HEPA Filtration
Improve Your Indoor Air Quality
It always astonishes me how many people focus on outdoor air pollution yet few realize that indoor air pollution is a major problem. In fact, the EPA lists indoor air quality among the top five risks to environmental health. Indoor air pollution, on average, is 2-5 times worse than outdoor air pollution and in the case of a new construction or renovation project it can be as much as 100 (even 1,000) times worse.
Considering Canadians spend close to 90% of their time indoors – whether at home, the office, or at school – the quality of our indoor air can have a significant affect on our health and well being. Poor air quality can trigger asthma, allergies, headaches, nausea, and other health symptoms that can make everyday life a challenge.
S ources of indoor pollutants are fairly commonplace in our homes. Possible contributors include second-hand tobacco smoke, pets, fireplaces, stoves/ovens, furnishing/finishes,building materials, and moisture/leaks. By controlling the sources of indoor contaminants, we can limit our exposure to mold, mildew, pet dander, particulates, volatile organic compounds (VOC's) and other chemicals in our spaces.
Many people live with poor indoor air quality (IAQ) because they do not recognize the warning signs or are not able to identify the source of the problem. Good indicators that you may have IAQ problems include musty or chemical odors, visible leaks or water damage, and allergic reactions or other health-related symptoms, such as the ones listed above.
To avoid IAQ problems at home follow a few simple steps:
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Turn on hood fans when cooking to help expel fumes – Cooking, especially on a gas stove, releases chemicals that can contaminate the air, such as carbon monoxide. Use the fume hood fan when cooking and make sure it is vented directly outside the house.
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Turn on the exhaust fan when showering to limit moisture build up – Run the bath fan during showers to remove the heat and humidity. And keep the shower curtain or bathtub sliding door open after bathing to increase air circulation.
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Use cleaning products that do not emit chemicals into the air – Many products used to wash floors, countertops and windows can off gas chemicals. Avoid dangerous chemicals by selecting products that are certified for their levels of chemical emissions.
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Open windows to allow fresh air into your space – To achieve energy efficiency, we seal up our buildings and tend to keep our windows shut, trapping pollutants inside. From time to time, its good to open the windows to allow fresh air to move through our spaces and flush out any stale or polluted air.
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Choose indoor plant's that are more efficient at cleaning the air. Surprisingly, there are some indoor plants that are more effective at ridding your house of indoor pollutants than others.
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Install low emitting furniture and finishes – New or recently installed building materials and furnishings can emit VOC's. Look for products that are certified for low chemical emissions, and open windows when using paints, adhesives, sealants and other materials that tend to off gas during installation.
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Install one of many IAQ filtration products available to you including Hepa filters, Media Filters, Uv lights or an HRV(heat recovery ventilator) as explained below...
A Hepa filter system removes the finest of particles, even the microscopic ones that you cannot see. Hepa filtration is what the hospitals use as it is the best type of filtration there is for airborne contaminants.
Media filters are 4-5 inch's thick & will make a major improvement in the air flow and dust control in your home. they would take the place of the cheaper one inch filters that do not do a very good job on filtering and reduce the air flow that passes through them and in allot of cases will do more harm than good.
 A Ultra-Violet Light installed in your ventilation system will make a major difference on the air quality inside your home e. The job of the Ultra Violet (Uv) light is to help eliminate pathogens such as Flu's, Virus's & other airborne germs. A Uv Light comes in contact with the air in your home many times every hour. As the air passes the Uv system, it zap's any pathogens destroying their reproductive systems and their abilities to reproduce. Since Pathogens have only a very short life span and must reproduce in order to survive, the Uv light is a great idea if you want to greatly reduce the risk of getting sick, especially in the winter months when your home is sealed up and the pathogens just keep getting trapped inside your home waiting to find anything and anyone that they can make ill.
HRV otherwise known as a heat recovery ventilator, this is a system that we believe should be in every home. The main purpose of an HRV is to get rid of the old polluted air within your home and replace it with fresh air from the outside. The added feature about the HRV is that while its bringing in the fresh air ( which will be cold in the winter months) it has what is known as a "Core" and the core warms the fresh air from outside with the warm air being expelled from your home to within a reasonable temperature so that your not spending hundreds of extra dollars a year warming that fresh air up. In the summer months it works the same way except in reverse, on hot days it cools the air down (provided the indoor air is cooler than the outdoor air). the HRV also acts a dehumidification system for homes that have high moisture problems that can cause mould and structural problems over a period of time.
LifeBreath Air Cleaner
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Air inside a home is almost always more polluted than air in the streets outside. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, as much as 10 to 70 times more polluted. The air inside your home may not be as healthy as you think..
Two heaping tablespoons of particles every day
The reason is that indoor air is loaded with tiny particles generated by the activities of humans, pets and insects. During the course of a day an adult breathes in the equivalent of two heaping tablespoons of these airborne particles. The more time you spend at home the more your health is likely to be affected by breathing this polluted air-bad news for the very young and the very old.
Chronic respiratory disorders
Some of these particles trigger life-long allergies, some are carcinogenic, and all put an extra burden on the body's immune system. The very small particles are a special problem, they are able to bypass the body's defences and lodge in the mucous membranes and linings of the respiratory system. It's no wonder that poor indoor air quality leads directly to higher levels of chronic respiratory disorders.
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Features
- Combines two particle capture technologies (TFP & HEPA) to ensure the cleanest, healthiest air throughout your home
- Removes 99.97% of health-threatening particles from the air in your home
- Allows air to circulate freely without putting extra load on your air distribution system.
- Lowest maintenance requirements of any air cleaner available. Check-up required only once a year.
- HEPA filter lasts 3 years - operating continuously at maximum efficiency with minimum maintenance.
- Unlike electronic air cleaners, the Lifebreath TFP does not generate poisonous ozone which can damage your lungs.
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Lifebreath removes even the sub-microscopic particles
Until now residential whole-house air cleaners have not been capable of capturing the full range of health-threatening particles. The larger particles are not difficult to capture, but the far more numerous smaller particles have been an insoluble problem. Consider this - one cubic foot of indoor air may contain a million or more particles ranging in size from visible dust specks to particles so small that they can only be seen by a microscope.
 It removes close to 100% of coarser particles such as pollen, fungus spores, dust, animal dander and dirt; removes close to 90% of troublesome tobacco smoke and wood smoke particles and some bacteria; and even removes a large proportion of particles as small as one tenth of a micron - only visible in an electron microscope. And it does this continuously, day after day, year after year.
In an average 2500 sq. ft. home, all the air passes through the furnace 4.5 times every hour. With a Lifebreath TFP in a by-pass configuration, drawing off 10% of the air continuously, 45% of the air will be cleaned every hour. Depending on the condition of the home, all the air will pass through 10 times every 24 hours! The Lifebreath Air Cleaner works with all central air heating/cooling systems.
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