Last Updated on February 12, 2023 by Showrooms Online

Healthy Indoor Air Quality

What is Healthy Indoor Air Quality and Why Is It Important?

There are simple and proven ways to improve your indoor air quality. First, you need to monitor what it is that you need to fix. Every home has indoor air quality issues, to some extent. Measuring them is the best way to increase awareness. Otherwise, air quality will be out of sight and out of mind. But, what you can’t see can hurt you.

Indoor Air Quality, Get Informed

The EPA has been aware and providing information on indoor air quality for decades. The link to their website is the best place to get reliable and authoritative information. In spite of all the available science showing that indoor air quality is a health issue, people have not responded with urgency, until now.

Two things have changed this. The building of energy efficient, air tight homes has increased the problem exponentially. Plus, the covid19 pandemic brought the issue home and to schools in a way that no other crisis could. Indoor air quality is now front and centre.

“Protect Indoor Air Quality in Your Home”

Learn everything you need to know here. Click the link above to go to the EPA page on Indoor Air Quality.

Learn About Air Quality Online

There is no lack of information online about air quality. Our own contribution, in this blog, will be to provide a few random insights based on my own engineering and personal experience.

Watch this video overview to enhance your own interest in learning about indoor air quality.

Tips and Insights on Healthy Indoor Air Quality

Understand that a HEPA filter is the best of the best and is tested to a specific standard. However, a HEPA filter will not remove VOCS or other gases. So most available HEPA filters have a pre filter of Activated Carbon. Activated carbon will remove volatile organic carbon gases.

HEPA filters have a pressure drop that is too high for your typical heating and ventilating equipment. A filter that is rated as MERV 14 is now standard for high quality filtration in homes and schools. MERV 8 is promoted as effective filtration and is a minimum if your equipment will not handle MERV 14. A comparison will show that MERV 8 is good but not great by current standards.

What is a HEPA filter?

“HEPA is a type of pleated mechanical air filter. It is an acronym for “high efficiency particulate air [filter]” (as officially defined by the U.S. Dept. of Energy).  This type of air filter can theoretically remove at least 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and any airborne particles with a size of 0.3 microns (µm). The diameter specification of 0.3 microns responds to the worst case; the most penetrating particle size (MPPS). Particles that are larger or smaller are trapped with even higher efficiency. Using the worst case particle size results in the worst case efficiency rating (i.e. 99.97% or better for all particle sizes).”

A room HEPA filter is a great idea for the bedroom. You spend many hours a night in the bedroom. often with 2 people. The benefits of extra clean air in the bedroom are immediate. HEPA room filters are affordable. Buy a large enough size that it will do the job at a low setting and offer a quiet operation level. I would recommend this before spending any other money on filtration.

It is true that HEPA will remove virtually all covid19 virus from the air stream. A room filter solves the issue of how well the distribution system is designed. The air in a given room will go through the filter several times an hour.

What is a MERV rating? Again from the EPA.

Humidity Levels are Also Important

Humidity levels of 40 to 60 percent are healthy in your home. This level prevents the air from being to dry and causing skin and dry throat problems. But, you can overdo a good thing at higher levels and cause condensation problems and the growth of molds. In cold climates. it may not be feasible to reach the higher ranges above 30-40 %, depending on your windows, without condensation on the glass.

There is a newer discovery on the impact humidity has on the Covid19 virus.

Op-ed: Humidity can aid in the fight against COVID-19

“humidity can affect virus transmission in three ways. Studies suggest that higher humidity can enhance the body’s ability to fight off infection; that the coronavirus decays faster at close to 60% relative humidity than at other levels; and that drier air can lead to greater numbers of tiny coronavirus particles that travel farther and penetrate deeper into the lungs.”

A Home Energy Evaluation

A home energy evaluation is worth doing even if you do not have a specific project in mind. Indoor air quality is going to be impacted by how air tight your home happens to be. An energy evaluation will include a blower door test that will measure the air changes per hour (ACH) of your house. Clearly, if your house has a lot of air infiltration, it will be harder to control indoor air quality. It may actually reduce the VOC levels in your house but on the other hand it will make it impossible to control the humidity levels.

Also, an energy evaluation will make you eligible for rebates and incentives, if you do have a home improvement project on the horizon.

Indoor Air Quality and Humidity Levels

A previous blog on Showrooms Online