Air purifiers provide year-round benefits for the indoor environment of your home. Moreover, they can be particularly helpful at certain times when the outdoor climate makes a healthy, comfortable indoor habitat difficult to maintain. Hot summer weather that keeps the house closed up poses a challenge to staying cool and yet also free of accumulating pollutants, toxins, and irritants.
Why summer seems worse. It’s not your imagination. Hot weather is more polluted than cold winter conditions. A heat wave in summer is typically accompanied by high atmospheric pressure that traps stagnant air closer to the ground. As temperatures smolder, pollution density rises instead of dispersing naturally.
Indoor air quality is compromised. Keeping cool inside also keeps levels of indoor contaminants higher. Studies have shown that air inside a tightly sealed, air-conditioned house can be up to five times more polluted than the outdoor environment.
All-season allergens thrive. While the season for certain allergies is traditionally spring, the airborne pollen count continues to rise well into summer. According to the World Health Organization, warming conditions around the world are spawning longer pollen seasons. Individuals sensitive to these airborne microspores may be more impacted — and for longer periods — during hot weather.
How Air Purifiers Help
Air purifiers can help make summer healthier indoors while also allowing you to keep your cool. Typical features are included in specified air purifiers, while some units combine all these protections:
- HEPA air filtration captures more than 99% of airborne particulates down to the size of 0.3 microns, including pollen, bacteria, chemical fumes, and smoke particles.
- UV lights. Ultraviolet light — a natural component of sunlight — kills airborne contaminants such as mold spores, dust mites, and even some viruses. These lights may be combined into an air purifier that also includes high-efficiency filtration.
- Ionization. An air ionizer generates negative ions that bond to pollutants which have a positive charge, naturally removing them from indoor air. These include dust, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), chemical fumes, smoke and certain viruses and bacteria.
For more facts about safeguarding the indoor environment in summer and keeping comfortable, too, contact the professionals at Jackson & Sons.