March 4, 2025

How Spring Pollen Affects Indoor Air Quality and Your HVAC System

Spring brings warmer temperatures and blooming flowers, but it also comes with an increase in pollen levels. If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you know how frustrating pollen can be. What you may not realize is that pollen doesn’t just affect outdoor air—it can also impact your indoor air quality. Once pollen enters your home, it circulates through your HVAC system, leading to allergy symptoms, reduced system efficiency, and poor air quality. How Pollen Enters Your Home Pollen particles are incredibly small and can easily find their way inside. They enter through open windows, doors, and even on clothing and shoes. Your HVAC system, which continuously circulates air, can pull in these allergens and spread them throughout your home. Without proper filtration and maintenance, pollen can accumulate in your ductwork, vents, and air filters, worsening allergy symptoms and affecting overall comfort. The Role of Your HVAC System in Indoor Air Quality Your HVAC system plays a crucial role in maintaining clean indoor air. When functioning properly, it helps filter out allergens, including pollen. However, if your filters are dirty or your system isn’t well-maintained, pollen and other airborne particles can build up, reducing efficiency and making allergy symptoms worse. That’s...

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January 14, 2025

Understanding the Impact of Humidity on Heating Efficiency in Illinois Winters

During the chilly Illinois winters, maintaining a warm and comfortable home is a top priority. However, many homeowners may not realize that humidity levels play a significant role in heating efficiency. Understanding this relationship can help you create a cozier indoor environment while optimizing energy use. How Humidity Affects Perceived Warmth Humidity refers to the amount of moisture in the air, and it directly influences how warm or cold a space feels. During winter, air tends to be drier. Indoor air loses even more moisture due to the use of heating systems. This dryness can make your home feel cooler than it actually is, prompting you to increase the thermostat setting. Higher humidity levels, on the other hand, help retain warmth by making the air feel more comfortable. When humidity is balanced, you may find that you don’t need to crank up the heat as much, which can save on energy costs. The Role of Your HVAC System Your HVAC system works hard to keep your home warm, but it can also inadvertently strip moisture from the air. A lack of humidity can lead to dry skin, irritated sinuses, and static electricity. More importantly, it may reduce the heating system’s...

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August 16, 2021

Why Is My AC Creating So Much Humidity?

An effective air conditioner is a necessity for hot summers. However, humidity caused by AC units is a major problem for homeowners. Many people who purchase a cooling system expect humidity levels to naturally be controlled by the stabilizing of air temperature. But, many AC units simply can’t achieve this. An AC unit’s main function is to absorb heat from the indoors and transport it outside, naturally lowering the indoor air temperature. An air conditioner draws moisture from the air when it pulls thermal energy to its evaporator coils. Water that condenses around the coils because of this is ultimately pumped out through a drain upon being collected by the AC unit’s fan. In this way, the air conditioner actually acts as a dehumidifier. It’s usually when this process isn’t working correctly that humidity becomes a problem. Reasons Your AC’s Natural Dehumidification Process Might Be Malfunctioning The first thing to check when trying to determine why your air conditioning system is making your house so humid is whether or not the evaporator coils are frozen. If the coils are covered in frost, they not only can’t cool the air efficiently, but they also can’t dehumidify the air. This causes your...

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October 17, 2019

What is Balanced Ventilation?

If your home in Granite City, IL, is tightly sealed against the elements, the air inside could be 10 times as polluted as the air outside. It’s a tough problem because tightly sealing the home is important for reducing energy costs. On the other hand, ventilation is important to filter the air. HVAC systems that are entirely reliant on either supply ventilation or exhaust ventilation are limited in their ability to clean the air, and they may cause pressure imbalances. This is where balanced ventilation comes in. What is Balanced Ventilation? To avoid the problems of in-home pressure changes, a balanced ventilation system brings outdoor air in at the same rate that it removes indoor air. If it is set up and has had the proper maintenance, a balanced ventilation system neither increases nor reduces the pressure inside the home. The ventilation in the home is thus not dependent on natural ventilation to clean the air. Separating Temperature and Ventilation Controls One thing that throws a ventilation system off balance is using the same ventilation ducts for ventilation as are used for cooling and heating. In order for there to be pressure balance throughout the home at the same time...

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July 17, 2019

Importance of Maintaining Good Indoor Air Quality During the Summer

Most people spend a significant amount of time indoors during the summer season to escape the high temperatures outside. Although the interior setting may offer comfort, it can also expose residents to poor air quality. Between the various contaminants and pollutants, it can be challenging to breathe ease while spending time inside. Here are a few of the top reasons it’s crucial to maintain your indoor air quality in the summer. 1. Avoid Allergies The summer season is often allergy season, as pollen is active in the environment. Outside air can get into buildings, creating an uncomfortable situation for allergy sufferers. With clean air in the building, it can help you to avoid sneezing, wheezing, and an increase in mucus production. You’ll feel more like yourself and prevent reactions to common allergens by replacing the air filter on your air conditioner and keeping the windows closed. 2. Maintain a Cleaner Interior Setting The air quality in the home has a significant impact on the cleanliness of the interior setting. If dust and particles are present in the air and are circulating, then it will cause different surfaces in the building to become dirtier, which will require cleaning more. Cleaner air...

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May 22, 2019

Why Indoor Air Quality Matters

Indoor air quality matters because many people spend most of their time indoors. The air inside your home may be more harmful to your health than the air outside. Three of the main reasons you should maintain great indoor air quality include improving your health, avoiding triggering allergies, and making cleaning easier. Improves Your Health Indoor air pollutants can cause eye irritation, headaches, and fatigue. They may be the reason why you or someone in your family hasn’t been feeling well or why you often don’t feel well. Some types of indoor pollutants cause cancer and other long-term health problems. Carbon monoxide and nitrogen monoxide are two examples of hazardous indoor pollutants. Fuel-burning appliances that don’t have proper ventilation can contaminate your house with carbon monoxide and nitrogen monoxide. Carbon monoxide is an odorless gas that’s difficult to detect without technology, and inhaling too much of it is deadly. Avoids Triggering Allergies Poor air quality can trigger allergies because allergens build up inside the home where they can’t easily escape. We recommend that anyone who has allergies use an air purifier to eliminate some of these allergens from his or her indoor air. Staying on top of changing your HVAC...

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May 30, 2018

How Do I Improve My Air Quality?

Considering that many of us spend some quality amount of time at home, we often overlook the quality of the air we inhale. We tend to think that pollution only occurs outside: ozone, gases from industries, smog from cars or burning substances. The quality of the air we breathe can make us vulnerable to health conditions such as asthma, allergies, and other respiratory conditions. Did you know that air conditioners are among the best ventilators? Windows, doors and HVAC systems greatly improve air quality. Below are some of the things to do to improve on air quality with an HVAC system: 1. Cleaning the System Vacuum all your vents to get rid of debris, dander, and allergens. Clean up any dust that might be accumulating too close to the system, which can pose a threat to airflow. You can also clean the system to remove more debris by spraying it down using a garden hose. This kind of cleaning is mainly seasonal and therefore you should have your ductwork done by a professional HVAC company. 2. Proper Ventilation This is the main and most efficient way of improving air quality in your home. Opening doors and windows, running an air...

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