Top add-ons easily improve your indoor air quality
Next-Level HVAC
If you care about indoor air quality you probably already have a well-maintained HVAC unit that dutifully hums along, heating, cooling, and filtering air in your building or home. But even if you have a top-of-the-line HVAC unit, when it comes to air quality, there’s always room for improvement. Read on to find out how to take your unit to the next level with add-ons that vastly improve indoor air quality (IAQ). Call it HVAC system upgrade 2.0.
From furnace add-ons to add-ons for your air conditioner, improved air quality can be as simple as getting air purifiers to supplement any filtration done by your existing HVAC unit. Or you can go all the way with super high-tech options that include UV lamps, smart thermostats, zoning systems, and ductless systems that all boast immediate benefits.
Worth the Hype: UV Light in HVAC
Of all the add-ons available today, one rises to the top as a current hot topic, and for good reason. Ultra violet light was discovered more than 100 years ago, and scientists quickly realized its potential as a very effective sterilizing agent. Fast-forward to 2021 and you have today’s UV air filtration systems that significantly improve indoor air quality. In other words, UV is definitely worth the hype.
For HVAC systems, adding UV light brings with it numerous benefits:
Kills bacteria, viruses, and airborne germs: For offices, hospitals, commercial spaces, and educational facilities eliminating or reducing the risk of illness will necessarily improve safety, increase productivity, and over time contribute to cost savings.
Cost-effective: An HVAC unit’s coils and drain pan make the perfect breeding ground for bacteria and biological organisms, which negatively impacts system efficiency and contributes to poor air quality. Germicidal UV lamps obliterate this, so your system runs cleaner and more efficiently, reducing costs in the long run.
Eliminates odors: A huge benefit of UV light add-ons for heating and air conditioning is that it eliminates odors, from the merely unpleasant to those that are seriously hazardous, such as VOCs.
Creates a healthier indoor environment: As an add-on to your HVAC unit and depending upon placement of the UV light, its strength and length of exposure, it has the potential to kill up to 90 percent of microorganisms that accumulate in the coils and air ducts. This makes UV light add-on ideal for educational environments, hospitals and healthcare facilities, and offices.
But Wait, There Are Even More Add-Ons!
UV light add-ons may be the star of the show, but there are many other highly effective add-ons that are easily acquired and installed, all of which will improve indoor air quality.
- Air purifiers: For anyone who suffers from allergies, air purifiers are a must-have add-on. Rather than the limited capabilities of portable stand-alone air purifiers that treat only one room, these purifiers add on to your entire HVAC system.
- Whole-home dehumidifier add-ons: Most people understand that moisture build up makes a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and pathogens to thrive and running a bathroom fan simply isn’t enough. A whole-home dehumidifier HVAC add-on solves this issue, while reducing strain on your air conditioner and increasing efficiency.
- Ventilator add-ons: Sometimes pollutants actually originate inside your home. Ventilator add-ons work to circulate the air inside, bringing fresh air in from outside and removing stale indoor air.
- Carbon monoxide (CO) alarm add-ons: These add-on detectors protect from the invisible and odorless threat of CO buildup in your building or home.
- Ductless systems: With just one add-on to your existing HVAC unit, you can bypass the complicated and very costly process of adding ductwork to parts of your building or home previously not connected to the system.
- Zoning systems: Heating and cooling needs aren’t always the same from room to room. Adding zoning capabilities to your HVAC unit gives you optimum energy efficiency by allowing you to customize rooms and spaces according to temperature and scheduling needs.
- Smart thermostats: Use Wi-Fi-enabled thermostats to schedule, adjust, and manage heating and cooling needs from a smartphone app, giving you maximum control over when and for how long your HVAC unit works.
It’s What’s Inside That Counts
While we can’t control outdoor air pollution, we can control the quality of the air we breathe inside. In fact, there’s scientific data indicating that the air inside homes and buildings can actually be significantly more polluted than what is outside. For students or anyone who works 9 to 5 in an office everyday of the week, this is a serious risk that should be mitigated.
Maintaining your HVAC unit and installing add-ons goes a long way toward a healthy, safe indoor environment. Whether you simply want the healthiest environment for your workers or you’re grappling with a known issue that impacts air quality add-ons combat a host of pollutants that typically cause problems:
- VOCs from cleaning solutions, construction materials, paint, and even office furniture
- Mold and mildew
- Lack of proper ventilation
- Organic irritants, such as pollen and dust
- Outdoor pollutants, including pesticides or radon
Over time if not addressed, poor indoor air quality will negatively impact health. Breathing difficulty, headaches, and irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat are all symptoms of exposure to common indoor pollutants.
But with proper management of your HVAC system coupled with any or all of these add-ons, you’ll breathe easy in no time.
