As COVID-19 continues to impact the daily lives of almost every American, our heating and cooling technicians have fielded many questions in recent months from customers about the importance of indoor air quality (IAQ), specifically the benefits of a whole house air cleaner or purifier.
Improving our customers’ IAQ has always been top of mind for our company considering the average person spends about 90% of their time indoors where IAQ is two to five times worse than the air outside. With COVID-19, homeowners are more concerned than ever about the quality of their indoor air, leaving many to wonder whether installing a whole house air cleaner or air purifier can combat the coronavirus, as well as other viruses. The answer is “yes,” but with a caveat.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, improving ventilation with the outside air can combat indoor airborne contaminants, including the COVID-19 virus. However, the EPA states that increasing ventilation alone is not enough to protect people from exposure to the virus. Along with improving ventilation, taking other steps recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – including frequent hand washing, surface disinfection, social distancing, and wearing masks – can work in tandem to combat COVID-19.
Thiele Heating & Air Conditioning offers a full line of IAQ solutions – including whole house air purifiers and cleaners – to capture airborne bacteria and aid in combating the COVID-19 virus. For more information about what you might need to know about air purifiers, contact the heating and cooling experts at Thiele today.
Air Quality Solutions from Thiele
There are two types of air cleaners: Portable air purifier systems and whole house systems.
Portable air cleaners can help reduce air pollutants within your home and contaminants in a single room.
Whole house air cleaners, which are connected to your home’s heating and air conditioning system, can provide air filtration for the entire home.
According to the EPA, you can use filtration as a part of an overall plan to protect you and your family indoors from the coronavirus.
Air Cleaner Installation
Thiele offers air cleaners from a leading manufacturer, Bryant, that clean your home’s air supply. We also offer products from iWave and Reme Halo that are designed to capture and kill mold, bacteria, and viruses, allowing you and your loved ones to breathe cleaner and healthier air.
There are essentially two types of cleaners. These include:
- Media air filters that make an actual barrier for debris
- Electronic air filters use an electronic charge to draw particles out of the oxygen.
Air Purifier Installation
Thiele’s IAQ specialists install whole house air purification systems to capture, reduce and eliminate germs, dust particles, allergens, mold spores, and viruses. These units work by trapping particles as small as dust in your heating and air conditioning system while letting clean air pass through.
Some of the benefits of installing an air purifier include:
- Eliminating harmful contaminants and viruses
- Helping with allergy and asthma symptoms
- Neutralizing unpleasant odors
- Improving sleep
- Removing harmful radon
- Eliminating hazardous asbestos pollutants
How Your Home Can Benefit From an Air Purifier
Even as careful as people in the Indianapolis space may be about limiting the dangerous airborne particles that enter our homes, the fact of the matter is we’re living in the midst of a dangerous pandemic. The airborne transmission of the virus is nearly impossible to combat with our everyday air cleaning efforts.
Air purifier systems step up to the plate to aid in keeping the transmission of the coronavirus away from your loved ones. When you use an air purifier, while continuing to implement other cleaning practices, you’ll dramatically decrease the transmission of airborne bacteria in your home.
Using Your HVAC System to Combat COVID-19
When using your system with other techniques recommended by the CDC, your home’s HVAC system can help to confront the virus that causes COVID-19. Some of the tips from the EPA include:
- Making sure your HVAC air filter is correctly installed.
- Upgrading to a furnace filter with a higher Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, or MERV rating. The higher the MERV rating, the more airborne particles, contaminants, and viruses the filter can catch. Contact your owner’s manual to see how high of a MERV rating your HVAC system can accommodate.
- Turn on the HVAC system’s fan for longer periods of time, or continuously. HVAC units can only filter the air if the fan is operating.
- If your heating and cooling system has a heat recovery ventilator (HRV), an energy-recovery ventilator (ERV), or an energy-efficient air-to-air heat exchanger, they can be used to increase ventilation.
Easy Tips to Increase Ventilation
We recommend the installation of a whole house air cleaner to help combat the virus that causes COVID-19. However, there are several simple tasks you can do around the home to increase ventilation.
- Operate a bathroom fan when the bathroom is in use.
- Open screened doors and windows when the temperature allows for it.
- Operate a window AC unit that has an outdoor air intake or vent with the vent open.
Contact Thiele for Air Quality Solutions
Even in the midst of a global pandemic, Thiele is dedicated to providing services for our customers that they can count on. We’re aware that you need to do everything that you can in order to protect your family.
Unfortunately, we know that the pandemic has created uncertainty for many Central Indiana homeowners and their families, whether it be a loss of a sick family member or friend. We’d like to play a small role in helping you live a safe life during the pandemic. Contact the technicians at Thiele Heating & Air Conditioning today to discuss our IAQ solutions to improve the quality of the air in your home.