What Do Air Quality Tests Test for?

Indoor air quality is vital to keeping you and your family healthy. You may not realize it, but there are many air pollutants in our homes that we use every day. For example, cooking in a kitchen that is poorly ventilated will pollute the air. So will burning candles, incense, and using cleaning products that get into the air. Did you know high levels of moisture in the air are also factors in poor air quality? Not to mention all the pet dander from your beloved house pet.

While indoor air pollutants are all around us, luckily there are simple enough measures anyone can take to test for air quality and then use that information to fix the problem. Air quality tests are easy to purchase.

What are air quality tests?
Air quality tests use samples of the air in your home in order to identify airborne contaminants and pollutants. Air quality tests also measure how much of any given pollutant is in the air and determine if the amount is unsafe.

What do air quality tests test for?
The most common pollutants air quality tests test for include the following:

Biological pollutants
Biological pollutants are airborne organisms in your home or anything that is produced by a living organism. This ranges from airborne bacteria and viruses to dander, dust, and pet hair.

Chemical compounds
Chemical compounds, also called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are toxic chemicals that are found in cleaning products, furniture, carpets, and building materials. VOCs can leach into the air via these artificial sources. There are other natural sources of VOCs as well, like radon for example.

Combustion pollutants
Combustion pollutants are made up of pollutants that come from burning fuel like a gas stove. Other sources of combustion pollutants include smoke from fireplaces, carbon monoxide, and smoke from cigarettes.

How To Improve Your Indoor Air Quality
If you’ve tested the quality of the air in your home and found any unsafe levels of pollutants, you’re certainly looking to improve your air quality. Furthermore, even if you haven’t tested your home’s air, it’s very likely that you could reduce the level of indoor air pollutants in your home.

Whether you keep the windows in your house open or closed, air pollutants are going to build up in the air and on surfaces. One of the best ways to improve indoor air quality is by using a whole house fan.

Whole house fans, like those from wholehousefan.com effectively cycle trapped, polluted air out of the home and replace it with fresh outdoor air to improve your home's air quality and lower temperatures.