Is your air conditioning making you sick? It’s a common question, especially when a runny nose or sinus headache kicks in at around the same time as your AC. While air conditioning problems can contribute to this problem, many other factors contribute to poor indoor air quality (IAQ). In fact, by some estimates, indoor air quality is often worse than the air we’re breathing outdoors. What gives? Medley has answers and a range of IAQ solutions ranging from HVAC filters to whole-home UV filters in Carrollton.

Common Contributors To Poor IAQ

So what’s making your indoor air quality so bad? It’s a longer list than you probably realize.

• VOCs: VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds, come from common items degassing or releasing certain manufacturing byproducts into the air. Furniture is a prime culprit here, but paints, varnishes, and innumerable cleaning products play a part, too.
• Pets: Pet hair gets everywhere, but pet dander is a prime indoor pollutant.
• Smoking: Fewer people smoke nowadays, but those who smoke indoors are subjecting others to the “exhaust” from their butts, pipe smoke, and cigars; those pollutants (which include carbon monoxide, ammonia, and other contaminants) are then circulated throughout the home thanks to your central air or furnace.
• Organic matter: If you’re sick, the bacteria and viruses with which you’re infected can be piggybacking through your HVAC system. So can mold, mildew, and fungus promoted by high humidity.
• Outdoor pollution: Outdoor air doesn’t wait for an invitation to come in; we track dirt, dust, and pollen, while vehicle exhaust and other contaminants are present thanks to open windows and poor insulation.

Improving Indoor Air Quality

If you’ve read this far and you’re starting to wonder if you’re playing against a stacked deck, take a deep breath—once you’ve installed something to improve your indoor air quality.

Whole-House Air Filtration Systems

The first thing we always suggest is to change the HVAC filter that serves your furnace or air conditioner. The package will let you know how often the filter should be changed (it varies based on the type), but there’s no harm in changing the filter early if it looks filthy to you. If that doesn’t work, there are many whole-home filtration systems available, and we’ll help you find one that works best alongside your existing HVAC system.

HVAC Duct Cleaning

Air duct cleaning is another recommended service. After all, your air ducts aren’t just recirculating air through the house. Depending on your filtration system, they may also be recirculating everything else that’s present in the air, including pollen, mold, and fumes. Those contaminants take up residence in your ducts, necessitating periodic cleaning.

Whole-Home Humidity Solutions

As we’ve already seen, improper levels of indoor humidity are damaging too. For some homes, a humidifier or dehumidifier is important to maintain the right range of humidity to keep your respiratory system healthy, preserve your belongings, and inhibit the growth of mold and mildew.

Keeping Indoor Air Healthy

If you’re like most of our customers, you keep a clean house. But even if there’s not a speck of dust to be found, you’re not out of the woods just yet. If someone in your home is immunocompromised or suffers respiratory conditions like asthma, COPD, or emphysema, it’s worth looking into a whole-home air purifier like a UV air filter that can actively kill germs and pathogens.

IAQ Service In Carrollton, TX

So to sum it all up, the air you’re breathing indoors could be downright lousy. But you’ve got help, and it’s closer than you think. Click or call Medley for HVAC maintenance and a full range of American Standard indoor air quality solutions today!

When you think of the Environmental Protection Agency, you probably think of an agency that deals with pollution in the great outdoors. But as it turns out, they have plenty to say about indoor pollution too. They remind us that indoor air quality may be as bad, or worse than, what’s outside; that can have disastrous health consequences. With some simple tips from Medley Services, you can improve indoor air quality and breathe easier indoors.

The Consequences Of Indoor Air Pollution

Some reactions to indoor air pollution are immediate, but others may only be apparent in the longer term. How you’ll react can be determined by your respiratory health, your age, genetics, and of course, the types of pollutants in your home.

Indoor air contaminants can be hard to identify, since the symptoms they leave behind can mimic a cold, flu, or allergies. But even if you’re not going through tissues and cough medicine in bulk, you can suffer ailments like cancer, heart problems, and asthma in the longer term.

Sources Of Indoor Air Contamination

Outdoor Air Pollution

Outdoor air quality may be better, and your home in Plano can benefit from the occasional airing out. However, from pollen to fertilizer and exhaust fumes, outdoor air can contribute its fair share to indoor pollution. Monitor outdoor air quality before opening the windows.

Pets

We love our pets, but pet hair and dander can take a toll on respiratory health even if you’re not allergic. Be sure to keep surfaces clean!

Cleaning Products

Speaking of keeping it clean, the same cleaning products that keep our homes spotless can harm our lungs. Ventilation is key, as is not mixing cleaning products (especially bleach) with other chemicals — the vapors they give off can be toxic or even lethal in certain combinations.

Tobacco Products

We’re not going to lecture on the use of tobacco products, but because the smoke they give off causes harm to people besides their users (and because their effects linger indoors long after you’ve quit), we do suggest taking them outdoors.

Building Materials

Is your home making you sick? A process called degassing takes place with many common building materials, finishes, and furnishings, since they give off volatile organic compounds (VOCs). If you paint, install new cabinets, lay new carpet, or buy new furniture, it’s important to ventilate the area so these toxins don’t linger.

Plumbing Leaks

Your home could look like a showcase and you can still have problems with mold and mildew. Areas that tend to be humid for extended periods of time — especially bathrooms, basements, and laundry rooms — will be especially susceptible. And if you have a leak, the water (along with the growths that follow in its wake) can fester in your insulation and drywall. You won’t always see it, but if you feel respiratory distress that clears up when you leave home, your plumbing may be to blame.

HVAC Systems

Your central air system has a filter that can help to keep your home air cleaner. But as you’ve seen if you’ve read this far, it’s doing some pretty heavy lifting. An effective air filter is helping to remove or reduce contaminants, but it won’t be nearly as effective if it’s not changed on schedule (or a bit more frequently if you smoke, own pets, or are doing remodeling or construction of any kind). We can help you find the best filters for your system, and perform air conditioning tune-ups that help your system work better, longer.
Some of these items fall outside the purview of a heating and cooling company. But where we can help, we’re at your disposal. For help with indoor air quality, heating, and air conditioning around Carrollton TX, call Medley today!

If you’re looking for a New Year’s Resolution you can truly keep, that will have a profound effect on how you live, raise a toast to an IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) solution for your home. Welcome in 2021, and better health, with a UV filter for your HVAC unit, a humidifier or dehumidifier, and an air duct cleaning. According to a forbes.com article, 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail, but you can put yourself and your family in a better position to succeed with an achievable goal, like healthier indoor air quality at home. The air we breathe is the foundation for our health. Because we spend so much of our time at home these days, the quality of our indoor air has never been more important.

Not sure if your indoor air needs an upgrade? Sometimes it’s apparent your indoor air needs freshening, like when you can smell something funky, like mold or mildew. Frequently, however, the culprits aren’t detectable, and viruses, bacteria, and other harmful airborne particulates are free to float rampant and unseen around the place you should feel most safe. Here’s where Medley comes in. We have a team of air-quality technicians who live and, well, breathe IAQ, and will test your air for all of the insidious offenders to your home’s IAQ. If there’s anything of concern, big or small, we’ll tell you what it is, and come up with a plan to get your air healthy again.

While taking care of your home’s IAQ may not sound glamorous, like say, working on your washboard abs or learning French, we actually think it’s as fun as it is practical (and important). The advances made around indoor air quality have yielded a number of interesting, effective solutions.

As with any resolution or goal, breaking the task into smaller parts is an effective way to make a seemingly enormous task feel more manageable. Your IAQ is no different. Your first step is to call Medley. After we test your air, we’ll walk you through all of the solutions that bring you closer to cleaner indoor air.

Duct-Cleaning

Because dust and debris can collect in your vents, keeping them clean and sanitized is your most powerful defense against airborne particulates. Every time you turn on your heat or air-conditioning, anything in your vents (or different parts of your heating/cooling system) are distributed throughout your home. Every living thing in your house is breathing that air. Our air duct cleanings utilize a process that removes all dust and debris and then sanitizes everything, for instant purification of the air you and your loved ones breathe.

Air Filters and Purification Systems

Once everything’s been cleaned, the goal is to keep it clean. We have a selection of specially designed air purification systems and filters to add to your existing systems. These run the gamut from low-tech to high. One such high-tech solution is ultraviolet (UV) air filters for your HVAC system. UV filtration and purification, the kind that has cleaned medical instruments, and even drinking water, for years, is now a tried and true method for cleaning your HVAC system. HVAC air filters use UV-C light to effectively decontaminate the air you breathe. Bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens are no match for this UV light. Some of these filters also have the capability to ionize air and indoor humidity, further boosting their antiviral and antibacterial properties. These filters can be free standing or installed inside your system, and function by way of condenser coils or germicidal lights. We’ll talk all of the options over with you so you can determine which kind UV Air Filter works best for your household.

To Humidify or Dehumidify?

Your home’s humidity (or lack thereof) is a significant part of your home IAQ equation. Too much humidity can cause mold or mildew growth, condensation, and damage to walls, wood furniture, or floors. If your home tends to the dry side, you may notice dry skin, a scratchy throat or other allergy symptoms like discomfort in your sinuses and nasal passages. A humidifier or dehumidifier may be just the prescription for creating the ideal conditions for your health, and even (in the case of a humidifier) improve your home’s energy efficiency.

Let the Medley experts help you craft an IAQ action plan to keep you and your loved ones breathing easy in 2021.

With Baby New Year barely crawling, we at Medley encourage you to stick to your resolutions for a happy and healthy year ahead. Healthy IAQ is a gift that keeps on giving for years to come. Find us at www.medleyservice.com or (972) 245-3132 to schedule your air quality test. Thank you, Carrollton-area, Texas, for making us your source for all things HVAC in 2021, and beyond.

Do you sometimes wonder if there’s a problem with your indoor air quality? Some indoor air quality problems are obvious but others are more subtle or difficult to detect. Here are a few things that can go wrong with your air quality and what you can do to fix it.

Allergies & Asthma

While your indoor air quality doesn’t cause your allergies or asthma, it can make them worse. If you have a lot of dust, debris, pet dander or mold in your air, it can make it harder to breathe. When you feel like your allergies or asthma are worst at home and there’s not another explanation, it’s time to have your indoor air quality checked.

If it turns out that there are things in your air that can cause problems, there are a number of possible solutions. We can start by cleaning your ducts and vents, which removes any collected dust and debris. Then, we can treat your system with agents that should destroy any mold or mildew. Finally, we can even seal your system so particles from outside cannot get into it.

Frequent Or Chronic Illness

Do you feel like you are sick all the time? Do you get mysterious sinus infections or other respiratory infections and you’re not sure why? If all or most of the people who live in your house are frequently sick, the air quality might be the explanation behind all of your illness. Certain types of mold or bacteria can get in your system and cause these infections.

We will treat your system for whatever we find when we test your air quality. We can put anti-bacterial agents into it or treat for mold and then make sure moisture stays out of it so the problem doesn’t come back. You should be able to breath easy soon!

Bad Odors

Does your home smell bad? Do you frequently smell something “off” in your home and you’re not sure what it is or where it’s coming from? If it happens regularly and you can’t find another cause, look into your indoor air quality.

We can come out and test to see if the bad smell is coming from a problem with the system. We will also check things like the location of your air intakes. If these are close to where your dog poops or where your neighbor stores their trash cans, this could be the cause of the bad smell in your house. We can also check for dead animals in your ventilation system, mold contamination, and more. Once we find the cause, it’s usually straightforward to figure out a solution to the problem.

No matter what is going wrong with the air in your home in Frisco, we’ll get it fixed for you fast. Our environmental experts will test the air, let you know what they find, and come up with a plan to get your air cleaned up fast. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to breathe easy at home again.