When you think about potential asthma triggers in your home, your home's air conditioner is usually the last thing to come to mind. But the fact is that the air quality inside your home could be even worse for your asthma than the air outside.
Dirty Air Filters Spread Allergens
This is the case when you have dirty air conditioner filters. The air in your home is contaminated with dust, pollen, dander, mold spores, and other particles. Consequently, about 60% of asthma cases are caused by those particles. A good-quality air conditioner filter can help reduce these air contaminants. However, a dirty air conditioner filter has the opposite effect. Air conditioners filter harmful airborne particles from the air before blowing it around your house, yet when your air conditioner's filter fills up, its efficiency decreases. Thus, air contaminants and asthma triggers are pushed with the air conditioner's cooled air throughout your house, causing asthma flare-ups.
How Your Air Conditioner Can Reduce Asthma Symptoms
To prevent asthma attacks caused by particles in the air, there are a few precautions you can take.
Keep Your Windows and Doors Closed
Open doors and windows allow more harmful particles to enter your home. Your air conditioner will have to work harder to keep all the particles out of the air, and it may not be as efficient. Even for those who don't have asthma, dirty air filters can cause unwanted symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing, sneezing, red eyes, and respiratory tract infections.
Change Your Air Conditioner Filter Regularly
The more contaminants that are in the filter, the less efficient your filter becomes. Changing your air conditioner's filter regularly will reduce the number of particles in your home's air, reducing asthma flare-ups.
Get a High-Quality Pre-filter and Secondary filter
The pre-filter is the filter you change monthly. For families with a member who suffers from asthma, a secondary filter is usually attached. When looking for an air conditioner filter or a filter replacement, you should look for a filter that removes smaller particles from the air. HEPA filters are best for allergy sufferers as they filter out much smaller particles.
Regular air conditioner maintenance is essential for your family's health, especially for those with asthma and respiratory problems. By using high-quality filters and changing them regularly, you can reduce symptoms and live healthier.
At Getzschman Heating and Air Conditioning , we provide a variety of indoor air solutions , including air filters, air scrubbers, and UV germicidal lamps. Need help? Give us a call at (402) 235-6727 and we’ll be happy to show you your options.
Here in Omaha, air conditioning and heating are musts for a comfortable home. But, sometimes, the vents can detract from your beautiful walls and home decor. Never fear! The team at Getzschman Heating and Air Conditioning has gathered some of the best solutions for camouflaging ugly wall vents. Read on to see how you can make your home more beautiful.
1. Use a Rubber Doormat
This may sound ridiculous, but you just have to buy the right doormat. You can get grate-style rubber doormats at almost any home improvement store or market. Many pretty scrollwork patterns exist. Make sure the mat is an open design to allow air to flow through it and into your home without obstruction. The doormats costs between $10-$20 dollars. If you’re not a fan of the black, you can paint it to match the rest of your home. Then, just hang it on two nails right above the vent. The finished product looks like an antique vent cover, and looks nice enough to be wall art!
If you find dirty vents while you’re sprucing up your covers, check out Getzschman’s air duct cleaning services . The service reduces allergy and asthma symptoms and leaves your home with better air quality.
2. Fake Fancy Air Vents with Spray Paint
Don’t want to cover up your vents? Try spray-painting them instead! You can buy spray paint that looks like metal, such as gold, silver, bronze or even copper, to give it a more elegant look. A hot color currently is oil-rubbed bronze. The paint shouldn’t cost you more than $10.
This works for almost any type of vent, too, whether it’s a floor or wall vent. Just make sure you remove the vent cover first and take them outside or in a garage before you spray paint them. You don’t want those paint fumes in your home. Also make sure to lay the vent cover on some newspaper or plastic before painting, so you don’t get paint everywhere. Then, wait for the paint to dry before putting them back in the floor or wall so they don’t stick. This is also a great idea for old vents that might be chipping or rusting. It will bring them back to life, and save you some cash!
3. Use a Piece of Furniture
If you have a piece of furniture that would sit nicely against the wall where your vent is located, simply remove the back and push it in front of the vent. Make sure it has doors that are vented to let the air circulate. If the doors aren’t vented, replace them with screened, louvered or decorative scrollwork doors. As long as the air can pass through the doors, it will remain functional and look fabulous!
We hope these tips will help you make your home both comfortable and charming. Let us know if you try any of these tips and send us a picture of how it turned out! We’d love to see it.
For your air conditioning and heating needs, call the technicians you can trust at Getzschman at (402) 235-6727.
It’s no secret that optimal humidity levels can make your home more comfortable, especially during the coldest and warmest parts of the year. Humidity can also affect your health and that of your family, both directly and indirectly. The team at Getzschman put together this humidity guide to help you stay healthy and feel comfortable year round.
Ideal Humidity Levels
Humidity is conveyed as a percentage that represents how much moisture is in the air at any given time. In your home, humidity is considered too high when it reaches more than 50% concentration. Your humidity levels may be too low if they fall below 30%.
Generally, the optimal humidity level in the summer is 40 to 50% and the ideal level in the winter is 30 to 40%. These differing ranges help account for seasonal temperature changes. Too much humidity in your home in the winter can lead to condensation on the inside of your windows.
High Humidity Health Issues
In many locations, including the Midwest, the summer months have the highest levels of humidity. Here in Nebraska, you may see outdoor humidity levels of more than 80% during the summer.
These higher humidity levels make it feel hotter both outside and inside. For example, imagine a summer afternoon with a temperature of 95°F. If the humidity were 30%, it would feel like 95°F outside. But if the humidity climbed to just 65%, the temperature would feel like a scorching 117°F. At Nebraska’s upper humidity range, the temperature could feel as high as 125°F.
High humidity can have a range of negative health effects, including:
- Increased risk of heat-related conditions - Long periods of exposure to high temperatures and humidity can result in inefficient bodily cooling. Heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heatstroke can cause loss of salts and fluids, as well as dangerous symptoms like fainting.
- Poor-quality sleep - Most individuals get their best quality sleep in a cool environment. When the temperature in your bedroom climbs, you may have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Over time, poor-quality sleep can contribute to irritability, lack of focus, and lethargy.
- Worsening allergies - Pollen and dust mites thrive at higher humidity levels, which means that people with allergies to airborne particles or people with respiratory conditions may experience more intense symptoms. Additionally, humidity contributes to mold growth which can make indoor air toxic.
To beat the heat, it’s important to keep your indoor humidity within optimal levels over the summer.
Low Humidity Health Issues
In the winter, humidity levels drop. While Nebraska’s outdoor humidity generally stays above 40% in the winter, using your heating system reduces the overall moisture in your home.
If your indoor air becomes too dry, you may experience the following health problems:
- Congestion and cough - Dry air irritates your body’s mucous membranes, such as those found in the nose and throat. When the membranes in your nose and sinuses become too dry, you may experience runny nose, congestion, and sneezing. When dry air affects your throat, you may experience soreness and coughing.
- Dry skin - Exposure to dry air depletes the moisture in your skin. The dry your skin gets, the more likely you are to experience itchiness, cracks, and scaliness. If you have a skin condition like eczema, dry conditions may exacerbate your typical symptoms.
- Itchy eyes - Dry air can reduce your eyes’ ability to produce enough tears to properly lubricate the surface of the eyeball. You may notice itchiness, excessive blinking, redness, or a gritty feeling. Dry eyes can increase your risk of eye injury since the symptoms of dry eye encourage you to rub at your eyes, which can lead to corneal abrasions and the introduction of foreign particles.
- Persistent illness - Many individuals experience colds or the flu more often in the winter. This increase in illness frequency is due in part to low humidity levels. The flu virus, for example, lives longer on surfaces when the humidity is lower. Extremely low humidity levels increase your risk of illness and make it more difficult to recover from a seasonal ailment because you have to work harder to stay hydrated and get quality sleep.
In order to keep yourself and your family comfortable throughout the winter, you may need to dramatically increase your indoor moisture levels.
How to Control Humidity in Your Home
How do you know what the humidity level is in your house? You can measure the humidity level in your home easily with a hygrometer. These instruments measure water vapor in the atmosphere and are readily available at home improvement and other stores.
You can make small changes to the humidity levels in your home by making smart choices. For example, in the summertime, use ventilation and fans to disperse the moisture created by bathing and running appliances.
In the winter, you can increase humidity by taking hot showers and air-drying your laundry. However, if you notice negative effects caused by either high or low humidity, consider a long-term solution instead.
Use a whole-home humidifier or dehumidifier to better control your home’s air quality and seasonal health conditions. Learn more about dehumidifiers in our blog “ Dehumidifiers 101: What This Appliance Does and Why You Need One .”
Pay attention to the connection between your home’s humidity and the way you feel to ensure that every member of your household stays as healthy as possible, regardless of how the weather changes. If you need help controlling the humidity in your home, give the G-Force team at Getzschman a call at (402) 235-6727.