Whole Home Humidifiers & Dehumidifiers in Tulsa

Whole Home Humidifiers & Dehumidifiers in Tulsa

From dry, itchy skin, to chapped lips, and static electricity, low humidity in the home affects your quality of life. It can affect breathing, irritate the nose and throat, cause nosebleeds, and is especially hard on asthma and allergy sufferers. It can also suck the moisture out of hardwood floors, pianos, guitars, furniture, and other expensive wood-based items, costing you a small fortune.These things can happen if the relative humidity in your home falls below 30 percent.

Benefits Of Whole-House Humidifiers

In the winter, that level can easily dive as low as 15 percent, drier than the air in most desserts. Broken Arrow, Oklahoma should not feel like the Sahara desert. To regulate moisture in your home you need a good humidifier.While most portable units don’t regulate actual humidity levels, and can only humidify one or two rooms, whole-house humidifiers have an immediate connection to your heating system, providing comfort and consistency throughout the home. Portable units run the risk of adding too much moisture to the air, which can lead to mold, mildew, dust mites, and insects. If portable units are not cleaned often, they can become sources of mold and bacteria. Some benefits of whole-house units are that they only need to be cleaned once or twice a year, and don’t use a reservoir, eliminating the dangers of stagnant water in the home. Once ideal humidity levels are set, whole-house humidifiers regulate moisture levels, humidify air as needed, and distribute it to every room in the home.Maintaining humidity levels reduces the chance of respiratory infection by reducing viruses, bacteria, and dust. By eliminating dust you also reduce the time, effort, and cost of cleaning your home. In addition, as dry air feels colder, maintaining proper moisture levels will help you to feel warm naturally, allowing for lower thermostat levels, and lower utility costs.In terms of health, cost, and energy efficiency, whole-house humidifiers are the most beneficial way to regulate humidity in your home. With several models available, the best humidifier for you will depend largely on your existing heating and cooling system, as well as the size of your home.Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information, click here. Air Assurance services Tulsa, Broken Arrow and the surrounding areas.  To get started, check out our website or see our current promotions.

How to Keep Mold and Dampness at Bay This Winter

As a homeowner, you've probably encountered some mold and dampness in your living space. Mold can be a concern year-round, but the fact that your home is closed up all winter long is a reason to increase vigilance when you detect damp conditions.

What Is Mold?

Mold is a natural substance, a kind of fungus that grows indoors and out, but flourishes in warm, humid environments. It reproduces by means of spores.Some common types that occur indoors include Penicillium, Alternaria, Cladosporium and Aspergillus. Mold can be white, black, green or yellow and can look like a stain or discolored area. Although most molds don't develop into problems, excessively damp conditions can cause them to get out of hand.

Where Mold May Be Found

Look for mold infestation in leaky roofs, flooded areas, backed-up sewers, damp crawlspaces and basements, around leaky pipes in cabinets, in showers and wherever there's pooling water. If you use a humidifier or even steam cook food too much, you may increase mold growth in your home.

Harmful Effects

Some of the problems mold can cause are asthma attacks, irritated noses, throats or eyes, wheezing, coughs and worsening allergies, Seniors and young children, as well as those with respiratory ailments and compromised immune systems are particularly at risk. Mold can also cause infestations in a sensitive person's lungs.

How to Control Mold

Inside a home, get rid of whatever mold is growing on -- carpet, bedding, upholstery or materials, such as wood, fabric and paper. If mold is just on a non-porous surface, clean it with mold cleaner or detergent, as well as hot water and a brush.

Also, fix any leaks and ventilate the shower and kitchen areas. If you discover mold infestations in a sewer or if it's contaminating water, a professional should be called on.

For more information, contact Air Assurance in Broken Arrow.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

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Air Too Dry This Winter? Get a Handle on Static Electricity in Your Home

The winter climate in Oklahoma can make air dry and uncomfortable. On top of that, dry air frequently leads to static electricity, which is one of wintertime’s biggest nuisances. Here are some of the best ways to zap static electricity.

What Causes Static Electricity?

Static electricity is caused by an imbalance of negative and positive charges on an object. The object can be inanimate or animate. The charges naturally want to balance themselves. When a second object has physical contact with the unbalanced object, current carrying the charge travels from one to the other in an effort to balance the charges. If one of the “objects” is you, you will feel an electrical shock that can be quite mild, or it can cause a second of pain. Either way, the shock you experience from static electricity comes as an unpleasant surprise. Lack of air moisture increases static electricity. That’s why it frequently occurs in the wintertime.

How Can You Reduce or Eliminate Static Electricity?

At home

You can reduce the odds of getting shocked by static electricity in your home by running a humidifier in the wintertime. Humidifiers work by adding moisture to the air. An upright humidifier for a family room is ideal, while small, tabletop models for bedrooms work best. Just make sure you change the filters on a routine basis to keep mold and allergens at bay. Used correctly, humidifiers can also help keep your family healthy in winter

In your car

When you slide out of your car, you generate static electricity. The next thing you touch will shock you. But if you hold on to the steering wheel as you exit, you will protect yourself from getting shocked. This is especially helpful if you are fueling up your car at the gas station, because static electricity can actually be dangerous around gasoline.

On your clothes

Prevent skirts from clinging to your stockings by using fabric softener sheets in the dryer or using a commercial static spray.

For more information about improving your indoor air quality and possibly installing a whole house humidifier, contact us today.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). 

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Go Green This Winter With These Energy-Saving Tips

Go Green This Winter With These Energy-Saving Tips

Winter requires pretty much everybody to use their heating system in order to stay warm. However, many homeowners are trying to go green this winter by taking steps to reduce their energy usage. Follow this basic guide and use our energy-saving tips to go green and still keep your home comfortable and warm for yourself and your family.

• Lower the temperature of your thermostat a few degrees below where you would normally keep it. Every single degree lower can save you up to 5 percent on your energy bill in the winter months, and chances are you won’t notice much of a difference anyway. Put on a warm sweater and lower your thermostat a few degrees in the evening and you’ll save even more money when you go green.

• Install a two-zone programmable thermostat in your home that allows you to set different temperatures in different areas of your home. For example, you can keep your bedroom a little warmer while allowing the temperature to drop a few degrees lower while you’re sleeping in order to save money.

• Use your programmable thermostat to reduce your energy bills by lowering the temperature in your home considerably when you’re at work. You can set up a schedule on your thermostat so that your home is cool while you’re gone and nice and warm when you’re home. There’s no need to heat an empty house.

• Put a humidifier in rooms you spend a lot of time in like your bedroom. The warm moist air will help make you feel warmer even when the temperature might be a few degrees lower than you would normally keep it.

• Have your heating system inspected and tuned up by qualified professionals before you start using it regularly. An inefficient system will cost you more since you’ll need to run it much more frequently.

Contact Air Assurance for more information and tips on how to go green this winter. We’ve been serving the greater Tulsa metropolitan area since 1985 and we’re proud to help area residents with all of their heating and air conditioning needs.

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Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). 

Image courtesy of Shutterstock