Tag: contaminants

Replace Air Filters, No Matter What Kind You Choose

Posted on by T.F. O'Brien Cooling & Heating

If your heating and cooling system uses disposable filters, make a point of checking your home’s air filters monthly, and replace them at least every three months, especially during heavy usage periods in the winter and summer.   Your furnace, central air conditioner, and/or heat pumps all  rely on air filters to keep  their systems, and the air in your home, clean.  Your system has to work hard when it tries to pull air through filters that are clogged with dirt and dust. Extremely old or dirty filters can lead to costly repair and replacement, so it’s worth a little upfront maintenance to prevent lots of time and trouble later.    By replacing your air filters, you  will improve your equipment’s efficiency and durability, saving you money both  in utility bills and maintenance.

Beyond cost savings, clean  air filters are  vital for improving indoor air quality, which is often much worse than outdoor air, according to the EPA.   Allergens, mold, bacteria, viruses, and dust accumulate and can flourish in your home, but  standard  air filters help trap particulate and reduce the contaminants in your  indoor air.   You may also want to consider a high-efficiency air filter, which targets and captures  a far broader range of  indoor pollutants.

For support checking or replacing your filters, contact  T.F. O’Brien. We’re happy to help recommend the best filters for your home’s system, too.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).   For more information about replacing air filters and other HVAC topics,  click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

UV Lights Help Improve Indoor Air Quality

Posted on by T.F. O'Brien Cooling & Heating

If you think that your home protects you from the dangers of air pollution, think again. In fact, the air inside of your home can be up to 10 times  more polluted than outside air. But you can breathe easier—and improve your indoor air quality—by using UV lights.

UV, which stands for ultraviolet light, works by breaking the molecular bonds of micro-organisms. In simple terms, in destroys the DNA of micro-organism such as:

  • Viruses
  • Germs
  • Spores
  • Fungi
  • Mold
  • Bacteria

Destroying the DNA of these organism results in their swift death or neutralization, which effectively improves indoor air quality.

Even better, making UV lights a part of your air conditioning & heating system is simple. A UV light generating lamp is mounted inside of the duct of a forced air HVAC system. As the air passes through the UV light—which occurs 40-75 times per day—so do the micro-organism. Such repeated exposure to the ultraviolet light effectively destroys these contaminants.

Although standard air filters clean your air of some contaminants, they are ineffective at trapping micro-organism, which are so small they slip right through the filter. Yes, high efficiency filters will capture micro-organisms, but only down to a certain size. In short, you need an HVAC system that incorporates UV lights in order to kill most airborne bacteria and other contaminants.

Having a UV light system is an inexpensive, relatively maintenance-free way for you to improve your indoor air quality. So breathe easy. Ask us about our UV light air purification systems today.

T.F. O’Brien services the Long Island, New York area.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about preventive maintenance and other HVAC topics, please download our free  Home Comfort Resource guide.