Category: Air Quality

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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Spring Cleaning Time

As we shift to spring and a warming trend, it’s the perfect opportunity to check the status of existing air conditioners and fans. Before the extreme summer heat sets in, homeowners should explore the condition of exhaust fans, cooling fans, and air conditioners. Any interior fan covers that are in place should be removed and washed with warm, mild, soapy water. Shop vacuums can work wonders when cleaning the filters and the interiors of fan units. A thorough examination of exterior fan ducts and dryer vent hoses and caps is necessary to rule out any damage or debris buildup that could have accumulated over the fall and winter months. For the highest functioning air conditioning units, all equipment should be inspected and serviced by professionals. Spring time marks a great time to get air conditioners and fans in working order. Professional air conditioning repair and installation companies effectively assess any air conditioning repair needs and offer the appropriate maintenance advice and service.

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Indoor Air Quality Tips for Pet Owners

Are you a pet owner? So many people are, and they not only consider pets a part of their life, but also a part of their family. This means that pets occupy space within homes, both inside and out, and are oftentimes in areas that humans spend a lot of time in. What does this mean for you? What makes pets so fuzzy and cute—their fur—can carry a lot of allergens and indoor air pollutants, including dust, dander and elements from the outdoors such as pollen. Because of this, pet owners would be wise to pay attention to the quality of their indoor air. While everyone can be affected by poor indoor air quality, pet owners are even more susceptible due to the nature of owning a pet. Healthy Indoor Air Quality Tips for Pet Owners To prevent poor indoor air quality, it’s smart to consider what you can do to keep your home free of common pollutants from pets. One of the most problematic of these pollutants is dander. Dander is found on cats, dogs, rabbits, and other furry pets, and is essentially microscopic particles of dried skin. It is so problematic because, it, not pet hair, is the

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Indoor Air Can be 70 Times More Polluted than Outdoor Air

You want your home to be safe, secure, and comfortable. You want it to be warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and to not cost you a fortune in the process. But, what if the very system that brings you this security is also a breeding ground for serious health issues? Don’t pack up just yet. There could be a low cost, easy solution. “The more your ‘sealed’ home is for energy efficiency, the more germs, pollutants, and allergens it’s keeping in,” says MightyServ. “In order to maintain humidity and temperature levels, the same air is continuously recycled throughout a home. This increases comfort, but it can also increase health risks. Breathing certain mold spores can cause illness – or even death – and they can develop inside the dark and damp environments of your duct system.” In fact, indoor air quality can be up to 70 times more polluted than the air outside your home.  So what can you do? MightyServ Heating and Air recommends these measures for maintaining a healthy home: Have ventilation systems cleaned annually to help eliminate dirt and mold growth. A qualified technician should check to be sure that all return air is run through the

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Should I Get My Home’s Air Ducts Cleaned?

In recent years, many companies have begun to offer air duct cleaning as a part of the overall cleaning program. This increased interest in duct cleaning brings up a simple question: is it beneficial to get a home’s air ducts cleaned? The short answer is yes. Coastal areas like the San Fernando Valley have plenty of wind stirring up dust, dirt, and other debris. This paired with the fact that our hot weather puts a higher demand on HVAC systems makes clean, efficient operation very important. Here are several reasons why our clients have found it helpful to get their air ducts cleaned, and why you will too. System efficiency: Dust in the air ducts will impede air flow and congest the air-handling unit, leading to excessive energy use and unnecessary wear on system components. Cleaning the ducts will reduce the resistance encountered by the system’s fan. Occupant health: Dust is a notorious source of allergy problems. The dust itself and the mold that can grow in it can be very irritating to building occupants. Duct cleaning makes the home healthier. Home cleanliness: If you’ve ever thought that your home was getting dusty unusually quickly after you cleaned, you probably have dust buildup

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Debunking Indoor Air Quality Myths & Facts

How many times have you thought about the air you’re breathing? Do you think about it at home? At work? Do you think about it when you’re out shopping? Probably not, but you should be aware that the indoor air quality (IAQ) in both residential and commercial establishments may be very poor, creating a potentially harmful environment. In an effort to help raise awareness, we have put together this overview of common Indoor Air Quality myths and facts that every person should be aware of. Indoor Air Quality Facts: Health Concerns of Poor Indoor Air Quality Poor IAQ can cause a number of health problems, including: allergies, irritation of the eyes, skin, nose and throat, frequent headaches, sinus congestion, dizziness, nausea, hypersensitivity, coughing, sneezing and shortness of breath. Causes of Poor Indoor Air Quality Some common air contaminants that may lower IAQ include: tobacco smoke, mold spores, dust, pet dander, dust mites and carbon monoxide among others. The number and types of indoor air contaminants will vary from one establishment to another. Your home will not have all the same contaminants as your local store, or nearby business. Indoor Air Quality Myths: Air Pollution is an Outdoor Problem When people

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What is a Ductless HVAC System and What Are Its Benefits?

Everybody loves central air. It’s an absolutely wonderful invention that allows us to live comfortably in otherwise disagreeable climates. But there are several major drawbacks to central air as a heating and cooling method which have left homeowners frustrated and wanting a better way of doing things. In time past, there wasn’t much in the way of different options to alleviate these frustrations, but recent advances in technology and new ways of using “old” systems has opened up new options for homeowners. Let’s go over how ductless HVAC systems have changed the game for indoor air. Looks Like a Duct, Sucks Like a Duct With central air there is usually a single return per air handler where the warm air from inside the home is sucked into that air handler. Some homes will have two returns for a single air handler, or will have two air handlers for a single floor of the home if it has a large square footage. There is also usually one air handler per floor of the home. But even those extra returns aren’t sufficient to adequately perform some basic functions. Those returns are where the air in the home is filtered. Trying to pull the

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