At T.F. O’Brien, it’s always a priority to help our customers stay safe and comfortable. With the recent wildfires in Canada and the subsequent effect they’re having on our local environment, you might be concerned about the outdoor air quality, and how you can stay safe. It isn’t as simple as staying indoors until the poor air quality warnings expire, because that outdoor air can find its way into your home and cause issues for you and your family.
We’ve put together a few suggestions for keeping the polluted air out of your home:
- Wear a mask if you need to go out, especially if you have respiratory concerns. Masks can help you keep from inhaling pollutants, like pollen or smoggy air. Make sure the mask fits tightly around your nose and mouth.
- Keep your windows closed, and only open outside doors when necessary. While it’s always tempting to open windows this time of year, on days when the air quality outside is poor it’s a good idea to keep them shut – and keep the pollutants outside.
- Avoid running window fans and window AC units. This can bring polluted air indoors. And while you can’t see the particles in the air caused by fires or pollinating plants and trees, they’re there, and can easily enter your home via your fans or air conditioners. If you have a good filter on your central air conditioner, that should be okay to run.
- Check the air quality regularly. As we’ve seen recently, the air quality can change dramatically over the course of just a few hours. The AirNow website has up-to-date information as well as air quality forecasts so that you can plan accordingly.
- Consider air purification. An air purifier can help to remove pollutants from the air in your home. You can buy portable air purifiers at most department and home improvement stores. If you or a family suffers from respiratory conditions, you may want to talk to T.F. O’Brien about whole-home air quality solutions.
Of course, you can always count on T.F. O’Brien to help you should you have any additional concerns about the quality of the air in your home. Just give us a call at 516.488.1800 and we will be more than happy to help you.