Indoor Air Quality Santa Rosa, CA

The Short Read – Residential IAQ Summary of What You Need

1. The starting point is a good electrically efficient heating and cooling system that has clean well-sealed ductwork. (ECM motors to run the fan many hours a day – less duct leakage to prevent constantly sucking pollutants into your air system and house)
2. Good cleanable or replaceable filtration down to 1 to 0.3 microns
3. Air purification or sterilization to take care of the gaseous pollutants in your home.
4. Monitoring of the effectiveness of your Santa Rosa IAQ system.

There are two main sources of pollutants – particles and gases. The dust is visible in the air when the sunlight hits it is in the range of 100 microns. Large particles settle as dust. Below 10 microns particles float in the air longer. Below 2.5 microns particles infiltrate the body through the lungs and can get into your bloodstream. Gases are tiny by micron standards. Gases are in the range of 0.0001 microns and are not effectively eliminated by filtration.

• Particulate matter – dust particles, pollens
• Biological contaminants – bacteria, viruses, animal dander, mites, rodent or insect droppings, mold.
• Building materials – older homes contain asbestos and lead. Newer homes contain chemicals and materials that outgas. (VOC’s)
• Fuel burning appliances – can produce Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Dioxide NO2
• Cleaning products and chemicals also contaminate the air we breathe.

In the Santa Rosa HVAC industry, we often joke that the standard one-inch fiberglass hardware store filter can stop golf balls. The effectiveness of air filters varies greatly. Paper or media filters are good for trapping particles. However, they do not purify or sterilize the air. Filters have a Merv rating as to how fine a particle they can filter out of the air.

• 1” Fiberglass filter Merv 2/3 – effective to 10 microns – dust, pollen
• 1” paper pleated  Merv 8/10 – effective to 3 to 10 microns – dust, pollen
• Mold, lead dust.4” paper pleated Merv 11/13 – effective to dust, pollens, dust mites, bacteria, lead, pet dander 1 to 3 microns
• HEPA pleated filter (8” to 12” thick) Merv  17/20 – 99.97% efficient removal of particulates – requires a special HVAC system as the filter is too resistive for a normal system fan. 0.3 microns
• For filtration to be effective we need large thick filters which need to be changed regularly.

• Electronic Air Cleaners
  • Air passes through charged plates or media. The charged plates ionize the air.  There is often a prefilter which needs to be replaced regularly’ Different Manufacturers charge the wires differently, either negative or a positive charge. After the charged ionizing wires there are collector plates with an opposite electrical charge as the ionizing wires. Furthermore, the particles are given an opposite charge at the collector plates, which causes the particles to be automatically attracted to the oppositely charged collector plates. Lastly, some manufacturers claim that their electronic air cleaners filter particles down to one micron. The Respicaire Microclean 95 claims to be 95% efficient and effective down to 0.3 microns in a 1” thick filter (this is a very popular electronic air cleaner).
• Air Purification
  • Air purification is the process of sanitizing the air by neutralizing airborne toxins (gases and off-gassing, bacteria, viral or fungal matter, toxic pathogens, etc.). Air purification uses a different method than an air filter to purify the air of toxins. Beyond filtration and the removal of particles, a residence needs some type of air purifier added to the air system to neutralize toxins, bacteria, viruses, etc.
    • This includes Air Scrubbers (trade name) Ultraviolet sterilizers, Air Purifiers, Ozone generators. Air purifiers are typically portable and used in one room. Air Scrubbers install in your Santa Rosa HVAC system continually scrubbing the air as it circulates. Ozone is less popular today as it can have harmful effects on the body.
• Atomic Theory:
  • An atom is neutral if it has equal numbers of protons and electrons.
  • If we use a purifier/ sanitizer we unbalance the atom through ionization. When an atom has extra electrons, the atom is a negative ion. An atom will always seek to be neutral. So, when an atom is ionized, it will seek out another ion to bond with to become a stable and happy atom. It will seek contaminants to bond with to balance itself.

There are many ways to improve your indoor air quality in Santa Rosa, CA & across Marin & Sonoma counties.

• We can help you install a high-efficiency air filter on your furnace. These come with varying levels of filtration and we’ll help you get one that will get more of the dust and particulates out of your air without overtaxing your furnace.
• Raising or lowering the humidity levels in your home can also improve the quality of the air you’re breathing. We can help you install a whole-home humidifier or dehumidifier that will do this so you won’t have to think about it.

Other whole-home filtration units are also available.

We will work with you to help you get the solution that best fits your needs. Contact us at John Owens Services today and ask about indoor air quality in Santa Rosa, CA. We’ll be there soon to help you get the solutions you need so you can breathe better at home!

The only true way to know how good or bad your air quality is to use an Indoor Air Quality Meter. The layperson should see less dust, less allergies, health issues, and a general improvement in the air quality.

We use IAQ meters to pretest your air before we install air cleaning equipment and use the meters to quantify the results