FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JUNE 22, 2017 • AT HOME • THE QUEENS COURIER 55
Breathe easier: 7 ways to improve
your home’s indoor air quality
More than 6 million American children
- nearly 9 percent of all kids in the U.S.
- have asthma, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. Each
year, asthma attacks send more than
a million people to emergency rooms,
including approximately 24,000 children
younger than 15, the CDC reports. Yet
health experts agree many of those asthma
attacks could be avoided through a
range of tactics, including by improving
air quality inside homes.
“Most people can control their asthma
and live symptom-free,” the CDC
reports. Knowing how to reduce or eliminate
exposure to allergens and irritants
inside the home could help people avoid
at least some asthma attacks.
Asthma and kids
More than 47 percent of all asthma
attacks occur in children, according to
CDC data. KidsHealth.org says asthma
is the leading cause of chronic absence
from school, and the chronic illness that
sends kids to the emergency room most
oft en.
Many factors can trigger allergy attacks,
including exposure to allergens inside the
home. As the weather warms and parents
open windows to bring fresh air into their
homes, the breeze that enters can be full
of pollen, mold spores and other airborne
irritants. What’s more, irritants already
inside the home such as pet dander, dust
mites, smoke, bacteria and viruses can
contribute to asthma symptoms.
Improving indoor air quality
Your home’s heating, ventilation and
air-conditioning systems play a critical
role in the air quality inside your home.
HVAC manufacturer Coleman, which
makes ventilator systems, air cleaners
and ultraviolet irradiation systems to
support indoor air quality, off ers some
tips for ensuring your HVAC system
works to clean the air inside your home:
• Have your HVAC system serviced regularly
to ensure all components are
working effi ciently. A well-maintained
system can dramatically improve air
quality.
• Change air fi lters regularly, and choose
a fi lter with a higher MERV (minimum
effi ciency reporting value) rating. Th e
higher the rating, the better the fi lter
will be at capturing airborne particles.
Clogged or low-MERV fi lters may not
eff ectively remove particles from the
air, leaving them for your HVAC system
to recirculate. In fact, HVAC systems
can recirculate contaminants an
average of fi ve to seven times per day,
according to the National Air Duct
Cleaners Association.
• Vent bathrooms and laundry rooms
directly outside the home, and ensure
vent fans are always working well.
• Any equipment that creates combustion
and exhaust, such as fi replaces,
heaters, stoves, range tops and furnaces
should also vent outside to keep harmful
fumes from re-entering your home’s
HVAC system.
• When you vacuum, turn on your
home’s HVAC system. Vacuuming
stirs particles into the air, and your
running HVAC system can catch those
particles and fi lter them from the air.
• Monitor and control the humidity
in your home. Bacteria and viruses,
which can contribute to asthma symptoms,
thrive in very dry environments.
Consider adding a whole-home humidifi
er, like Luxaire’s Acclimate Whole-
Home Humidifi ers, to your HVAC system.
Th rough the use of natural evaporation,
the humidifi ers help maintain
optimum humidity throughout the
entire house, without the limitations
of portable humidifi ers that can only
aff ect a single room.
• Air cleaners can support your HVAC
system in removing irritants from the
air. Like single-room humidifi ers, however,
portable air cleaners have limited
eff ect. Consider incorporating a wholehome
air cleaner that operates as part of
your existing HVAC system.
Visit www.colemanac.com/IAQ to
learn more about products available to
improve the indoor air quality in your
home, and to fi nd a local contractor. You
can also follow the company on Twitter
at @ColemanHVAC.
Studies show the number of people
with asthma is growing worldwide.
Health experts from the CDC to the
National Institutes of Health agree that
controlling indoor air quality in homes
could benefi t children with asthma, as
well as asthma suff erers of all ages.
Courtesy BPT
at home
