SafeHome Filters Offers Tips For Healthier Home Air This Winter
Main Category: Public HealthAlso Included In: Allergy; Respiratory / Asthma
Article Date: 24 Oct 2007 - 4:00 PDT
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Closing up a home for winter weather can make allergies and asthma worse, due to sealing in aggravating indoor air pollutants. Indoor air pollution poses a greater health risk than air pollution found outdoors. Dangerous gases such as formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) come from items like furniture, carpet and building materials.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently ranked indoor air quality among the top five greatest threats to public health. Based on recommendations from the EPA, SafeHome Filters has developed a list of tips for a healthier home.
1. Store pesticides, paints, glues, and other chemicals outside the home.
2. Make sure the home is well ventilated when painting or using cleaning agents.
3. Use high quality chemical and allergen filters in your heating and air conditioning system.
4. When pollen, dust and pollutants such as ozone are present outdoors, keep your home sealed and use your air system to filter air in your home.
5. A solution of equal parts vinegar and water is safer and, in many cases, more effective than common cleaning agents.
6. Don't smoke! If you must, smoke only outside and away from windows; change clothes before interacting with children.
7. Burn unscented soy candles as an alternative to scented paraffin candles.
8. Choose wool carpet over carpet made of synthetic material. The natural fibers in wool carpeting off-gas significantly less than synthetic fibers.
9. Use only natural or zero VOC paint inside the home. Paints and finishes can release VOC emissions for years after application.
10. Choose furniture and cabinetry made from wood, not composite wood materials such as particle board. Formaldehyde is commonly used as an adhesive in composite wood, and is a known carcinogen.
SafeHome Filters offers safe, easy and highly-effective solutions for removing hazardous gases, odors and allergens from indoor air. By reengineering the same chemical pollution filters used to protect top-tier operating rooms and major airports, SafeHome Filters work with existing home air systems to purify air throughout the home. Because not all air systems are the same, solutions are specialized for different filter locations. SafeHome Filters offers additional indoor air quality information on their website http://www.safehomefilters.com.
Visit our public health section for the latest news on this subject.
MLA
15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/86518.php>
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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/86518.php.
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Home Filters For Home Air Quality
posted by Anon on 29 Oct 2007 at 9:05 amWe have always had pure wood cabinets in our home, but on the last move our home has particle board cabinets which are not as strong as pure wood. For instance in the bottom cabinet in the kitchen broke where I keep my cast iron skillets, my husband built up with pure wood-no more holes. I now have weekly migraine headaches that sometimes last several days, could particle boad play a role in my headaches and alergies? I buy filters rated Merve 8 for our natural gas furnace and electric air conditioning forced air. There is wall to wall nylon carpeting in most rooms with vinyl in bath rooms, den-kitchen, utility room. I am under medical care for allergies and migraine headaches.
Migraines And Cabinents
posted by Sam on 31 Oct 2007 at 7:32 pmMost composite wood products (CWP) such as particle board often used in cabinets have urea-formaldehyde resins which release formaldehyde. This could play a role in your headaches. This has become large enough of a problem that California is phasing out sales of any CWPs using formaldehyde by 2012. Most cabinet makers around the country are scrambling to figure out what to do because this legislation is likely spreading to other states, starting with NY and MA.
You are taking a good step by using a MERV 8 filter, but gases like formaldehyde pass through even MERV 16 HEPA filters. Gas phase filtration is completely different. Carbon/charcoal is good for many gases, but misses many chemicals like formaldehyde or ammonia. These require more powerful chemisorbants, typically using potassium permanganate as a base. A blend of this and carbon will address most hazardous gases.
By the way, many MERV 8 filters will result in lower particle concentrations than MERV 12 filters because they allow more air to flow through, resulting in more air being purified in a given amount of time. A MERV 12 filter will take more particles out each time air passes through, but if air is recirculated more quickly using a MERV 8 filter, your net result is better. Taking this to an extreme, you can stop 100% of particles using a sheet of plastic as a filter, but your indoor air quality is going to suffer.
Another important thing to consider is how air tight your home is. The tighter your home, the less opportunity that gases released from everyday products (such as many cleaning agents, carpet, paint or CWPs used in cabinets and other products) can escape. In a very well insulated homes, these gases will simply recirculate and build in concentration. Your options with this are either increase circulation with something like and ERV (energy recovery ventilator) or using something like SafeHome Filters or UV-PCO to reduce gases.
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