Most people don’t realize how much their indoor environment impacts their health until they experience these adverse effects. If you are experiencing allergies or asthma symptoms, a dirty HVAC system may be the cause, and you need HVAC services to repair it. A properly maintained HVAC system may be the most cost-effective way to improve environmental health and air quality. The system removes indoor contaminants, such as mold and dust mites, by circulating air through the building’s HVAC system and replacing it with fresh air outside the building. It also keeps the house at the correct temperatures depending on the season. There is just a brief overview of how your HVAC system can improve your health. Keep reading the article to learn more about this system’s benefits in your home.
What Is an HVAC System?
Do you want to know how your HVAC system can improve your health? An HVAC system comprises components that make up the central air conditioning or heating units. When you experience problems with your HVAC system, the odds are that the problem is not in your HVAC unit. It is usually an issue within the ductwork and/or registers, outdoor unit, or the indoor unit itself. Often problems only arise when more than one part of the HVAC system is not working correctly. An HVAC system can either be a split system or a packaged system.
The indoor unit consists of a furnace or air conditioner, blower, air filter, thermostat, and evaporator coil. The furnace or air conditioner is the heat source that uses electricity or gas to produce warmth in your home. The blower circulates the conditioned indoor air produced by the furnace or air conditioner through the ductwork throughout your home. The blower also supplies outside air to the evaporator coil. The air is cooled and circulated to your home via the return ductwork. The thermostat controls your home’s temperature relative to certain times of day and different seasons. A furnace inspection keeps it running.
Learning how your HVAC system can improve your health requires an understanding of its functioning. The ductwork distributes air from the furnace or air conditioner to every room in your home. Return ductwork removes air from the rooms of your home and brings it to the furnace or air conditioner for re-conditioning. The air filter collects airborne debris before it enters the ductwork, thereby minimizing the need for cleaning. Air conditioning is a more complicated process than heating, but it functions in much of the same way. It cools your house by removing heat from the inside rather than heating it. It also uses condensation to chill water to cool your home in place of a gas or electric heat system.
How an HVAC System Improves Health
If you want to learn how your HVAC system can improve your health, it’s best to know the dangers your home exposes you to. For instance, poor quality air puts you at the risk of developing respiratory-related health conditions. Unregulated temperatures also place people at the risk of developing various health conditions. Therefore, an HVAC works to eliminate the conditions that put people at risk of having health problems. A residential ac installation helps people eliminate these health risks by installing an HVAC system.
HVAC Provides Consistent Temperature
Temperature regulation is an essential part of maintaining optimum health. The most critical temperature you need to regulate is that of the air you breathe. An HVAC system will ensure your air remains within a specific range throughout the year. Room temperature control can also help prevent many conditions linked with extreme temperatures and humidity, such as asthma, infection, and bronchitis.
The way your system works is that the temperature of air changes as it moves throughout the house. You add energy to the system when you heat or cool air using a furnace or air conditioner. The energy dissipates as it moves throughout the system, and so changes in temperature in one room can affect others not nearby. These naturally occurring temperature changes are part of your home’s comfort and heating and cooling needs, but they also impact health. Comfortable temperatures are crucial to avoiding health issues. These temperature needs are different for everyone, but most people need a general range when it comes to their indoor environment.
An HVAC System Impacts Allergies and Asthma
While comfort is the primary concern of your HVAC system, if you have allergies or asthma, you may be dealing with an indoor environment that fails to meet your health needs. Allergies trigger the immune system, causing the body to break down tissues with allergens. When you are allergic to certain substances and are in contact with them, your body creates antibodies. In many cases, your immune system may overreact to a harmless substance and cause an excessive and sometimes dangerous reaction. If you want to prevent allergies, remove dust mites from your home. Regular vacuuming, steam cleaning carpets when possible, changing bedding often, and dusting can reduce dust mites in your home. Cleaning the ducts with a diluted bleach solution about once a year is also recommended.
An HVAC System Reduces Pollutants in the Air
Are you wondering how your HVAC system can improve your health? The air that moves throughout your house helps you breathe but also contributes to many health problems. That’s why keeping your home as clean as possible is essential. The air movement from the furnace or air conditioner can pull pollutants out of the air and into the ductwork while returning fresh air through registers, vents, and ductwork. The pollutants are removed from the ductwork by an air filter inside the furnace or air conditioner before distributing clean air throughout your home.
An HVAC system can help reduce the number of pollutants in your home and help reduce your exposure to them. When an HVAC system removes dirty air from the house, it reduces your chances of developing health conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory-related health issues. In addition to removing particulates from the air, your HVAC system may also be able to remove chemical contaminants such as formaldehyde and benzene from the air.
An HVAC System Regulates Humidity to Improve Health
Do you want to know how your HVAC system can improve your health? When humidity is too high in your home, it can cause problems such as mold and mildew to develop. You must keep indoor humidity low to prevent this. The air conditioner or furnace greatly affects indoor humidity levels, but the tightness of your house also plays a big part. When HVAC is supposed to work properly, it should ensure that the air distribution system you have is well ventilated and humidified. Such ensures that your home is well ventilated and you do not develop health issues from humidity.
Having your ductwork serviced regularly can prevent many health conditions from exposure to hazardous chemicals, dust, and mold spores. You can hire an HVAC contractor to inspect and clean the ducts in your home. Such is a great way of reducing contaminants in the air you breathe.
An HVAC Keeps You Comfortable
The main function of your HVAC system is to regulate temperature and humidity levels in your home so that you will always feel comfortable. If there’s a problem with your HVAC system, it can cause you to feel uncomfortable in your home and at risk of developing health conditions. The conditions that make people uncomfortable include extreme temperatures, high humidity, and air circulation problems. You rely on your home’s heating or cooling systems to create an ideal indoor environment all year round.
An HVAC system is a great way to keep your home free of contaminants and allergens that could trigger the onset of health conditions linked to the indoor environment. The air filters, cleaners, and humidifiers your system uses can remove particles such as dust, dirt, bacteria, and mold from the air. Such can help reduce your odds of experiencing adverse reactions to these substances and prevent you from developing illnesses like asthma.
When you live in a comfortable environment, you can have a healthier lifestyle and be more aware of your health needs. Easy access to information about your system and its components is also beneficial. Such will help you to make the best decisions for your HVAC installation, maintenance, and service needs.
Elements of an HVAC System
An HVAC system consists of several components located in the ductwork or plenum area. Among them are the furnace and air handler. They convert fuel into hot air circulated through the ductwork to heat or cool your home. The outdoor condensing unit (OCU) is an integral part of the HVAC system. As described above, it removes unwanted moisture from a room before returning it to the room as warm air.
The indoor air temperature in an ideal HVAC system should be 60°F to 68°F. However, when the outdoor temperature is above this range, the heat exchanger (also known as a fan coil) in the OCU may not be able to keep up with the demand for heat. When this happens, your furnace won’t be able to keep your home at a comfortable temperature. To compensate for low cooling capacity, you can manually bypass your cooling system and use it as a supplementary source for the home heating system.
The ductwork system in your home can also play an important role in the efficiency and effectiveness of your HVAC system. When you have a traditional furnace and air conditioner system, it can only work when installed in the right location. In most cases, this is the ceiling of your central air conditioning unit or a wall duct near the register that extracts stale air. Air conditioning repair is necessary to facilitate a smooth function of your HVAC system if you want to know how your HVAC system can improve your health.
The ductwork system can also affect the efficiency of an HVAC system because it determines how well fresh air gets distributed. You should ensure that your ducts are in good condition because they can impair the airflow of your HVAC system and reduce the amount of fresh air circulating through your home. A humidifier can prevent you from feeling too cold when the weather gets too cold because it increases the moisture in your home’s air. Such is important for keeping your furnace or air conditioner from working overtime.
The blower fan used to distribute warm or cool air through your home is another component of an HVAC system. Installing it at the highest point in your home to facilitates efficient air movement. This room should have adequate venting or airflow out of the system. The blower also has to blow air consistently and evenly. In most cases, a central vacuum is an HVAC system accessory. The vacuum connects to a hose that extends from your wall unit or ceiling grille within your HVAC area.
The last major component of an HVAC system is the thermostat. Such controls the temperature in your home and directs the flow of air from your furnace and air conditioner. Most thermostats are hooked up to your heating and cooling systems so that they can monitor their operations. In most cases, it can go into sleep mode when not used for energy conservation purposes. A heating contractor helps in keeping this system running.
How to Keep HVAC Working
If you want to know how your HVAC system can improve your health, ensure you keep it working all the time properly. The best way to achieve this is to organize regular HVAC maintenance. The local HVAC repair company has all the information needed to keep your system running. The maintenance schedule that they provide is important. It will show how often you need to change filters and air cleanings, how to check your condenser coils and blower motors, and how to connect and unplug the system for cleaning. Such will help the technicians to keep your system in working condition. It is also important that after these checks, the HVAC company check the indoor air quality. A professional will be great at diagnosing any problems with indoor air quality like mold, bacteria, dust mites, and even viruses.
Are you wondering how your HVAC system can improve your health? Maintaining your HVAC system is vital as it has a big impact on the health of your family. Talk to an expert if you want to learn more about how an HVAC system can improve your health. Once your HVAC is in good condition, you can be assured of good health while in the house. You only need a heating and air conditioning maintenance service to keep your HVAC running.