Everything you need to know about IAQ - Indoor Air Quality

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With the COVID 19 pandemic rapidly spreading all over the world, safety is of prime concern. Therefore, governments have advised people to try and stay indoors as much as possible, so as to remain safe from the deadly virus. But as individuals are spending most of their time at home, the Indoor Air Quality is adversely affected. This calls for adopting measures to make the indoor air quality purer so that health and well-being is not affected.

One of the best ways to ensure cleaner indoor air is by ensuring your HVAC system is regularly maintained. Breathing clean air will lead to an improvement in overall health which is very important especially during these perilous times. Therefore, it would be wise to contact a leading service provider to ensure your HVAC system is working to its optimum. Ensure the company you engage for servicing has the expertise and sound technical knowhow about the heating and air conditioning industry. One such reliable service provider is Gateway Mechanical Services, the largest HVAC service provider in Western Canada.

The COVID 19 pandemic has caused widespread fear and confusion. Moreover, inconsistent information about whether the disease is certainly airborne or not, has only increased people’s anxiety and apprehension. This has led to more and more people opting to stay indoors to stay protected. But we need to be aware of the fact that though staying indoors drastically reduces the risk of contracting the virus, breathing in impure and low indoor air quality (IAQ) can cause other serious health problems. Poor IAQ can be caused by irregular maintenance of your HVAC system and over occupancy. Therefore, it’s vital to get the filtering, heating and cooling systems checked often.

It’s also important to keep a check on outdoor sources that can cause air contamination. The Gateway Mechanical team can help improve IAQ by ensuring the ventilation system at your home or workplace is in proper working condition to keep the contaminants from outdoors in check.

In the strained times that we are currently living, maintaining IAQ has become quite a challenge. This is because people are afraid to open the windows and doors and as a result there is no proper ventilation which leads to a decrease in IAQ. As a result, the indoor air quality becomes unsafe for breathing. To make matters worse, many people live together in the same house, all breathing the same impure air, causing an even more decrease in IAQ!

There are many factors that can contaminate the air and cause a reduction in indoor air quality. Some of these include cleaning products and the furnishings in your home or office. If breathing in pure air is what you desire, it is best you permit experts to check your HVAC system, ventilation and other processes such as filter changes etc. Some of the best ways to improve the indoor air quality is through UV air purification, Plasma air purification and checking if your HVAC system is operating optimally.

Due to environment changes, the composition of IAQ is constantly modified which is very important to understand, if you want to keep health issues at bay. Maintaining safe indoor air to breathe is of utmost importance as it’s still not very clear how the COVID 19 virus spreads or if there are any steps that can be taken to reduce its transmission, especially through indoor air. In such a scenario, ventilation plays a key role, particularly if people in a building are infected.

According to some experts, the virus can travel through the air as it can be suspended in the air via droplets for more than a couple of hours. This makes it all the more essential for buildings to be disinfected to improve indoor air quality. Since we are in the midst of a dangerous pandemic, taking risks of any sort should not be an option. Therefore it would be best to engage experts like Gateway Mechanical to improve the indoor air quality in your home.

Besides, experts say the indoor air quality is around five times more contaminated compared to the air outdoors. So when people don’t leave the house for long periods of time there is a serious threat to the quality of indoor air that is inhaled. For that reason, cleaner indoor air is the need of the hour, especially now. Staying indoors in an air conditioned room may seem to be safe but unfortunately this is not true. Keep it in mind that air conditioners don’t make the air safe!

In fact, air conditioners may play a role in spreading of the virus because the droplets from an infected person via sneezing, coughing or even talking travels at an express speed, especially in centrally air conditioned spaces and enclosures. Moreover, air conditioners are not equipped with the proper filtration that can help keep indoor air pure. But when filtration systems are installed, they help to get rid of some contaminants in the air, at least to some extent.

Filtration devices that can make the air pure and reduce the risk of airborne diseases like COVID 19, is what is currently much needed! Also, as overall health is affected by the air that we inhale, it’s vital that we do all we can to improve the IAQ. Companies like Gateway Mechanical use modern and innovative mechanisms to improve the IAQ. The experts from their team also help install filtration devices in homes and workplaces to enhance the IAQ.

The air indoors can get contaminated with viruses, germs or mold which can cause infections or diseases, if not resolved. Therefore, there’s a dire need to improve the quality of air that is circulated indoors. Ensure your HVAC system is installed properly and regularly maintained. Having an efficient HVAC system is vital if you want to be sure of breathing in pure air.

A professional service company like Gateway Mechanical can help with all your servicing needs. They can even provide suitable air quality solutions according to your requirements. Gateway Mechanical makes sure you have an efficient HVAC system at all times.

Another effective way to improve indoor air quality is by following certain strategies outlined by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). These disinfection systems include UVC and plasma. But though an efficient UVC air purifier can help reduce air contaminants through your HVAC system, it’s essential to understand that following basic hygiene practices play the most important role in keeping diseases away.

So basically, when technology and sanitation are combined, they can serve as effective weapons against COVID 19. Additionally, an easy, effective and fast way to improve indoor air quality is to throw open the doors and windows of your home to allow the fresh air to come in.

Steps to improve indoor air quality:

• Ensure you allow outdoor air to come into your home or office regularly.

• Instead of always opting for air conditioning, try natural airing of your home.

• Check if filters are in proper working condition and increase ventilation to the maximum.

• Ensure the HVAC system in your home or enterprises is installed, serviced and maintained by experts.