Indoor Air Quality

Indoor Air Quality in Northern/Central New Jersey| Unique Air Conditioning & Heating

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor air quality (IAQ) contains more pollutants and contaminants than outdoor air. In newer homes and businesses, IAQ can be even worse—since tight construction and quality insulation traps pollutants indoors. If you suffer from allergies, asthma or upper respiratory conditions, you may be a candidate for IAQ services like air filtration, air purification, or humidification/dehumidification.

IAQ SERVICES BY UNIQUE

Unique indoor air quality products aren't just clean the air you breathe, but the surfaces you touch, as well. Using the most advanced air filtration and decontamination technology, we can eliminate up to 98.9 percent of airborne particles and 99.9 percent of surface microorganisms from your indoor environment. Our state-of-the-art indoor air quality services include:

Indoor air quality testing
Air purifiers
Ultraviolet (UV) lamps & purifiers
Whole-house humidifiers
Whole-house dehumidifiers
Fresh air exchange

If you suffer from respiratory or skin problems, notice odors in your home, live with a smoker, or are concerned about infection risk, call Unique today. Don’t let breathing challenges and respiratory conditions be aggravated by polluted indoor air! Schedule an appointment today.

Humidifiers~Dehumidifiers

Ultra Aire whole house ventilating dehumidifiers provides a full line of whole-home ventilating dehumidifiers that provide effective humidity control, provide fresh air ventilation, and high efficiency air filtration. Installed by HVAC professionals to provide the ultimate in comfort and indoor air quality, all Ultra-Aire dehumidifiers are Energy Star® rated and include superior air filtration.

Air purifiers/UV lights

APCO

In-Duct Air Purifier. Detox the Air.The Fresh-Aire UV APCO is installed in the ductwork of your central air system and is designed to help reduce airborne odors, toxic chemical vapors, germs and mold in your home.

Fight Odors, VOCs, and Germs Without Ozone

The APCO system (Advanced Photo catalytic Oxidation) represents an entirely new type of air purifier. The combination of germicidal UV light and activated carbon cells inside APCO make it uniquely effective at reducing volatile organic compounds in the air without producing any harmful ozone. VOCs cause odors and include toxic chemical vapors like formaldehyde and toluene.

Filtration

How Does It Work?

April Aire Whole-House Air Cleanersare installed as part of your home’s central heating and cooling system — completely out of your way and out-of-sight. That means each and every time your system runs, the air in your home is filtered through our state-of-the-art filter media removing potentially harmful contaminants from every room of your home.The resulting clean air is then distributed via your heating and cooling system's ductwork to your entire home. Best yet,the system is easy to maintain with infrequent maintenance only required every 1 year (based on system run time and regional variability) unlike portable units that require monthly care or standard filters that need cleaning every 1-3 months.

10 Tips For Home

Indoor Air Quality

THIS ARTICLE IS FROM ASHRAE

Are concerns about indoor air quality

making it difficult for you to breathe easy in your own home?

Acknowledging reports that air quality inside homes can be worse than outside, engineers have identified ways to move air in and out of homes to minimize the factors that lead to indoor air quality problems.

The key is to design HVAC and other systems to work together to effectively ventilate homes and minimize sources of indoor pollution. Houses adhering to guidance from ASHRAE for home ventilation will generally result in increased indoor air quality and decreased health problems compared to those that do not. The guidance is contained in ASHRAE Standard 62.2, Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings, is the only nationally recognized indoor air quality standard developed solely for residences. It is intended for use in building codes.

“The standard is just good, basic common sense,” Max Sherman, former chair of the committee that wrote the standard, said. “People need fresh air. The standard tells how to provide it and how to avoid other common problems.”

In the past, residential ventilation was not a major concern because it was felt people were getting enough outdoor air by opening their windows and by air leaking through the building’s walls.

As homes and duct systems were built tighter to save energy, trapping contaminants indoors, concern rose about indoor air quality, especially since people spend almost 90 percent of their day indoors — 65 percent of that in their homes. Also, residents are now less likely to open windows because of energy costs, security issues, drafts, noise and dirty air from outside.

Studies from the Environmental Protection Agency on human exposure to air pollutants show that indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times, sometimes more than 100 times, higher than outdoor levels. People in buildings frequently report discomfort and building-related health symptoms, and sometimes develop building-related illnesses.

“Publication of this standard does not immediately require changes to building practice, but it does set the minimum level expected of HVAC professionals with respect to residential ventilation, and it should hopefully lead to changes in building codes,” Sherman said.

Some requirements in the standard that represent significant changes from standard practice include use of sound rated fans (because disruptively noisy fans are now commonly used) as well as use of mechanical, whole-house ventilation, which only a small fraction of houses currently use. The purpose of the standard is to provide the necessary building service of providing minimum acceptable indoor air quality, according to Sherman. A standard such as 62.2 benefits HVAC&R professionals and allied industries because it defines a demonstrable set of criteria for acceptability, which can be used to provide known value to the owner.

Although the standard is prepared for engineers who design HVAC systems in homes, there are several recommendations that can be applied by homeowners to their homes.

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