This is the time of year when everyone starts shifting gears from summer relaxing to back-to-school. However, if you are an allergy sufferer this may be one of your most challenging times of year thanks to allergens like ragweed. However, you have a great tool at your disposal for countering the effects of late summer allergies: your AC’s air filter. The standard air filter that comes with your air conditioner isn’t going to help you much, but an upgraded air filter installed by the indoor air quality experts at Boehmer Heating & Cooling can help alleviate many of your allergy symptoms.
Boehmer Heating & Cooling Blog: Archive for the ‘Indoor Air Quality’ Category
Suffering from Late Summer Allergies? Upgrade Your Air Filter
Monday, September 7th, 2015Is Your Air Filter Ready for Allergy Season?
Monday, May 25th, 2015Allergy sufferers know that at this time of year as the temperature rises, so do pollen counts. While the flora and fauna releasing the pollen are outside, it isn’t hard for allergens to get inside and into your HVAC system. A great way to drastically reduce allergens from swirling around your home with your forced air system is to use a mechanical air filter. It is true that your HVAC comes with a standard air filter, but this air filter’s job is not to improve your indoor air quality; it is to keep large particles of dirt and dust from coating your HVAC system. If you want a mechanical air filter that will help your allergies, the experts at Boehmer Heating & Cooling can help. Just give us a call, and we’ll schedule you an appointment.
A Guide to Different Indoor Air Quality Systems
Wednesday, March 4th, 2015One of the best ways to take control of your health is by paying more attention to the air in your home. You may believe that the quality of your air is just fine. But if you’ve noticed sneezing, coughing, frequent illness, or other health symptoms from the members of your household, then you need an indoor air quality system that will eliminate the issues that are most prescient in your home.
Here are some of the different types of air quality systems you may choose between. Whether it’s a standard air conditioning filter or an electronic air cleaner or humidifier, the professionals at Boehmer Heating & Cooling can install or service it to keep everyone in your Baldwin home healthier.
- Air Filters: Air filters are standard in any home air conditioning and heating system. But if people in your home have respiratory or immune system trouble, you may need more than your standard air filter. Most filters can only remove large particles from the air. But an air filter with a higher MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) is more effective at removing smaller particles that may induce allergies.
- Air Cleaners and Purifiers: An electronic air cleaner can take even more particles out of the air. You may choose an electronic air cleaner with a HEPA filter, or an ionization air purifier, which charges particles so that they cling to surfaces in your home, may be best for your home.
- UV Germicidal Light: UV rays can kill organic matter. Luckily, this doesn’t affect you much when you step out into the sun for short periods of time. However, UV lights can take care of the most common biological pollutants in your home such as bacteria and viruses when installed in the air ducts by a professional.
- Humidifiers: A humidifier helps to keep the air in your home more comfortable for everyone inside. When there is moisture in the air, your chances of illness go down, and you may notice that your lips are no longer chapped nor is your skin as dry.
Call the experts at Boehmer Heating & Cooling to speak with a professional who understands the different types of air quality issues and knows the best type of system to use as treatment. Call us today to get a new air purifier in Baldwin.
Is a HEPA Filter Right for My Home?
Wednesday, February 4th, 2015For people with allergies, it can sometimes feel as if the very air is out to get them. The air inside the average home is full of all sorts of lung irritants, most of which are too small to even see. Dust mites, pollen, insect and pet dander are just a few of the common airborne pollutants capable of making an allergy sufferer’s life miserable. Though the situation may seem hopeless, there are actually a number of solutions available to improve the air quality in your home. One of those solutions is a HEPA filter. Let’s take a look at what a HEPA filter is, and whether you should consider installing one in your home.
What is a HEPA Filter?
HEPA stands for “High Efficiency Particulate Air.” It is a classification of air filters that are capable of capturing all airborne particles that are .3 microns or larger. For a point of reference, a micron is one millionth of a meter. HEPA filters are comprised of fibers woven so tightly that they are capable of capturing individual viruses and bacteria. Most HEPA filters also include a fan to help move air through the filter.
When Should I Consider a HEPA Filter?
HEPA filters are pretty heavy duty. They are often used in environments that must be kept as sterile as possible, like hospitals and server rooms. That doesn’t mean that they’re overkill for your house, though. Quite a few people make use of HEPA filters to help improve their quality of life. The most common reason for a homeowner to use a HEPA filter is due to severe allergies. Most allergens are simply too small to be taken care of by frequent dusting or vacuuming. They can always find their way back into the air, and from there into your lungs. A HEPA filter is a pretty surefire way to keep your air clear of even the smallest allergens, especially if you install a whole-house model.
If you are interested in installing a HEPA filter in your home, call Boehmer Heating & Cooling to schedule an appointment with us. We provide professional air cleaner services in the Baldwin area.
How to Find the Ideal Air Purifier for Your Home
Tuesday, January 20th, 2015Though it may seem clear, the air quality in your home is not as pristine as you would think. There are hundreds of different types of particulates floating through your home’s air at any given moment. Most of these particulates are harmless. Some of them, however, are not. Viruses, bacteria, dust, pollen, mold, insect dander, and all sorts of other contaminants can reduce your quality of life by provoking allergic reactions or making you sick. In order to combat these contaminants, a number of air purifiers have been invented over the decades. There are many different kinds of these, as well, each suited to take care of a different kind of airborne pollutant. Let’s take a look at the different kinds of air purifiers available, and which one would be best for your needs.
Electronic Purifiers
Electronic air purifiers work by creating an electromagnetic field around themselves during operation. As particles pass through this field, they receive a negative charge. These negatively charged particles are then attracted to any surface that has a positive charge. To prevent the particles from merely sticking to the walls and floor, most electronic purifiers contain a number of metal plates inside the unit. The particles will stick to these metal plates, which can then be removed and washed. Electronic purifiers are effective at catching all kinds of particulates in the air. They do nothing to impede the progress of the air itself, though, so gaseous contaminants like cigarette smoke will not be affected.
UV Germicidal Lights
There are many kinds of viruses, bacteria, mold, and other biological organisms that are sterilized or even completely destroyed by too much exposure to ultra-violet light. The UV germicidal air purifier takes advantage of this by bathing the area around it in ultraviolet light. This is great for those people who have weaker immune systems, as it kills a lot of otherwise-minor germs that might make them sick. It only focuses on biological contaminants, however, which means that things like dust are not affected.
To schedule a service or if you’d like to know more about air purifiers, call Boehmer Heating & Cooling. We provide professional air purifier services in the Canonsburg area.
The Differences Between Mechanical and Electronic Air Cleaners
Wednesday, September 24th, 2014Air cleaners can greatly improve the indoor air quality in your home, but there are several types of cleaners from which to choose. The main two types for whole-home use are mechanical air filters and electronic air cleaners. Understanding how each air cleaner works can help you determine which will work best in your home. Air cleaners in Baldwin should always be installed by professionals, so if you are ready to install a whole-home air cleaner, call the company that has been around since 1933: Boehmer Heating & Cooling.
Mechanical Air Filters
Mechanical air filters are square-framed, with filter media stretching across the entire space within the frame. These filters typically fit inside the space where your standard air filter resides, but not always. Mechanical air filters screen out particles from the air as the air passes through them, trapping the particles in the filter media. Not all air filters work the same. In fact, there is a special rating system called MERV – minimum efficiency reporting value – that will tell you how effective a particular filter is. The typical MERV rating for whole-home air filtration is 5-12; the highest ratings belong to HEPA filters, which range anywhere from 13-20. However, HEPA filters are so strong that they can restrict air flow in your HVAC system, so it’s important to work with a professional before deciding that a HEPA filter is right for your system.
Mechanical air filters can trap particles as small as 0.3 microns, which covers many types of particles, including allergens, dirt, dust, pet dander and some biological contaminants. Many biological contaminants are smaller than 0.3 microns, so an air filter will not capture all of them. Mechanical air filters should be replaced every 3 months to remain effective.
Electronic Cleaners
There are two main types of electronic air cleaners:
- Ion Generators
- Electronic Precipitators
Each uses electricity to capture particles, but each does so in a different way.
Ion Generators
Ion generators disperse negative ions into the air. These ions attach themselves to particles in the air, and are then attracted to the different surfaces in your home, such as tables, walls and counter tops. The particle and negative ion attach to these surfaces and are removed when they are cleaned.
Electronic Precipitators
An electronic precipitator draw particles into it using a fan. Once inside the precipitator, the particles are charged in an ionization section. The newly-charged particles are attracted to oppositely-charged metal plates inside the precipitator, where they are captured. The plates need to be washed every 3 months in order to stay effective.
Air cleaners in Baldwin are an important part of healthy indoor air quality. If you want to know more about how any of these products can help you, call Boehmer Heating & Cooling and schedule a consultation with one of our indoor air quality experts.
Principles Behind UV Germicidal Lights
Tuesday, July 15th, 2014To combat some of the more serious problems that can affect your air ducts—bacteria, viruses, mold—you can use the power of UV germicidal lights. Normal cleaning and filtering methods will not effect most biological growths, but professional installation of UV lamps can clear out almost all these contaminants and provide you with healthier air.
If you think you have issues with microbacteria or mold growth inside your ventilation system, contact Boehmer Heating & Cooling today and talk to our indoor air quality specialists. They will help with setting up UV germicidal lights for your ventilation system that will protect you and your family from the dangers of biological pollutants.
How Do These Lights Help Clean My Home’s Air?
The principle behind UV germicidal lamps is that ultraviolet light sent out at short wavelengths is lethal to microorganisms. Any type of UV radiation is potentially damaging to organic material (this is why you are supposed to wear sunblock when exposed to the sun’s rays for long periods) but the specifics of ultraviolent germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is to target microorganisms and strip away their nuclei to disrupt their DNA. When this occurs, microorganisms cannot perform basic cellular functions and die. The radiation also prevents the organisms from spreading.
The man who discovered that UV lamps could be effective at stopping bacteria and viruses was Nils Finsen, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1903 for his pioneering work in combating skin tuberculosis using ultraviolet light. UV lamps soon became a standard part of sterilization in hospitals and later moved into food service. Now these lights can be installed inside your ductwork to kill bacteria that passes through the air after going through filtration, cleaning the air that enters your home without leaving any chemical residue. And even though UV radiation can pose a threat to human tissue, with proper professional installation of these lights in your ventilation system you will experience minimal exposure and should never encounter any health risks.
Keep in mind that UV germicidal lights only affect organic material. To eliminate dust and dirt and other non-organic particles that can contaminate indoor air, you must also have a filtration system, mechanical or electronic, installed in your ductwork.
Installing UV germicidal lights in Brentwood, PA may be the optimal solution to problems with your indoor air quality. Should you notice an increase in asthma- and allergy-like symptoms in your home, call for air quality experts to examine your ducts and determine if you will benefit from the sterilizing power of UV lamps. Boehmer Heating & Cooling has experts ready to assist you with finding the best solutions for cleaning your home’s air. Call us today to schedule your next service appointment.
How Air Purifiers Give You Better Indoor Air Quality
Friday, June 27th, 2014When it comes to improving the quality of a home’s indoor air, you have numerous options available: filters, cleaners, UV lights, humidifiers, and repair and cleaning services for your ductwork. One of the most effective ways to cleanse your air and eliminate the majority of pollutants that can lead to health issues is through an electronic air purifier. Working in conjunction with a HEPA filter, an air purifier can reduce the contamination in your indoor air to almost nothing.
Installing an air purifier in Baldwin, PA requires professionals to find the right model and size for you and fit it into your HVAC system correctly. You’ll find this kind of qualified work at Boehmer Heating & Cooling. Call us today to learn more about the choices you have for improving your indoor air quality.
How Air Purifiers Work
The standard HEPA mechanical filter removes 99.97% of particles down to 0.3 microns in size, and many ones smaller than that. However, they are not effective against odor molecules or gases—and this is where and electronic air purifier comes in.
An air purifier is not a filter at all. It instead sits in a section of an HVAC system where all outgoing air must pass and creates what is known as a corona discharge in the air. This electric discharge ionizes the air particles: it changes molecules with a positive charge to a negative charge, and those with a negative charge to a positive charge. Large particles—most types of contamination—attract electrons easier, and are therefore more likely to ionize.
The purifier then attracts the ionized particles toward two sets of plates. The negatively charged plate attracts positive ions, and the positively charged plate attracts negative ions. As the contaminants draw toward the plates, they collect together and grow heavier, dropping out of the air.
This method of ionization affects the same particles that a HEPA filter traps, but it also affects gases and odors. Air purifiers will eliminate chemicals, pesticides, carbon monoxide, and most odors from the air, all of which would escape even the best mechanical filters. Purifiers need an electrical connection to work, but only require a minimal amount of energy; you’ll save money in so many other ways that the cost to run the purifier will seem completely unimportant.
Air purifiers come in different sizes and types, and not all will work well for your home or HVAC system. Contact Boehmer Heating & Cooling and speak to our air quality experts, and they will help you locate the right air purifier in Baldwin, PA to give you the cleanest, pollution-free air possible. You can also count on us for the maintenance necessary to keep your purifier working year after year.
How Do UV Germicidal Lights Work?
Friday, June 6th, 2014Indoor air quality is a significant concern for any prudent homeowner, and if you have a recurring problem with dust or dirt in your home, you may want to add a filtration system to your air conditioning to help. UV lights, in particular, can be used to kill germs and bacteria, helping to keep members of your household comfortable and safe. They’re especially helpful if someone in your household suffers from allergies, if you have a new baby, or if there are elderly family members living in your home. Here in Baldwin, UV germicidal lights can be installed by a number of air conditioning services, but how do they work? We’ve provided a quick breakdown below.
UV stands for “ultraviolet,” a wavelength of light that lies outside of the range of human vision. We can’t see UV light, but it definitely puts the whammy on germs and bacteria. The UV wavelength deactivates their DNA, denying them the ability to replicate and spread. (More specifically, it damages the organism’s nucleic acid by forming new bonds in the DNA. Those bonds thus can’t be “unzipped” when the time comes for the organism to replicate, and it dies.)
The light is simply a lamp, containing mercury vapor tubes that produce the right wavelength of UV light. When you connect the light to your heating or air conditioning system, it’s able to cycle through most of the air in your house. As air passes through the system, it also passes through the light, which kills the germs before the air blows back into your house via a fan. As a result, your indoor air quality goes up and the preponderance of disease-causing germs goes down.
It’s an elegantly simple system and if you have concerns about germs or bacteria in your home, it could be a life saver. For more on how UV germicidal lights work or to schedule an installation, talk to the experts at Boehmer Heating & Cooling for help. Installing and servicing UV germicidal lights and other indoor air quality services in Baldwin are a regular part of our operations, and we can install an appropriate array in your HVAC system with little difficulty. Pick up the phone and give us a call today. You’ll be glad you did!
What Are the Benefits of a Whole-House Humidifier?
Friday, May 30th, 2014When people think of discomfort, “humidity” is one of the words that often springs to mind. A humid climate means your body feels hotter because sweat cannot evaporate rapidly enough to cool you off. However, low humidity is also a problem. Although a dry heat feels more comfortable, it can also cause serious troubles in your home and the health of everyone in it. If these dry conditions remain until winter, they will make the cold feel worse since the aridity will draw heat right from your body along with the moisture.
Although there are some basic ways to raise the humidity of your home if it is too dry, such as hanging wet towels over open windows and boiling water in the kitchen, the best way to achieve continued balanced humidity is with a whole-house humidifier installed into your HVAC system. A small, portable humidifier may work for one room (such as a baby’s bedroom), but isn’t an effective solution for a house that is suffering from low moisture throughout. To have installation of a humidifier in Whitehall, PA, contact the indoor air quality professionals at Boehmer Heating & Cooling today. We can find the ideal size and type of humidifier to protect you and your home all year.
Advantages of a Whole-House Humidifier
- Comfort: Air that becomes too dry will make you feel colder than the temperature around you because it will absorb the heat from your body. Although you may welcome this during hot weather, once the temperature drops, the chill of the dry air will make life feel unpleasant, and you’ll consequently need to run the heater to compensate. A humidifier can solve this discomfort and save you money on your heating bills. Balanced humidity will also remove much of the annoyance of static electricity.
- Better health: High moisture aids the growth of toxic molds and spores, but low moisture brings its own set of issues. Dry conditions are ideal for the survival of disease-causing bacteria, and flus and the common cold spread easier in regions of low humidity. This dryness is also terrible for skin and lips, leading to flaking, peeling, and even cracking, and also promotes sinus troubles and sleeping difficulty (this is one of the reasons humidifiers are popular for helping babies sleep). Installing a whole-house humidifier will combat these health problems.
- Protect your belongings: Dry conditions lead to damage to furnishings. Low humidity will cause wood to start to split, and this can wreck valuable furniture and lead to wood warping. Precision devices, such as musical instruments like woodwinds, guitars, and pianos, are especially susceptible to damage from low humidity. Other items in your home in danger are caulking and glue that help keep the heat seals around your windows and doors. With a humidifier, you’ll have a home safe from the damages of aridity.
Let our professionals at Boehmer Heating & Cooling analyze your home’s humidity levels to determine what sort of indoor air quality option in Whitehall, PA will best help you. Once they’ve determined the system and size necessary, they’ll install it so you can enjoy many years of improved health, higher comfort, and a well-maintained home. Give us a call today.