What Are VOCs and How Do They Impact Your Air Quality?
Volatile organic compounds, known as VOCs for short, are gases released into the air. These gases release into the air via various processes or by certain products. Some VOCs can harm people, even resulting in serious medical conditions like cancer. Other VOCs may not be harmful right away, but they can turn harmful. When they react with other gases in the air to form air pollutants in your home.
Where Do VOCs Come From?
It's vital to note that VOCs can be both outdoors and indoors. Common outdoor sources include gasoline, emissions, oil extraction, wood burning, and diesel emissions. There are also many sources of indoor VOCs. These include wood burning stoves, office printers, tobacco, and air fresheners. Adhesives, flooring products, paint strippers, and varnishes can also be VOCs. It's important to note that VOCs can circulate throughout your home via your HVAC system. This allows them to become more dangerous.
How Do VOCs Impact Human Health?
The short answer is that VOCs impact health via poor air quality. These harmful pollutants release into your air and circulate via your HVAC system. They can irritate your nose, throat, and eyes. They can cause difficulty breathing and nausea. In extreme cases, they can cause permanent damage to the central nervous system. Some particular VOCs have caused different types of cancer in the body.
How To Protect Against Harmful VOCs
Once you learn the dangers of VOCs, it's likely that you want to learn how to avoid them. The best strategy is to limit VOC emissions inside of your home. Always look for products that have a low VOC label or rating. Don't allow any indoor smoking at your home as it can emit VOCs and reduce your indoor air quality.
Whenever you do have to use products with VOCs in them, be sure to ventilate the area. This means opening windows and turning on fans. Turn off your HVAC system so that the VOC-tampered air doesn't circulate to other rooms in your home. When you buy new products that have VOCs, let them air outside before bringing them inside. Examples include new building products or carpeting.
Call Our HVAC Professionals Today
If you're worried about the air quality inside of your home, it's time to contact us. We'll help you improve your indoor air quality and upgrade your HVAC system. We want to make sure that it provides the right ventilation to reduce VOCs inside of your home.
