How Winter Affects Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality (And How to Maintain It)

While there are many common indoor air problems that can affect your home all year, winter can be a particularly difficult time to maintain healthy indoor air. Don’t let cold temperatures and these common winter activities affect you and your family. Here are a few tips for improving your indoor air quality this winter.

Winter Activities and Factors That Affect Air Quality

As healthy air experts, the team at RSC understands common winter activities that can reduce your overall home air quality. Poor indoor air quality can lead to health risks and increased energy costs. Here are some specific winter activities that can reduce the overall quality of your home’s air:

• Closed windows: Fresh air is key to maintaining indoor air quality. Closing all your windows during the winter can trap allergens and other air contaminants in your home.
• Burning candles: While candles create a cozy indoor environment with warm flickering light and pleasant odors, they also pollute your indoor air. Many homeowners that burn candles experience soot streaking on the ceilings and walls that typically follow the wall studs and trusses. This is the airborne soot that clings to the cold surface where the wood comes into contact with your drywall. Keep in mind that while the soot is airborne, it is likely you are breathing it into your lungs.
• Burning firewood: Indoor fireplaces, coal stoves, and pellet stoves can be great ways to reduce your winter heating utility costs. However, the need for outdoor combustion air leads to uncontrolled infiltration and creates a very dry indoor environment. The dry air leads to cracked and dry skin, dry nasal passages, and dry eyes. This leaves you more vulnerable to cold and flu because your bloodstream is more easily accessed by airborne invaders.
• Temperature inversion: Temperature fluctuations and layers of warm air can trap harmful pollutants in your home’s air. Wood fires can increase this issue, but any home can experience additional pollutants in the air due to temperature inversion in winter.

How to Maintain Your Indoor Air Quality

Fortunately, there are many ways to maintain your home’s air quality. Some of these steps are easy to complete on your own, while others require a professional HVAC team to assist you. Use these tips to improve your health and heating efficiency this winter:

• Install a humidifier: Dry winter air can aggravate allergies and encourage asthma attacks. Installing a humidifier is an easy step to introduce more moisture into your home this winter.
• Replace your HVAC filter: If you have a forced air furnace or another heating system, you should have an air filter to protect your home from air pollutants. Check how often you need to replace your furnace filter and consider replacing it more frequently this winter.
• Keep your home clean: Spring may be the most popular time to thoroughly clean your home. However, you should try to keep your home free from dust and dirt during the winter. Dust in your home is stirred up from your forced air system and affects your indoor air.
• Schedule a service checkup: A professional HVAC technician can inspect your home and your HVAC system for specific causes of reduced air purity in your home.

Improve Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality Today

Winter can have a noticeable impact on your home’s indoor air quality. The dry air can cause health issues and reduce the efficiency of your heating and cooling system. Be wary of these dangers to your family’s health and take steps to maintain your home’s air quality this winter.

If you need help maintaining or improving your home’s air quality, the team at RSC Heating & Air Conditioning is here for you. Our highly skilled HVAC technicians help Pennsylvania homeowners identify threats to their air quality and provide effective solutions. Call (717) 299-3914 or request service today to protect your home and your family this winter.