For the past 3 weeks my family has been using our home in a new way: as a school house for our children. That means that 3 out of 4 people in our family are in our home 24/7 now (excluding outings and errands). The indoor air quality has become all the more important to me in light of this change, especially after learning that the EPA conducted a 17 year study of women working at home, and discovered a 55% greater risk for those women to die of cancer as opposed to women who worked in an office setting. The air we breathe affects us (and our children) so ensuring that it is free of harmful chemicals is a worthwhile endeavor.
So what can you do to ensure that your home isn’t harboring these invisible threats? The first thing to do is to ditch all of your harmful household chemicals and switch to products that are eco-friendly. This is a step that my family took several years ago, and it’s a great first step, but it’s not really enough. As it turns out, so many different things in your home, from your walls to your rugs to your curtains, have the capability of producing off gas, especially if they are new (my new area rug comes to mind as a culprit). You know that “new” smell that many items have when you purchase them? Yeah…that’s often toxic chemicals, and it can be released for days, weeks or even longer.
Ok, but throwing out all of your furniture and sitting on the bare floor isn’t something you or I are ever going to do, so what now? Well this is where your HVAC air filter can step in and help you out immensely. We are currently using the EnviroKlenz HVAC filter because it’s the very best product I’ve seen on the market for eliminating VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in the home. If your house is a newer construction or if you have recently done some remodeling, this is especially critical for you to consider, but even if this is not the case and if you are already rocking those green cleaners, please realize that every time you open a door or window you are letting the outside air in, and that air contains traces of diesel fuel, methanol, nitrous oxide, ammonia, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, pollen, and more.
A traditional HVAC filter will typically do a decent job at removing bacteria and dust and dander, and that’s a decent start, especially for those of us with allergies. But the EnviroKlenz filter goes above and beyond to actually remove the toxic vapors that are entering your house, and/or that are already present in your home.
It’s important to note that this filter isn’t simply masking odors, nor does it release it’s own chemicals back into your environment. By making use of zinc oxide, magnesium oxide, and titanium dioxide, harsh chemicals in the air will actually be destroyed. So in addition to taking care of all that gross stuff you can see trapped in the filter above, it’s also taking care of the dangerous stuff you can’t see.
The EnviroKlenz HVAC Air Cartridge only needs to be replaced every 6 months, which means it lasts twice as long as most other filters. It is on the higher end, price-wise ($99) but I think the protection it provides for the people in your home is worthy of the extra cost. And to help make it an even easier decision, I’ve got a coupon for you. Use STUFF15 at checkout to save 15%.
If you have any other tips to share about how to keep the air inside your home cleaner, please leave a comment below!
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