The concept of Indoor Air Quality systems has become increasingly popular as they claim to provide a healthy and comfortable environment inside your home. High quality IAQ products are especially beneficial to those suffering from allergies and asthma. However, recent reports indicate that certain IAQ products can actually cause harm to you.

This is especially true in the case of some air purifiers that claim to clean the air, but do precious little, and in fact even lead to dangerous levels of ozone inside your home or office. Don’t forget that a large concentration of ozone can cause severe respiratory failure. And if you have plants in the room in which you have placed the purifier, then chances are that they will wilt after being exposed to the ozone.

Electrostatic filters are marketed heavily these days. But they can have a serious impact on air flow in the area where they are installed. They can lead to a serious pressure drop and cause air shortage at the end of a duct. These filters not only reduce the quality of the air and your comfort, they can also have a negative effect on your cooling or heating system.

That is why before you invest in an IAQ product, you should make sure that you understand how the product actually works. Don’t go by tall claims made by the manufacturer. Do some online research or take help from an expert so that you get all the benefits that you seek from the system.

What You Need to Know About Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps

Air conditioners and heat pumps keep your home cool in summers, but there are a lot o important facts about these appliances that most people are unaware of. Here is some information about these products that might influence your purchase decision.

R22 Freon Phaseout from Air Conditioners

When buying a new air conditioner, you can now only go for those which use Puron as a refrigerant instead of R22 Freon, which was commonly used before 2010. R22 Freon is harmful to the ozone layer and it has been banned from use in new air conditioners from 2010.

If you already own an air conditioner that uses R22 Freon then you will still be able to get the refrigerant from the market for service or repair purposes. But you should know that as more and more companies will shut down production of R22 Freon, its prices could shoot up. So if your air conditioning system is old and in need of repair then it might be a good idea to replace it with a Puron based system, instead of prolonging your use of R22 Freon.

Heat Pumps – Go for a Hybrid Product

Heat pumps are special appliances that have the dual benefit of providing heat in winters and cooling in summers. The system is able to do it through reversal of flow of refrigerants. In heating mode, the heat pump transfers heat from outside air to inside air and in cooling mode it takes heat from inside to outside.

The problem is that electricity based heat pumps work only till temperatures of -5°C. If the temperature goes further down, then you need to switch to a furnace. With Hybrid Heat systems, this problem is solved by automatically switching to the furnace mode when temperature falls below -5°C.

Such a hybrid heating system is not dependant on one type of fuel – either electricity or gas. They ensure that you can deal with a sudden increase in price of one type of fuel. There are many highly efficient and affordable Hybrid Heat products in the market that you can choose from. One of the best options that you have is the Bryant 18 SEER Evolution Heat Pump.

Another advantage with using Hybrid Heat systems is that some utility companies provide financial incentives for using them. You can avail loans and rebates on purchase of high efficiency heat pumps.

Dust and other pollutants gather in the air ducts and furnace in our homes, especially during the time they aren’t being used. Once the winter months near and you kick your furnace up again, these pollutants are released into the air and circulate throughout your home while your furnace produces even more pollutants as it works hard to keep your home pleasantly warm in the cold months.

Most people believe that adding a plain disposable sir filter to the furnace solves this problem. In reality, these disposable filters do close to nothing, as they only manage to trap some 10% of the pollutants coming out of the air from your furnace and almost none of the pollutants that are already circulating through your home.

Clearview Plumbing and Heating does regular assessments of the air quality in our clients’ homes and we recommend installing highly efficient electronic air cleaners that are up to 95% efficient in cleaning the air coming from your furnace.