Dust Is the No. 1 Pollutant of Most Households

The dust you vacuum up in your Greater Cleveland area home is a nasty concoction of different ingredients. Dust, however, is the major indoor pollutant in most homes; it can make you and your family ill, rob your HVAC system of efficiency, and actually cause permanent damage to young, growing bodies. 

Ingredients

To make one houseful of dust you’ll need

• volcanic ash
• human skin
• insect droppings
• soot
• long-banned hazardous chemicals
• food particles
• soil
• random bits of pets and unknown creatures

Let it sit on your floor for a while until something – maybe a simple draft – sends it airborne and you and your children breathe it in.

Arsenic in earth’s atmosphere comes from volcanoes and fossil fuel combustion, while DDT (banned in 1972) still shows up in trace amounts in soil, tracked in on shoes and clothes. Lead comes from fossil fuels, smelting and old wall paint. Insect bodies turn brittle and decay into microscopic bits that float on air.

Your Lungs

Breathing in this broth of badness is not healthy for you or anyone living in your home. While particulates (soot, food bits, even the insect parts) can mostly be cleared from your lungs naturally, arsenic, lead and DDT lodge in your body and can cause permanent health issues.

Your HVAC System

Your body and your furnace or heat pump need clean, filtered air to breathe. With the right sort of mechanical filtration, you both benefit. Use manufacturer-recommended filters and replace them on the schedule suggested by your HVAC contractor.

Do not use the cheapest big-box store filters – they are no bargain. Particulates that get past filters can harm your furnace. Anything airborne that reaches your furnace will be blown back into your home. Replacing your furnace’s filter maintains ideal airflow, too, for efficient operation.

To do even more, consider adding HEPA filtration and/or UV light germicidal filtration within the ductwork to capture and destroy particulates and organic pollutants, making your furnace and family healthier.

For more help ridding your Greater Cleveland home of dust, contact us at Stack Heating & Cooling.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Cleveland, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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