Newspaper
Clean Indoor air, breathe more easily.
The Arizona Republic
If you think breathing the hot summer air is bad for you, consider this: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the quality of indoor air can be up to five times worse.Luckily,you can improve the quality of your home’s air, a move that will help your family breathe easier, especially if anyone has allergies or asthma.First thing’s first: Replace your air conditioner’s filter. If you’re like 85 percent of Americans, you’re relying on a cheap, spun-fiberglass filter to trap dust,dirt, pollen, pet dander, mold spores and bacteria so it won’t get into your air conditioning system and fly around in the air your family breathes.
It’s not working.
Upgrade to a one-inch, pleated air filter that costs around $5. It looks like cloth on the outside, but the pleats contain fibers that catch at least some of the allergy-causing smoke and dust before your air conditioning system can suck it in and recirculate it. At the same time, the pleated filter allows enough air to get through so your system can operate properly.
Change it every month, even if the instructions on the package say you canuse it for 90 days. Our dry, dusty air can clog a filter quicker than in the milderareas those directions were written for. A tip: Every time you pay your electric bill, change your filter.
If you want to improve your indoor air quality even more, ask your HVAC service technician about a high-efficiency filter, especially if you’re replacing your air conditioning system this year. The $60 filter is four or five inches thick and needs changing only once a year.
They don’t fit every air conditioning system, so don’t buy one on your own. Consult with a pro, who can install it for you if it looks like it’s compatible with your home.
Next step: a HEPA air cleaner for rooms you want to keep extra-clean. Before you buy one, do some comparison shopping, not only for price, but for quality. Some of these devices have gotten panned by Consumer Reports and others. Likewise, some single-room ionizing devices are no more effective that those throwaway fiberglass filters.
For best results, invest in an electronic, whole-house air cleaner that attaches to your central air conditioning and heating system and filters the air in every room as your system cools it off. Electronic air cleaners electronically charge airborne particles and trap them like a magnet so they don’t drift through the air your family breathes.
Whole-house air cleaners range in price from a few hundred dollars to more than $1,500, and you generally get more quality as the price goes up. Manufacturers of the latest generation of products claim they capture up to 99 percent of some allergens. An example: TRANE says its Clean Effects air cleaner can remove up to 99.98 percent of all particles,including dust, pollen, bacteria, pet dander, mold spores and even smoke.Likewise, American Standard says its Accu Clean can filter out 99 percent of the flu virus from your home’s air.
Romero has been in the Arizona home-building and remodeling industry for 35 years. He has a radio program from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturdays on KTAR-FM (92.3) in the Valley, from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KNST-AM (790) in Tucson, and from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturdays on KAZM-AM (780) in northern Arizona. For more do-it-yourself tips, go to rosieonthehouse.com.
###
