This is the second in our two-part series about your HVAC system and strong odors in your home. In the first blog post on HVAC odors, we covered four cases where your HVAC system is the likely cause of the bad smell in your home. In this edition, we’re going to talk about the amazing ways you can leverage your HVAC system to keep strong odors in your home at bay. Let’s recap!

Strong Odors and Your Health

In addition to the fact that strong odors can literally make you sick – from nausea and dizziness to headaches and respiratory issues – your home should be your most pleasant environment. There are too many great solutions for eliminating lingering smells in your home, so please don’t ever tolerate a stinky house! Here’s a list of some of the common stinky culprits:

•       Sewer smells in drains, dishwashers, disposals
•       Smoke
•       Musty mold
•       Trash
•       Cooking smells
•       Pets
•       Washing machines
•       Shoes
•       Chemicals in new furniture or carpeting
•       Refrigerator
•       Wet towels and other items in hampers
•       Stale sheets
•       Hot water heaters

The source for some of these is easier to remove than others. For example, if it’s your stale sheets, you wash them! On the other hand, if your house smells musty due to mold, ridding your house of the mold – which can cause health problems – must precede eradicating the smell. But if you’ve eliminated the source of the bad smell, the odor can still linger. So, what can you do about it? In this post, we’re going talk about when your HVAC system is the cause of the problem.

How Your HVAC System Can Be the Solution to Bad Smells in Your Home

No matter the source of the smell, you have several HVAC-related solutions to preventing the buildup of odors in your house and eliminating any existing, lingering smells you may experience at home.

Eliminating Odors in Your Home

Although using candles, essential oil diffusers, or scented “plug-in” or spray air fresheners can help make your nose happier in the short-term, they only ask the odor. Plus, chemicals in those products can cause additional problems. The goal should be to eliminate the source of, rather than cover up, the odor.

Here are ways to get to the root of the problem.

Improve Eentilation to Eliminate Odors

Poor ventilation can cause unpleasant smells in your house and improving ventilation can help to clear odors. When it’s practical, opening some windows and letting fresh air circulate through your home can help. The ozone in the atmosphere reacts with – or oxidizes – the molecules causing the odor. The chemical composition of the molecules is changed, and the smell goes away. And yes, as we described last time, an abundance of ozone can create its own, unpleasant smell. But the normal concentration of ozone in our outdoor environment also helps to eliminate other bad smells.

Opening windows isn’t always an option. For example, families with members who suffer from seasonal allergies, may need to keep the house sealed up even when the weather is pleasant here in Western Pennsylvania. But your ventilation can be improved through your HVAC system, and we can help you determine if poor ventilation is the cause of or contributing to a problem with odors.

Filter the Air in Your Home to Eliminate Odors

First, keep your indoor air as clean as possible by using and frequently cleaning or replacing high-quality HVAC filters.

The next option is an air purification system that works throughout your house. Unlike products that cover up odors with a more pleasant smell, air purifiers can actually “scrub” the air of the stinky molecules. For example, photocatalytic technology used in the PureAir™ air purification system from Lennox removes odors coming from a variety of sources, including pets, cooking smells, chemicals in new carpeting or upholstery, paint, and cleaning products. And the Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16 media air cleaner uses a carbon-coated fiber matrix, which is simply a different process for attacking and removing odors from items in your home, including the air.

“Zap” the Air in Your Home to Eliminate Odors

There are also germicidal UV lights that can be installed directly into your HVAC system to purify your air. The UV lights help prevent odors caused by dust mites, cat saliva, bacteria, animal dander, and mold. These devices use maximum-intensity ultra-violet light, which damages the cells or particles in the pathogens, preventing them from circulating around your house. Plus, there are non-UV light air purifying options we can install in your ductwork that destroy microbes, particulates, and allergens. These systems help keep your family healthy by eliminating pathogens while also attacking odors!

These systems are efficient and affordable, and we can help you determine which is right for you and your home.

If you’ve been battling any lingering smells in your home, don’t tolerate it any longer – and don’t settle for covering up smells with candles* and air fresheners. Give us a call, and we can help you come up with the best HVAC solution for eliminating odors and preventing them from coming back.

*By all means, burn candles and enjoy the scents because they make your home cozy! (There are some nice options at Hygge in Murrysville.) Just don’t use them as a stopgap solution for attacking bad smells in your house!