Indoor Air Quality Solutions: Cleaner, Healthier Air for Your Home

What indoor air quality means in South Florida

In most of the country the question is particles. Here it is mostly moisture. A coil that runs wet eight months of the year, a drain pan that has never been treated and a return that pulls from an attic or a garage will do more to the air in a house than anything arriving through a window.

That is why we start with the system rather than with a product. A sealed return, a filter that actually fits its rack and a clean coil change more than any appliance sold on the promise of clean air, and they cost less.

The four things we look at first

The return path, because an unsealed one is filtering nothing. The coil and the pan, because a wet surface in a warm closet grows what wet surfaces grow. The filter, because a high grade one that does not seal is worse than a modest one that does. And the run time, because a system that never runs long enough leaves the humidity exactly where it was.

What we fit when the system is already right

Once the basics are in order, equipment earns its place. Filtration and HEPA-grade media for households where particles are the complaint. UV lamps at the coil where the air handler sits in a warm space. Dehumidifiers for a house that is empty part of the year. Duct sealing where the return is drawing from somewhere it should not.

We will also tell you when the answer is none of them. A filter and a treated drain solve a surprising share of what gets described as an air quality problem.

Questions we are asked here

Will an air purifier fix a musty smell?

Usually not by itself. That smell almost always comes from a wet coil and an untreated drain pan, and it is strongest at start-up because that is when air first crosses the wet surface.

What humidity should a Florida house sit at?

A level where the house feels dry without the system running constantly. We measure across a day rather than quote a number, because midday and midnight are different problems.

Is duct cleaning an air quality measure?

Sometimes, after construction work or a rodent. Far more often the useful job is sealing the return so unfiltered air stops entering the system in the first place.