When you think about your Portland home’s furnace, you’re probably not thinking about indoor air quality. But the truth is that there are several ways in which your furnace can impact the quality of the air in your home. When you have a furnace in your home, it’s important to understand the relationship between these heating systems and your home’s indoor air quality.
Proper Ventilation for Byproducts of Combustion
Especially if you have a gas furnace, you need to be aware of the gasses that are produced by the combustion of natural gas to generate heat. The two that are the most relevant to indoor air quality are carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. In a furnace that’s working properly and is well maintained, these gasses will be kept from the living spaces of your home and vented outside where they can disperse and are not harmful.
Air Filters
In addition to venting fumes outside, your furnace also should have air filters that can remove all types of indoor air contaminants that may be found in your indoor air. These air filters are a great way to keep the quality of your indoor air high, but they also need to be changed out or cleaned on a regular basis to ensure they’re working properly and that you’re getting all of the benefit you should from them.
If you have a particularly severe indoor air quality problem, or if anyone in your home has asthma or allergies, you may want to invest in an upgrade to the stock filters that come with your furnace. Opting for a higher quality filter can dramatically improve the quality of your indoor air.
For more information about how to improve the air quality in your Portland home, give The Clean Air Act, Inc. a call today!