Category: Indoor Air Quality

You may not think of the humidity in your home as an important thing, but you will be surprised at all the wonderful benefits of an inline humidifier for you and your home. If you have chronic colds or creaking furniture this could be a big help in relieving symptoms for you and your house. The air in your home has a humidity level and there are good levels and bad levels. You do not want too much or too little. You want it, as Goldilocks would say, “just right”.  You should try and keep the humidity level in your home between 30-50%.
How an inline humidifier works:
An inline humidifier attaches to your HVAC system and injects vapor into the air. As it passes through the vents, it regulates the humidity levels in your home. There are sensors that detect the humidity just like a thermostat measures temperature. When the levels get too low, the humidifier kicks in and adds much-needed moisture to the air and helps raise the overall levels of the whole home. Why is this so important? There are not only benefits for the possessions in your home, but there are benefits to your overall health.
Here is a list of benefits of proper humidity levels:

• Helps minimize nose bleeds
• Helps with chronic dry skin issues
• Helps with seasonal dry skin issues
• Helps protect wood furniture and musical instruments
• Helps prevent painted surfaces from becoming brittle
• Helps soothe throat and nasal cavity during flu and cold spells
• Helps asthma symptoms if kept at the right level (consult your physician)
• Helps reduce static electricity

Some of the benefits may be shocking, except for the reduction of static electricity, which literally reduces shocking. Static electricity can be a small inconvenience for the person who regularly gets shocked when touching metal objects or other people, but it can be very harmful to your electronics. An article from PCWORLD said, it’s entirely possible that you’ll open up your PC, plug in an add-in card or some RAM, never have any sensation of static, and still have zapped the electronics. That’s because the integrated circuits can be damaged or destroyed by static voltages as low as 400 volts. Long story short, wear rubber gloves when you are working on your electronic equipment. Better yet, have an inline humidifier installed by VanKleef Heating and Air Conditioning and start enjoying the benefits of proper humidified air. Call us with your questions, that’s what were here for. 812-280-0510

During the winter in our area, you should already be using your whole house humidifier. Many humidifiers have automatic controls that vary the humidity setting with your indoor temperature setting and the outdoor temperature. What if you don’t have an automatic control? Where should you set the humidistat? Why does it matter?
If the humidity is set too high, you’ll cause sweating on the windows. This is especially true in older homes with windows that aren’t thermally efficient. Sweating windows will cause the wood sills to rot. The same will happen around doors. Plus, a setting too high is an energy and water waste.
Low humidity levels can lead to a long list of issues. Your nasal passages and throat will become irritated. And you may notice members of the household snoring increases. Low humidity levels also have negative consequences for your home. Low humidity levels causes the structure to contract. Doors don’t shut quite right. Windows will leak more. Low humidity levels also promote the spread of germs. Recent studies have found that low humidity levels increase the longevity of flu virus in the air (ABC News).
So, where do you set it? Humans are most comfortable with humidity levels between 35% and 50% in the winter. This amount of moisture in the air will keep your nasal passages moist as well as our skin. It also keeps static discharge from occurring when you walk across the carpet and enough moisture in your furniture and structure to protect them.
Don’t have a humidifier? Give us a call at (812) 280-0510. We’ll be more than happy to provide a proposal for a new humidifier.

While you might be thinking about finding a Southern Indiana or Louisville area Air Conditioning Repair Shop to get ready for the spring and summer season, new seasons also get us thinking about other home maintenance issues.
Did you know that carbon dioxide in normal amounts is an odorless, colorless, tasteless, gas that is naturally emitted by plants, animals, and humans? It’s common in the functioning of every day life. Unfortunately, at higher levels, this gas can be toxic.
When carbon dioxide seeps through doors and windows from the outside and becomes trapped inside, the gas cannot dissipate. Instead, the gas rises to higher levels of toxicity and affects every day functioning, which can produce a poisonous, deadly outcome.
The problem we face is that most people are not aware of the side effects of carbon dioxide poisoning and mistake them for common health problems like fatigue, the flu, and high blood pressure. Muscle twitching and headaches may be brushed off as a common occurrence, but as carbon dioxide reaches higher, more deadly levels, nausea and dizziness become overwhelming and eventually muscle twitching and asphyxiation can occur, resulting in death. As carbon dioxide increases, oxygen decreases, hampering proper flow to your brain, which eventually becomes fatal.
Although carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring gas, it can be unnaturally present due to excessive levels emitted from stoves, space heaters, clothes dryers, or improperly vented fireplace flues.
To guard against this deadly gas:

• Make sure all gas-burning appliances are properly ventilated
• Keep gas levels regulated and checked
• Use a mechanically ventilated system for exhaust
• Regularly test CO2 levels and have anything excessive flushed out

Home testing can be done in a couple of different ways. You can buy a kit at your local home improvement store that assesses carbon dioxide levels and allows you to instantly know the results so that they can be promptly rectified. Certified home inspectors are properly trained to detect this type of danger and are worth the investment for peace of mind.
Although carbon dioxide makes up only 1% of our atmosphere, it can account for 100% of family disaster if not properly and promptly addressed and treated. VanKleef Heating and Air Conditioning repair professionals, in Southern Indiana and the Louisville Kentucky area can help you keep your home safe from disaster. (812) 280-0510

I was recently asked on a Google+ discussion if you should turn your air conditioner OFF when gone. Plenty of room for disagreement even among the professionals. When taking a purely energy conservation viewpoint, you’ll definitely save when using setback periods. However, we buy these HVAC systems for comfort. How comfortable is an 80*F home after climbing from your 65*F car and the 50*F vents blowing on you during your commute? Not really comfortable.

There’s a simple solution to help – a programmable thermostat with dehumidification capabilities. Research shows use that humans are most comfortable when the humidity is 40-60% and the indoor temperature is 68-78*F. A home at 78*F and 50% humidity has the same comfort feel to most people as a home at 70*F and 60% humidity.
What about dehumidification? Let’s consider the function of an HVAC system in cooling mode. It’s purpose is to cool and remove moisture. If you’re in a deep setup, then the AC won’t be running. If it’s not running, then it’s not removing moisture. So, the programmable thermostats can also dehumidify. They do this by cycling the system for 10 minute periods when there is no active call for cooling.
With that, I recommend a setback similar to the EPA (Energy Star):http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.showProductGroup&pgw_code=TH and http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=thermostats.pr_thermostats_guidelines.
Keys to the savings: setback period should be at least ten hours and 7*F (heating) and 4*F (cooling). Read the footnote on the second link.
 

When repairing or installing new furnaces, I’m often asked about dry air in the winter. Many people associate dry air with running the furnace or heat pump. Neither type of heating system removes moisture from the air. The air is simply heated as it passes through the equipment. There is no change in moisture content.

The dry air in the home is caused by infiltration (Wiki Definition) of outside winter air. During the winter months, there are typically two causes of infiltration: prevailing wind and stack effect. Winter months are typically accompanied by a prevailing wind that pushes cold dry air into the cracks of your home. Stack effect (hot air rising) also causes dry cold air to be drawn into the lower areas of your home. Older homes or poorly constructed new homes are more susceptible to both phenomena.

What can you do to prevent this infiltration? Seal your home. There are many different places that your home can be sealed. Energy Star website has a great DIY article on sealing home leaks.
If you have taken the steps to seal your home and it is still too dry, you can add a humidifier. For years, people, clean, and fill portable humidifiers. Bleh. What pain! We can install a steam humidifier by Honeywell. Humidity can be comfortable in the home twenty-four hours a day with no hassle of the portable humidifier.

If you’d like further information, please give us a call at 812-280-0510 VanKleef Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc.