With the COVID-19 pandemic on everyone’s minds, we want to ensure the health of your home or office. There are more steps to take besides washing our hands, practicing social distancing, cleaning surfaces, and removing clothing that may have come in contact with the “outside world”. A quick note on cleaning. DO NOT mix cleaning products. Highly toxic fumes can result from combining bleach with ammonia, or vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. Please reference this DO’s & DON’Ts list when it comes to cleaning solutions.
We look to our medical facilities for the best practices to mirror. So what do hospitals do to ensure a sanitary environment? They implement several processes targeting specific pollutants. A combination of high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters and UVC germicidal lamps to purify the air. They dispense waste and potentially contaminated supplies in taper-proof receptacles, plus thoroughly disinfect surfaces. All surgical and inspection apparatus are thoroughly cleaned with various sterilization procedures including ultrasonic cleaners–high frequency sound waves emitted within a fluid break the bonds of bio-hazard with the instruments’ surfaces.
What Can We Do In Our Home?
Obviously we cannot afford high-end medical grade sterilization equipment, nor do we need to. Along with common sense practices, are there solutions for the homeowner to ensure the air we breathe is safe and healthy? The answer is yes.
What Are We Up Against?
- Particulates: dust, smoke, pet dander, pollen, dust mite debris
- Biohazards: bacteria, viruses, molds, fungi
- Volitile Organic Compounds (VOCs): odor producing gases like thinners, formaldehyde, adhesives, cleaning products & even pets/food sources
THE PROBLEM
Our traditional heating and cooling systems come with filters that are barely able to trap particles under 10 microns (a human hair is around 75-100 microns). They do nothing to ensure the health of your home or office.- Pollen: 10 to 200+ microns
- Smoke particles are 0.1 to 4 microns
- Bacteria are less than 0.7 microns
- Viruses, the smallest biohazards, can be less than 0.02 microns. That’s 0.0000008 of an inch! The largest are only 0.5 microns wide and 0.7 – 1.0 microns long.
A filter cannot be designed for the home or office that could capture that small of a particulate without drastically reducing airflow. It would make your heating and cooling system inoperable and eventually damage your system. So the concern is how to manage these very small particulates, bio-hazards, and VOCs.
The Importance Of Eliminating These Very Small Particulates.
A major concern with particulates under 10 microns is that they can be inhaled. Thus, these small particulates attribute to many respiratory illnesses. An example of this is the common dust mite. Thes microscopic arthropods are considered as the number one asthma and allergy trigger.
THE SOLUTION
As stated above, hospitals use IAQ systems to eliminate pathogens and toxic gases. Ultraviolet light destroys viruses, bacteria, and fungi at the cellular level. Oxidation has been used for a long time to successfully break down VOC compounds into inert molecules like oxygen, carbon dioxide, and even water. And now these same applications are available to the homeowner to ensure the health of your home or office. Eradication is the key—killing the virus and bacteria or disrupting their DNA so they cannot replicate. Plus, we can ensure toxic gases are eliminated at the same time.
Premier One offers high intensity UVC germicidal lamps and oxide generators. When combined with electrostatic and High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters you have the best arsenal against harmful indoor pollutants. So you CAN ensure the health of your home or office!
So Now You Have A Plan!
- Wear a mask when in public
- Clean surfaces potentially contaminated by outside products brought into the home
- Frequently wash your hands before touching your face
- Use social distancing
- Cough into your arm
- Have indoor and outdoor footwear
- Call Brown’s Heating & Air Conditioning to install the right IAQ products for your home