Category: Air Quality

Why You Should Care About Maintaining Your Home’s HVAC

Did you know that your HVAC should be inspected about twice a year? With spring right around the corner, you’ll want your AC to be checked out so you and your family can be as comfortable as possible once the heat hits. Once the colder months of the year roll back around, it is important to make sure that your home’s heater is in proper working order. Neglecting regular maintenance for your HVAC can cause you to run into some costly problems. Be wary of these serious issues that you can run into: Bad air quality in your home It is much more likely that you will experience more sick days during the winter than you would in the summer. This is due greatly to a lowered immune system in the colder months. However, if you are breathing in dirty air due to a heater that isn’t working properly, this will not help you in your efforts to stay healthy. If you regularly maintain your heater, you will have much cleaner air to breathe in your home. Costly repairs that could have been avoided If you were to never change the oil in your car, you would eventually have to invest in a whole new

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Indoor Air Quality and Covid

Everything We Know About COVID and Indoor Air Quality

Since Spring 2020, the world has been dealing with COVID-19. We now know that COVID spreads via aerosol, and more homeowners in Los Angeles understand the meaning of the term Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). But we’re all learning as we go here, including scientists and researchers. In our quest to continue learning about the industry and how to best protect our team and customers, we’ve reviewed the latest research and recommendations on the topic of Covid and IAQ. Here’s what we’ve learned:  There’s No Silver Bullet: Use Many Methods to Improve IAQ Recent research from the Central Building Research Institute indicates that there is no one, perfect solution for improving IAQ. Instead, the best course of action to improve indoor air quality is using many different methods. Most Los Angeles residents are already familiar with the baseline recommendations. Wearing facemasks, social distancing, and limiting large gatherings are the best ways to keep things safe inside most buildings. One challenge with these recommendations is that it requires every individual to choose to comply. In other words, the quality of everyone’s IAQ depends on… everyone!   There are ways to promote great IAQ, regardless of individual choices. These are called “engineering controls” –

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What Homeowners Need to Know About Aeroseal Duct Protection

When is the last time you thought about your duct system? Though it may not be at the top of mind, especially during the holiday season, your duct system plays an important role in keeping your home comfortable year-round. If your home feel stuffy and uncomfortable no matter where you set your thermostat, this may indicate that you have a problem with your duct system. Maintenance, cleaning, and sealing can fix all of your issues by improving the quality of your indoor air. At MightyServ, we utilize Aeroseal technology to help protect and optimize your duct system. This allows you to enjoy a more comfortable home environment without worrying about a decline in your indoor air quality. This article will delve a little bit deeper into what Aeroseal Duct Protection is and how it can benefit MightyServ homeowners. What is Aeroseal Duct Protection? Did you know that about 47% of the average home utility bill is spent on heating and cooling the home? What’s more is that typically, 30 cents of every $1.00 spent on heating and air conditioning is wasted on leaky ducts. Sealing your duct work is one of the best ways to reduce energy waste, improve efficiency, and cut down on

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What is a Hepa Filter?

HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air. HEPA filters are advanced filters that create cleaner air than traditional air filters. These air filters are tested and approved by The Institute of Environmental Sciences and must trap 99.97% of particulates 0.3 microns or larger in order to be categorized as a HEPA filter. Benefits of a HEPA Filter HEPA filters draw air through them to trap pollutants such as dust, dirt, pet dander, and other harmful particles and pollutants. By installing a HEPA air filter in your home’s heating and cooling system, you’ll trap all the harmful particles that could trigger or worsen asthma or allergy symptoms. Improve Your Indoor Air Quality Switching to HEPA filters in your home is one way to improve your indoor air quality, but it’s not the only way. Change your air filters How often you use your heating and cooling system will determine how often you should change it out, but as a general rule of thumb, you want to change your filter every 30-90 days so that air can filter through unhindered by the dirt, dust, and other particles the filter has picked up. Bring the outdoors inside Keeping plants in your home can

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What is IAQ (Indoor Air Quality)?

Indoor air quality in North American homes may not be as safe as we perceive it to be. According to research, about 96% of homes had one air quality issue at the minimum. This finding is supported by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), which estimates that indoor air in most homes can be 5 times dirtier than air outside. Majority of homes, for example, had high levels of common pollutants such as dust, pollen, harmful gases, chemicals and viruses. Are You Safe Indoors? As shown by figures that have resulted from surveys and research, many homes suffer from indoor air quality that is below par. Common pollutants such as dust, along with biological pollutants such as bacteria, molds, animal dander and dust mites often contribute to health issues that are serious enough to cause sickness and certain diseases, particularly among sensitive individuals such as children and the elderly. In homes where there is at least one smoker, the threat to health also increases. The American Lung Association states that tobacco smoke (frequently inhaled as secondhand smoke) contains 4,000 different chemicals, 200 of which are known poisons, including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and carcinogens. Improving Indoor Air Quality Increasing the quality of

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The Importance of Regular HVAC Maintenance

Your HVAC is an important part of your home. Keeping your house warm in the winter and cool in the summer is a vital part of keeping your family happy and healthy—and a happy and healthy family means less stress for you. Like any vital appliance in your home, your HVAC system requires regular maintenance in order for it to continue running at full capacity. If you see or hear signs of heater damage such as strange noises, foul odors, or your HVAC not heating and/or cooling properly, you probably need a repair or replacement for your unit. However, regularly scheduled, preventative maintenance can prolong your HVAC’s life and keep you from having to worry about the repair or replace argument for a while. Lower Your Bills When your heater or air conditioner has to work harder to heat or cool your home, you’re spending extra money to power the unit for longer periods of time. Dust and dirt can build up inside your system and can prevent air flow from efficiently and effectively reaching all the areas of your home. When your heater and air conditioner has been properly maintained and cleaned regularly, the unit has less work to

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Whole home performance evaluations

Paying high costs for energy in your home is never what anyone wants to do. However, there are solutions and answers to help you pay less when your energy bills come due. Home Performance is a complete approach to making your home more energy efficient and provide comfort in your home environment. What is Whole Home Performance?  Home Performance includes many different factors in the home. Contractors trained in Home Performance are skilled to offer complete home improvements to make your home more energy efficient. This includes insulation, energy efficient lighting and appliances, as well as furnace and air conditioner upgrades. The benefits of the Home Performance upgrade include decreasing and eliminating energy waste in the home, as well as cold drafts and musty smelling air. Your comfort, health and the long term value of your home will increase. Your home environment will also be cleaner while you enjoy lower energy bills. Cost of Whole Home Performance Your upgrade will start with a thorough home inspection and evaluation to determine the current energy use of your household. After this, your Home Performance contractor will make suggested improvements that suit your budget and the priorities you have in your home. They

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How to Improve Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality

Before you can know how to improve air quality, it is good to know what can ruin it. In this article, we encourage you to do the following things that will make you enjoy a better quality of air in your home. 1. Eliminate dust in your home Regular dusting helps you reduce the level of animal dander, dust mites, and pollen in your home, but those aren’t the only way to rid your home of potential contaminants. Regular dusting will help to keep dust mites and other pollutants at bay, but to correctly dust-proof your home, be sure to use a cleaning cloth that grabs the dust (such as Swiffer brand products) so you aren’t just mixing the dust back into the air. Switching from thicker, cloth curtains to lighter curtains will also keep the fabric from attracting and storing so much dust. 2. Waterproof your premises Any moisture in your home is a big risk. Left unchecked, moisture can encourage fungal growth. Additionally, mold can create spores that can become toxic when unattended. Waterproofing involves checking leach fields, gutters, roofs, taps, piping and the entire plumbing works, flood vulnerability, and ventilation. Any trained technician can check your home for

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3 Benefits of Duct Sealing Service

By insulating and sealing your ducts, you can improve the efficiency of your system dramatically. Your conditioned air can easily be thrown back into areas that are not conditioned with proper ducts or ones that are improperly sealed. You will definitely be losing efficiency when this happens. Also, the non-conditioned air will be pulled by the non-sealed ducts and will cause your system to work that much harder to keep the desired humidity and temperature in your home. Different appliances such as furnaces and water heaters can also release gases that are dangerous like carbon monoxide which may then get sucked into the ducts through return ducts that are leaky. With that said, below are 3 benefits of duct sealing services. Energy savings This is usually the most common reason why people look for duct sealing services. When you are saving energy, you are going to lower your energy bills, which means a job that is high quality, can pay for itself over the years in energy savings. It also benefits our environment to conserve energy. The less amount of energy you use to keep your home comfortable, the less of an environmental impact it will have. Comfort Often, you

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What Duct Sealing Can Do For You

Your air ducts are an important part of your home comfort system. They help distribute the warm or cool air from your central HVAC system to the different areas of your home. However, did you know that between 20 to 30 percent of air moving through your duct system is lost due to leaks and holes? This can have a significant impact on both your home comfort and your energy costs. Below, we’ll talk a little bit more about how duct sealing can help you cut down on energy consumption and save more on your monthly utility bills over time. Benefits of Duct Sealing A duct system that is properly sealed will not only help make your home more comfortable, but it can also help with energy efficiency. Here are just a few of the benefits of duct sealing: Improves Home Comfort When you seal and insulate your duct system, it can help improve the level of home comfort in your living areas. You will no longer have to deal with rooms that become too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter time. Increases Home Safety Gas appliances like furnaces, water heaters, or clothes dryers will release gases such

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