There’s more to air than meets the eye – literally. Even when you can’t see them, all kinds of contaminants affect your indoor air quality. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says your indoor air quality (IAQ) can be as much as five times more contaminated than the air outside!
Between that statistic and the fact that the American Lung Association estimates Americans spend 90% of their time indoors, improving indoor air quality is an important component of general health and wellbeing. The good news? Improving your home’s indoor air quality is easy.
Here's an IAQ overview to get you started, from knowing where contaminants are coming from to using smart technology to filter them out.
Before you can improve your indoor air quality, you have to know what’s affecting it. From visible particles such as smoke and pet dander, to microscopic viruses, to the aroma from cooking Sunday dinner, the air contains numerous contaminants. Some might not seem harmful at first, but any particulate added to the air can impact you and your home.
Most air contaminants fall into three categories:
This category includes everything that’s in the air from outside your home, including smoke, vehicle exhaust, and construction dust. Outside, these contaminants have lots of room to dissipate. But once they enter your home, they’re trapped — and you and your family breathe them in.
Contaminants that come from behaviors taking place inside your home fall into this category. This is where smoking, pet dander, viruses, and spray cleaners and air fresheners come into play. While you can eliminate some of these behaviors, others you can't.
Whether it starts outside on a humid summer day or inside from showering, cooking, or even breathing, moisture in the air affects your indoor air quality. Airborne moisture carries viruses. Even simple steam can be the starting point for mold if your home isn’t properly dehumidified.
Now that you’re armed with some basic knowledge of indoor air quality contaminants, you’re in a perfect position to improve your indoor air quality. Let's take a look at four ways you can make your home air healthier.
Eliminating sources of indoor air pollution is key to improving indoor air quality. Ken Nelson, a ventilation expert with Panasonic Eco Systems North America, says controlling where contaminants come from “is really critical in how you approach IAQ.”
Not allowing smoking inside the home, choosing pets that are less prone to shedding, and opting for household cleaners that minimize respiratory irritants can be helpful steps. But don’t forget that indoor air pollution often starts with outdoor air pollution. In areas affected by wildfires, for instance, Nelson says this can be a big challenge. Because of the way smoke impacts the body, if you have wildfire smoke in your area and you are compromised, he says “the only solution is to leave."
But what happens if you can't eliminate sources of air pollution? It’s time to turn to filtration. You have a variety of options for air filtration designed to remove even the smallest particulates from the air.
Wildfire smoke has been top of mind for many of us recently. Do filters work there? Yes, Nelson says, but you need the right kind.
“You’ll hear that you can use a HEPA filter to remove wildfire smoke from the air, and a HEPA is a very good filter,” Nelson says. HEPA filters are high-efficiency particulate air filters that can remove extremely small particles of pollen, bacteria, viruses, and other pollutants from the air. “But technically wildfire smoke needs a charcoal filter,” he continues. “A HEPA filter will get a lot of the smoke, but a charcoal filter will absorb all of that smoke material out of the air.”
Whether you choose HEPA, charcoal, or standard electrostatic filters found in most home heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, the key to air filtration is changing filters regularly. If you don't, filters can become so dirty that the HVAC equipment can’t effectively pull air through the system. What does come through could pick up more contaminants on its way through the dirty filter.
So how often should you change air filters? Most filter manufacturers recommend every three to six months. Nelson says differently, however. “The answer is: You change it when it’s dirty,” he states. Take seasonal pollen. You could change your filter on Thursday only for neighborhood trees to drop all their pollen on Friday. In that case, maintaining your indoor air quality might mean changing your air filter much sooner than planned.
“Air filters are great if you take care of them,” Nelson says. “But if you don’t, they can add particulate matter back into clean air after the bad air event has occurred.”
Once you’ve taken steps to control the pollutants in your home, it’s time to give indoor moisture some attention. Not only does humidity affect your home comfort, but even small moisture particles in the air can be a vehicle for viruses and mold. That makes a big difference in how your home functions.
“Let’s say you bake a cake,” Nelson says. “The oven is changing that batter from a liquid to a solid by pulling out the moisture. So where does the moisture go? It becomes a vapor and, unless it’s vented to the outside, it moves into the air around your home.” If you can smell that cake baking from upstairs, that’s an indication of how quickly the moisture is moving through your home.
Viruses and bacteria survive on moisture in the air. Water vapor that condenses back into a liquid also becomes a breeding ground for mold and mildew. These are instances when Nelson says indoor moisture becomes a problem to manage.
Air purification is one way to manage the negative effects of air moisture. The process changes the molecular structure of the air to neutralize airborne threats like viruses. But whole-house purification can be expensive, so cost-effective dehumidification strategies are important too.
“The rule of thumb is to have a humidity level between 30% and 55% in your home,” Nelson says. “Any lower than 30% and your family ends up with dry eyes and chapped lips, while the wood surfaces in your home start to pull apart. Remember – humidity isn’t just affecting the air.”
Smart technologies make IAQ management easier for homeowners. After all, remembering to turn on the bathroom fan or range hood isn’t hard – but forgetting to turn it on is easy. That’s where automatic sensors come in handy.
For example, motion sensors and humidity sensors are available for bathroom ventilation fans. A motion sensor will automatically turn the fan on when it detects movement in the bathroom, while a humidity or condensation sensor will activate the fan when a certain level of moisture is present. Both options can help eliminate excess moisture in the home.
Air purification is another area of technological advancement, with Panasonic’s WhisperAir Repair® as a prime example. Similar in design to an exhaust fan, the WhisperAir Repair’s nanoe™ X technology release special molecules called hydroxyl radicals (OH) into the air. These reactive molecules pull hydrogen out of air pollutants such as allergens, viruses, and odors, inhibiting their activity and leaving your air cleaner.
Leveraging smart technology is one way to improve your indoor air quality, but the process really starts with how you live in your home. By understanding and controlling the sources of contaminants and implementing proactive measures such as filtration, dehumidification, and purification efforts, you can help your whole family breathe easier at home.
Panasonic is here you help you improve your IAQ at home. Whether you’re ready to add purification features or it’s time to start fresh with an updated ventilation system, learn more about Panasonic's solutions for a healthier home.