By J.C. Carroll
(NC)-You can measure your home's indoor air quality by logging on to www.myIAQ.ca.
It's a valuable tool since dirty air particles cannot be seen by the human eye-and perhaps even more alarming is that the air inside, according to Health Canada, can be six to 10 times more polluted than the outdoor air of some cities.
If you live or work in a major city you are already exposed to enough pollution so it's unsettling to think it might be worse inside. Breathing harmful particles and chemicals puts a tremendous amount of stress on our bodies, but at least in our homes this is something we can control.
What is air pollution?
Air pollution can be divided into three categories: particulates, biological pollutants and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Particulates include oil and gas emissions, pollen, dust mites, pet dander, cigarette smoke and more. Biological pollutants are materials, living or dead like bacteria, viruses, mould, spores and fungi. VOCs come from the gas state of chemicals such as paint, glue, plastic, grooming products and cleaning aids.
If members of your family suffer from allergies, headaches, respiratory ailments, or eye, nose and throat irritations to name just a few symptoms, the MyIAQ.ca website can help pinpoint source. From the home page, click on Test Your IAQ, answer the questions, and assess the weak and strong points of your home. Target problems include the frequency of vacuuming, dust busting, furnace inspections, humidity, chemical removal, duct cleaning, dryer maintenance and more.
"Without doubt, the most important step you can take in a home where respiratory health is essential, is to install a central air filtration system," says Andres Lelarge at Electrolux, a leader in the advancement of home care products. "Our newest system by Frigidaire, employs a three-stage filtration process to virtually eliminate harmful airborne particles, chemicals, and biological contaminants. It includes: a pre-filter to trap large particulates; plus the internationally acclaimed HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air filter) to capture no less than 99.97 percent of microscopic biological materials such as bacteria, viruses, mould spores and fungi; plus an inner carbon filter to stop volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from household chemicals, cleaning aids and other fumes. Once installed into existing air ducts, this technology takes a portion of air from the cold air return, cleans it through the filter system, and puts it back in the cold air return.
Credit: www.newscanada.com