Envirotech Air Quality Services Blog : Archive for February, 2014

Why Mold Remediation Is Beneficial to Your Health

Monday, February 24th, 2014

Nobody likes to think about mold, mildew, or other biological growth developing inside the ventilation system of their home. Because the ductwork in a home remains mostly hidden from sight, it’s easy for homeowners to dismiss it as a possible problem. However, mold and other growths are a major issue in a climate as humid as Florida’s, and if they manage to get a hold inside of your ducts, it can lead to an unhealthy decline in your indoor air quality.

Mold remediation is an important part of eliminating these health risks. If you haven’t had a ductwork cleaning in over a year, schedule with our cleaning specialists at Envirotech Air Quality Services to find out if you need mold remediation in West Palm Beach, FL.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, here are some of the health risks you will alleviate with professional mold remediation:

  • Asthma: The presence of mold spores can trigger asthmatic episodes in people who suffer from asthma. If there are people living in your home with asthma, assessment for mold should be an important part of your annual routine.
  • Flu and cold-like symptoms: Exposure to mold can cause nasal congestion, eye irritation, skin irritation, and wheezing. These symptoms are worse for people who suffer from allergies, and can also include fever and breathing difficulties.
  • Other miscellaneous health issues: The EPA’s Air Pollution: An Introduction for Health Professionals lists other health conditions linked to molds: coughing, dyspnea, headache and dizziness, fatigue, nausea, fever, and chills.

Thankfully, it isn’t difficult to start toward reducing the mold in your home. You can first schedule a mold assessment with professionals that will find out what specific problems your home has. The experts will pinpoint where mold is growing, its type, and what steps can be taken to remediate it. If you notice an increase in the above symptoms in your home, notice musty smells from the vents, or your home has recently sustained water damage, call for professional mold assessment right away.

If the professionals find that you need mold remediation, they can use various methods to eliminate mold without causing harm to your ducts or reducing your indoor air quality. The time spent on mold remediation will be worth it, since it will keep you and your family healthier year round.

Please take the threat of mold seriously. Call Envirotech Air Quality Services for mold assessment and mold remediation in West Palm Beach, FL if you have any suspicion that these pollutants have entered your ventilation system.

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How Ducts Become Dirty

Monday, February 17th, 2014

Having clean ductwork is important for maintaining your indoor air quality, as well as keeping your heating and cooling system working at its best without undue strain on its components. Scheduling regular duct cleaning in Lake Worth, FL will help you get the most from your HVAC system and improve you and your family’s health.

To start down the road toward cleaner ducts, call professional duct cleaners like those at Envirotech Air Quality Services and schedule an appointment.

Wait… my ducts are dirty? How did that happen?

People are often confused about how ductwork becomes dirty. If their home is kept clean, they imagine that the ductwork will remain clean as well. Ductwork also contains filters that trap dust and dirt, and this would seem sufficient to prevent whatever dust there is in the house from entering the ducts.

However, ducts will become dirty with normal use, regardless of the cleanliness of a house. According to the National Air Duct Cleaners’ Association (NADCA), up to 40 lbs. of dust is created each year in the average six-room home just from everyday living. Additional factors such as residue from remodeling projects and household pets will contribute to the airborne pollutants in a home. No filter can prevent all of these contaminants from entering the ductwork. Because the ducts are sealed along their length to prevent a loss of air pressure, there is nowhere else for the dust and other debris to escape to—except back out the vents into your air, or into the cabinet of your HVAC system.

Since you do not see the inside of your ducts on a daily basis, you may not know about this large build-up of dirt. To check whether your ducts need cleaning, remove a vent cover and then use a handheld mirror to allow yourself to see down into the first length of the duct. You can also use a digital camera to take a snapshot inside. If you see a layer of dust over the interior lining, you need to schedule duct cleaning as soon as you can.

Call the NADCA-member Duct Cleaning Experts at Envirotech Air Quality Services

Anyone with a vacuum can claim to be a duct cleaner. But thorough, effective duct cleaning requires technical knowledge and high-end professional equipment such as a power vacuum and various agitators. To find a trustworthy contractor for duct cleaning in Lake Worth, FL, look for one who is a member of the NADCA. A member must have at least one certified Air Systems Cleaning Specialist on staff, and must clean your ducts in accordance with NADCA standards and guidelines.

Envirotech Air Quality Services has a team of NADCA-certified specialists, as well as the years of experience necessary to give you the cleanest ductwork possible for high-quality air and low-stress heating and cooling.

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Who Wrote the First Valentine’s Day Poem?

Friday, February 14th, 2014

The celebration of Valentine’s Day is often seen as a modern institution, even if the roots of the holiday go back to Late Antiquity and the figures of St. Valentine of Rome and St. Valentine of Terni. It’s difficult to separate our view of February 14th from the more recent phenomenon of greeting cards, comical cupids, and specialty treats from candy companies.

However, not only are some of these traditions older than we might think (mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards were an enormous success in early 19th-century England), but the earliest Valentine’s Day love poem comes from none other than the first great English author, Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote in the second half of the 14th-century.

Chaucer’s most famous work is The Canterbury Tales, an enormous collection of linked stories in poetry and prose. But his 700-line poem “Parlement of Foules” has the special distinction of being the first surviving record of a connection between Valentine’s Day and romantic love. Chaucer probably composed the poem in 1381–82. At the time, he was a member of the court of King Richard II, holding an important bureaucratic position in London. The date suggests that Chaucer wrote “Parelment of Foules” to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of the English king to Princess Anne of Bohemia.

The poem follows the dream of the narrator, where he walks through Venus’s temple and discovers a meeting of birds where they all choose their mates. This is where the mention of St. Valentine’s Day appears (English modernized):

For this was on St. Valentine’s Day,

When every bird cometh there to choose his mate.

The poem also contains a familiar Valentine’s image, Cupid with his arrows:

Under a tree, beside a well, I saw

Cupid our lord his arrows forge and file;                                                             

And at his feet his bow already lay.

When Chaucer mentions St. Valentine’s Day, is he referring specifically to February 14th? Late winter isn’t a time when birds in England would mate. However, the date for the start of spring—when some birds would have started nesting in England—was on February 23rd in the calendars of the time, certainly close enough for Chaucer to take poetic license and nudge it a bit to match with Valentine’s Day.

Love birds remain a popular symbol of Valentine’s Day even now, and for this we can thank Chaucer. In fact, he may very well have invented the link between love and Valentine’s Day, although we will probably never know for certain.

Whoever started these traditions, all of us here at Envirotech Air Quality Services hope you have a pleasant February 14th.

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Benefits of a Nexia Home Intelligence System

Monday, February 3rd, 2014

It might seem like something out of a movie, but homeowners today can have all the convenience of an automated house with remote control. Meet the Nexia Home Intelligence System, a technological advance that not only lowers your energy bills through control over your house’s HVAC system, but provides increased security throughout your home.

Envirotech Air Quality Services has partnered with Trane to install the Nexia Home Intelligence System for our customers. Call us to discuss how Nexia can make your heating and cooling in West Palm Beach, FL more energy efficient than ever.

The Nexia Home Intelligence System

This leap forward in home automation improves over even the most advanced wireless thermostat. It operates remotely—you can control it from a smartphone, laptop, or tablet—and it permits you to control many other appliances in your home, along with security systems and door locks.

The Nexia Home Intelligence System has too many features to cover in one post, but here are three of the major tools the system offers:

  • Climate management – Leave programmable and wireless thermostats behind! With Nexia, you have complete control over all the thermostats in your home, and can keep track of your home’s temperature wherever you are. The system also keeps records of your energy use, giving you access to how efficiently you use power to heat/cool your home.
  • Remotely control appliances – The HVAC system isn’t the only appliance you can control away from home. You can shut off lights if you forgot to turn them off before you left, as well as the television and stereo. You no longer need to worry about draining power during vacations or other long trips from home.
  • Home security – If you have security cameras in your home, the Nexia system links to all of them, and you can access any camera in the home through your Wi-Fi connection. The sensors will also alert you to activity. This is useful not only for home security, but also to check if your children have made it home safely. The Nexia also gives you control over locks, so you can allow certain people access to your home without entrusting them with keys.

The Nexia Home Intelligence System is truly Next Generation technology, and a list of all its abilities would take up many pages. Contact Envirotech Air Quality Services to ask about the many advantages of installing one today, from improving security to improving heating and cooling in West Palm Beach, FL.

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