortunately, the air inside homes or offices is more polluted than the air outside as there may be numerous tiny dangerous agents hiding inside your home. One particularly common threat is completely undetectable to human senses is radon.
Radon is the principal cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, causing crudely 21,000 deaths every year. The only way you can find out whether your home has radon is to actively test for it. But before we get into that, it is important to know what radon is and how it gets into your home.
What is Radon?
Radon is a naturally occurring element that takes the form of an odourless, colourless gas. Trace amounts of radon can be found in most of the air around us. At these small levels, radon is harmless. However, should it become more concentrated, radon can be very hazardous.
Radon can come in homes through cracks in the foundations, holes in walls, and more. Over time, it can build up more and more, eventually reaching dangerous amounts. This often occurs in basements, crawlspaces, and other cramped areas.
However, even if your home does not have a basement or crawlspace, radon build up can still occur. The only way you will know if there are dangerous amounts of radon in your home is to have your home tested.
What is the Health Risk of Radon?
Radon is much more likely to cause lung cancer in people who smoke. In fact, smokers are highly at risk if they ate exposed to the concentration of radon in homes and offices. According to WHO, radon is estimated to cause between 3% to 14% of all lung cancers. Based on the average radon level indoors and smoking prevalence, long-term exposure can significantly increase the risks.
Testing Your Home for Radon Can Help Reduce the Concentration
Thankfully, testing a home for radon is relatively easy. Test kits can be purchased online or at a local store. Alternatively, you can call a professional and have them checked. If radon levels are too high, radon mitigation will need to be performed immediately.
Do not put off checking your home for radon. Every home and building should be tested every 2-5 years.
Getting Your HVAC System With the days heating up and colour returning to landscapes, summer is just around the corner. While it is great to be able to enjoy the outdoors, it’s also nice to advance back into a cool, climate-controlled space on those days where things get a little too hot. That is, if your AC is doing its job.
Nothing brings down midsummer like having an underperforming HVAC or standalone central AC system.
It is best to be proactive. Here are a few simple actions you can take to ensure your air conditioning is ready for the summer heat.
Change the Filter
Whether you have a dedicated AC system or an HVAC system, your filter is critical to its performance. First and foremost, the filter is responsible for removing pollen, particles, and other agitators from your home’s air. It also protects the cooling system from larger particles that might otherwise clog or damage it.
Should your filter become overly dirty, your system could start to underperform altogether. Not only does this result in a warmer home, but it is much tougher on the cooling system itself. This can result in higher energy bills, additional repair bills, and complete system failure.
The good news is changing your filter is cheap and easy.
Clean Up Around the Outdoor Unit
With any sort of centralized AC system, you will have a condenser unit outside. While these systems are designed for the outdoors, they are also subject to debris and build up overtime. Make sure to brush off any debris such as leaves, grass, twigs, etc. You should also make sure to keep the area around the unit clear.
While you can do further cleaning, it may be best to have a professional inspect it.
Have Your Air Ducts Inspected and Cleaned
In addition to having your AC system inspected, you should also have your air ducts inspected. Overtime, dust, and debris can build up. Left unchecked, these particles can start affecting air flow while also increasing the presence of dust and other agitating particles in your home’s air. Additionally, air ducts can be home to mould, rodents, and more. It is recommended that you have your air ducts inspected and cleaned every 3-5 years.
Simple Ways to Keep Your Home/Office Smelling Fresh
Is your space smelling a bit stale? It is reasonable. Some areas can be tricky when it comes to controlling fragrances. The open space renders many air fresheners useless. Meanwhile, a variety of people are bringing their own unique “scents” into the mix.
Whether it’s for your own sake, or the sake of guests coming into your space, we empathize with your desire to keep things aromatically positive. That is why we have put together some simple tips for maintaining air purity.
It Starts with Cleanliness
When it comes to controlling smells, cleanliness is always step one. Otherwise, you are fighting an uphill battle. Make sure your space is regularly cleaned. Trash bins should be emptied every night. If there is a fridge, that should be cleaned out at the end of every week. Bathrooms need to be well maintained also.
Finally, you should have general cleanliness standards set.
Add Some Plants
Plants do not just look nice; they also help naturally purify the air. Flowers can add some extra pleasant smells, but they can potentially cause allergies to rise too. General houseplants might be the better way to go.
Strategically Place Air Fresheners
Trying to utilize air fresheners for an entire area which can be difficult (and pricey). They are best used in separate rooms such as bathrooms, rooms, and meeting spaces. It might not be a bad idea to place one near the entrance as well, so visitors are greeted with a pleasant smell as they enter.
Air Purifiers
While air fresheners can do a decent job at covering up smells, they do not target the actual source. Air purifiers, on the other hand, can take particles out of the air that cause unpleasant aromas. If you are looking for complete and fully loaded Air purification system, we can help you find the perfect one.
PetriMed CA Air Purification System – is the answer to combat the onslaught of this new kind of puzzling and bewildering air pollution.
1) An advanced air treatment system, not barely purification.
2) Ultra-fine filtration and Medical Grade Plus HEPA filter H14 ISO ISO 50 U) ensures ultra-fine filtration up to 99.999% (highest), ensures contamination free air
3) UVC disinfection: To kill fastidious microbes including SARS-CoV-2 and its variants like Omicron, Delta etc.
4) Air Ionization, air nourishment along with purification for additional health benefits.