Indoor Air Quality
Indoor air quality (IAQ) is essential to any home. The quality of the air that you breathe daily needs to be healthy and clean to keep you and your family healthy. At Northwind, we dedicate ourselves to providing the highest IAQ possible for every Chicagoland home. We take on a variety of projects all committed to the home. Our IAQ services help prevent harmful indoor air pollutants, as well as keep you and your family comfortable and happy.
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Our IAQ services cover a variety of indoor air needs, from humidity to filtration systems. Below is not only a list of our services but also why they are important to any home’s air quality.
Services & Info
Humidification
Humidity is something that must be carefully tracked at any time, not just during an air quality inspection. Especially in the Chicago winter where relative humidity can drop below 35%, the air can get very dry due to a lack of water vapor in the air. This can result in dry skin and even dry eyes. You may notice yourself needing to use more hand lotion or eyedrops. This likely means that you need a humidifier.
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A humidifier pushes water vapor back into the air, bettering your air quality and preventing any discomfort. Proper humidification can also prevent static buildup and electric shocks.
Dehumidification
If the indoor air quality of your home is too high, this can cause some concerns regarding indoor air pollution in your home. If there is too much water vapor in the air, or the humidity level is too high, it can create air pollutants, biological or otherwise, that can cause harm to those in the home.
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A proper dehumidification system can help keep unwanted organisms out of the air by extracting water vapor when the levels are too high. Proper humidity levels should be between 40-60% RH (Relative Humidity). These levels should be comfortable for all occupants, minimize the growth and spread of organisms and more. Humidity is an essential part of IAQ that helps foster a healthy home environment.
Air Purification
An air purifier is a device built to increase your indoor air quality. There are a few different types of purification systems that you can have installed. The most common type of purification system is a UV light air purifier. These are typically installed into your HVAC’s indoor unit, and use a powerful UV light to neutralize any harmful indoor air pollutants in your home.
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There are also ionic air purification systems, which send out negatively charged ions that bond to microbes and drop them onto a filter. There are additionally UV-ionic hybrid systems on the market that use a combination of both purification methods.
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Get a free consultation today to find the best air purifier for your home.
Smart Thermostats
The installation of a smart thermostat is an excellent way to prevent indoor air pollution and overall maintain a high air quality in your home. A smart thermostat is any thermostat that can connect to wi-fi. There are a lot of different makes and models to choose from, with some being more high-tech than others. We are big fans of Ecobee, which have humidity control, indoor air quality monitoring, and take weather data via wifi to assist heat pump systems.
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A few smart thermostat models can provide a minor air quality inspection for you in order to ensure that your air quality levels are good. They can also, by nature of being a thermostat, help adjust temperatures and even remind you when to change your air filter.
Filtration
While an air filtration system may seem similar to an air purification system, they accomplish different tasks. While both systems are dedicated to improving indoor air quality, an air filtration system is focused on the air that enters your home from the outside. It is built into your home’s central HVAC system. We particularly advocate for April Air Media Filters. They have a low static rating and great filtration.
Filters can help catch any loose debris or dust before it enters your AC or furnace, which not only keeps your HVAC clean but also keeps your air quality high and free of pollutants. There are many different types of filters you can install by talking to your HVAC team.
Room Temperature Issues
There are plenty of reasons that your home’s temperature might not be exactly right: poor insulation, a leak in your ductwork, the wrong-sized HVAC, or even accidentally leaving your windows open. No matter the cause, it is important to keep your home at the proper temperature, even beyond just your comfort level.
If the temperature in your home is too high, not only can it cause overheating and other physical discomfort, but it can also increase the amount of indoor air pollutants in your home. Cold temperatures, on the other hand, have been linked to high blood pressure and even mental health concerns.
You can contact our team at Northwind to help identify and solve any room temperature issues you may be having. Repairs and replacements are essential when they keep your family safe.
IAQ Installations
In addition to maintenance and installation services on all of these smaller elements of your HVAC and IAQ systems, Northwind also provides installation services for air quality systems as a whole.
Typically, IAQ systems are able to offer you full control of a variety of different air quality categories, like humidification and dehumidification, temperature, and ventilation. These systems are excellent for helping prevent indoor air pollution. Not every air quality system has to be completely separate from one another. An IAQ system and an HVAC can help ensure that any future air quality inspection goes off without a hitch and that your entire family can breathe in safe and healthy air.
What Northwind Can Do
At Northwind, we are not only dedicated to providing the highest indoor air quality possible but also to our planet. We have a mission to help reduce emissions from HVACs and keep our planet safer. We are a small business that prides itself on our expertise and our competitive pricing.
All of our services, from heat pumps to ductwork to air quality, are done with you and with the planet in mind. Our team of experts is eager to help you take care of any home heating or air conditioning needs, all while trying to have a positive environmental impact.
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Work with us at Northwind today.