What Indoor Air Quality Accessories Work To Keep Me Healthy?
Posted in Air Quality, on April 12, 2022
Indoor air quality is notoriously difficult to assess using only your senses. For example: while a musty smell may indicate the need for mold inspection in Toronto, radon gas is odourless, colourless and invisible — it can only be discovered using specialized equipment. At SafeAir, we have over a decade of experience helping families test for mold, radon, asbestos, VOCs, and other indoor air quality issues. Beyond professional testing (which we always recommend), here are five different accessories you can purchase to help support a healthy, safe living environment.
Air Purifiers
Getting an air purifier is the easiest way to decrease dust, dander, and small particles in your indoor environment. Air purifiers come in a range of prices and sizes. At SafeAir, we recommend getting one with HEPA filtration to ensure that you’re getting the most efficient and high-quality purifier.
Running an air purifier while you’re vacuuming or cleaning helps boost the positive effects of your hard work, and they are excellent to have in the bedroom — providing white noise and promoting restful sleep.
Dehumidifier
One of the primary causes of mold growth in Toronto is high indoor humidity. Ideally, you want your home to have a balanced relative humidity of 50% — but this isn’t always possible, especially in rooms like the basement, where there is limited airflow. A dehumidifier can help create this balance by pulling moisture out of the air. Some dehumidifiers can be plumbed in (no need to empty it every few hours!), while other have timers or other features to help you target your run time for when it’s needed most.
Temperature and Humidity Monitors
Spaces other than the basement can suffer from high humidity too, which is where small temperature and humidity monitors can help. These discreet devices are available at hardware stores and can help you monitor key rooms for humidity and temperature changes. Our favourite types of monitors can track changes over 24 hours, so you can watch the effects of a hot shower or opening a window in real-time.
Air Scrubbers
Many modern HVAC systems can have air scrubbers attached to them to clean and purify your air as part of your heating and cooling system. The air is treated using ultraviolet (UV) light as it passes through a titanium dioxide coated tube, killing viruses, bacteria, odours, vapours, and VOC, among other things.
Related technologies include electronic air cleaning and ionic air purifiers. They all do the same thing - eliminate indoor air quality pollutants - using slightly different technology. A SafeAir technician would be happy to recommend the best one for your home’s needs during an indoor air quality inspection.
Air-to-Air Exchangers and Exhaust Fans
Getting air moving is one of the essential steps to good indoor air quality. There are a few different ways to promote good air movement in your home. Air-to-air exchangers are designed to help move stale indoor air out of your home and bring in fresh air, which can be very useful during the winter months when you can’t crack a window!
On the other hand, exhaust fans move air out of your house. They’re helpful in rooms like the bathroom or kitchen where humidity builds up during daily tasks like bathing and cleaning. Because of humidity’s relationship to mold growth, it’s important to move that air along and dry up any lingering moisture.
Need Recommendations? We Can Help!
If you’re curious about how indoor air quality improvements can make your home healthier and safer for the whole family, get in touch with SafeAir! Our certified technicians can help you do a whole-home assessment or specific treatments like mold inspection in Toronto. We can answer your questions and suggest easy ways to improve your living environment without breaking the bank. To learn more, reach out to SafeAir through our contact page.