Two weeks ago the home of neighborly retired resident of Sun City Center, Alice*, was opened to our life enhancement consultants upon a call for our standard no-cost water quality testing, though what panned out was a surprise to all. In discussing her water analyses bouts of coughing and scratching of the eyes were impossible for Jonathan, the consultant, to overlook and he inquired whether or not she had a respiratory condition. She spoke of it in terms of an unwelcome development, having been a picture of fitness in her younger years though now affected with regular allergy symptoms, coughing, and dry eyes. Having started up in just the past ten years, she tied this affliction to her move down to Florida upon retiring from an administrative career in Pennsylvania. Rumors from friends beforehand told her to expect a whole slew of environmental differences, so at the onset she logically assigned blame to the different grasses, flowers, and the range of diverse plant life floating in the Tampa Bay winds. It was on suspicion of water contamination from local construction that she looked up our Water Quality department and gave Healthy Home a call.

     Jonathan (a specialist in both water and indoor air quality) offered to help her investigate if there were any environmental solutions to be implemented through an Indoor Air Quality Analysis. The first step of this was conducting a True Laser Particle Count with the Air Quality Monitor carried by each consultant to accurately gauge the air pollutants in the home. Alice couldn’t believe that air quality and allergy relief technology was at this point, as she had never previously had a laser particle count in her household. The disbelief shifted to Jonathan once he whipped out the monitor and the digital reading appeared, showing Alice had a whopping 32,700 particulate pollutants PER CUBIC FOOT OF AIR in the center (and most open area) of her home. No amount of Claritin and cough drops was going to fix that kind of indoor air quality DISASTER.

     Alice could not believe that the air inside her home was worse than the outside, but it’s sad to say it’s an all too common situation. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has observed levels of indoor air pollutants as high as 2 to 5 times that of outdoor in various studies, and the homes of Florida are no different. The implementing of energy-efficiency products and practices also greater seals in air and allows pollutants to re-circulate with less ability to escape through ventilation. The cause could be anywhere from Alice’s air conditioning system to her ducts, or ventilation, or air handler, or dirt caked into the surfaces of her entire home, the list goes on… so Jonathan got right to work.

     As is included with every free indoor air quality consultation he utilized the Purestar 1000 Air Purifier in her polluted bedroom to perform an Air Wash: a deep decontamination of the airspace with the power of the HEPA filtration to demonstrate the state of a clean airspace. During the duration of the Air Wash, he inspected the condition of her A/C filters, her return filter and also inquired about her household activities relating to air quality to see what may be bringing. With this information he was able to refer her for the HVAC inspection that led to the discovery of a duct contamination problem that seemed to have been in effect since before she purchased the home. Upon walking back into her bedroom when the Purestar Air Wash was completed and with a deep breath of the filtered crisp air she knew her troubles would be coming to an end.

If you have NEVER gotten a laser particle count for the airspace of your home, have recently moved into a new home, or are not 100% SURE you could get a zero particle reading from our air quality monitors: