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 BREATHING
EASIER
Here
are four steps to cleaner indoor air
By
Lou Manfredini
Each year for the
past decade, a group of friends have converged with my family
at a lake house in South Eastern Wisconsin. Most of us have
a great time—except for Tim and Jim, two friends who
find themselves wheezing and sneezing their way through the
weekend. They’re allergic to everything in the home.
This year,
I decided to test something out. I got hold of a special device
called an ionic air cleaner. This emits ions that attach themselves
to the particles in the air throughout the house. Since the
particles become heavier with all those ions stuck all over
them, they sink to the floor. No particles, no allergies,
the theory goes. Skeptical, I ran it for two days. When Tim
and Jim arrived, decongestants and antihistamines in hand,
they found they didn’t need them at all. While I am
no scientist, the proof was plain to me: The ionic air cleaner
solved their problem.
Indoor
air quality should be of great concern to homeowners, especially
in the winter when the windows are closed. According to the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the air inside our homes
can easily be twice as polluted as outdoor air, and in some
cases as much as 100 times more polluted. Having a new home
doesn’t protect you; newer homes, in fact, can actually
test higher for poorer indoor air quality than older ones.
Here are four separate approaches that may help:
Step
One: Keep your home as clean as possible. Staying
ahead of dust and dust mites can dramatically improve the
air you breathe. Use a vacuum cleaner fitted with a HEPA filter—which
stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air so that as you
are cleaning you’re not just spitting the dust back
into the air.
Step
Two: If you have a forced air heating system have
the air ducts cleaned and sealed internally—even if
your home is new. You may have more construction debris and
dust in there than you want to know about. Make sure the cleaning
contractor you hire to do the job is a member of the National
Air Duct Cleaners Association www.nadca.com.
And for sealing the ducts which can also lower you energy
cost check out www.aeroseal.com.
Step
Three: Improve your air filters on your furnace.
For many of us the furnace filter is a spun glass filter that
cost less than a dollar. While this filter will protect the
blower motor it will do next to nothing when it comes to improving
you indoor air quality. Upgrade to a pleated electrostatic
or media filter that captures smaller particles some so small
the naked eye cannot see--and change them every 2 to 3 months.
Step
Four: Consider an indoor air purifier, such as the
ionic air cleaner I mentioned. Or portable HEPA room purifiers.
Good ones can filter out particulates as small as 0.3 microns.
A single human hair is 150 microns. These can very in performance,
size and cost, and no single machine will provide relief for
everyone. The only way to know is to buy one and test it out.
Most manufacturers’ offer a 30-day refund, which amounts
to a free month-long trial run. If you’re still suffering,
the solution may be a large unit that filters air in the entire
home either through an existing forced air system or through
new ductwork. One such unit is called a “Guardian Plus”
by Broan-Nutone. This has to be professionally installed,
and costs between $1,400 to $1,800. But this unit is rated
by the FDA as a medical device and your health insurance may
pay for some if not all of the cost to install one of these
systems in your home.
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This article
originally appeared in USA Weekend magazine.
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