Here in Greater Vancouver, we’re going to remember the first two weeks of September 2020 for lots of things. Apart from CoVid19, we’re also facing horrible, thick grey skies. The thick smoke causing burning eyes and sore throats throughout the Vancouver area has resulted in the city having the second-worst air quality in the world, according to Swiss-based IQAir.

“I was in the middle of Pitt Lake, and couldn’t even see the mountains,” Gary Poirier said about a weekend boating trip.

The cause is smoke from fires that have burned over four million acres of forests and towns all along the Pacific Coast from California to the Canadian border, reaching well into Alberta.

We’ve had a few years respite from these wildfires. Two years ago, most of the wildfires were “home-grown.”

Doctors warn us all to keep our doors closed and to stay indoors with air quality is poor due to heavy smoke from wildfires. But, what steps can we take to minimize potentially serious health impacts from wildfire smoke that might seep into our homes?
There are many ways outdoor air enters your home; these include opening windows and doors, bathroom or kitchen fans venting to the outdoors, and HVAC systems with a fresh air intake.
You can improve your indoor air quality in several ways. You can start with simple no-cost steps first.

Avoid activities that create smoke or other particles indoors
• Smoking cigarettes, pipes, and cigars.
• Using gas, propane, or wood-burning stoves and furnaces.
• Spraying aerosol products.
• Frying or broiling food.
• Burning candles or incense.
• Vacuuming, unless you use a vacuum with a HEPA filter.

Thomson has many solutions for clean comfort with their recommended indoor air essentials. They’ve got you covered for pure air comfort from duct cleaning, humidifiers, replacement filters, and filtration systems.

They offer Daikin’s Premium Air Cleaner, a filter cabinet, and a replaceable filter that goes beyond just heating and cooling. It’s intuitively designed without dimensions, so it will fit whatever equipment you have right now. Like many of Daikin’s products, you are protected with a 12-year parts limited warranty.
The Premium Air cleaner is a MERV 15 media filter that removes more than 85% of particles down to 0.3 microns. It removes over 98% of the most three common mold spores that are found in homes.

The pleated media also removes 99% of ragweed, 72% of cat dander, and over 73% of dust mites from the airstream.

Right in the middle is the Clean Comfort Whole Home HEPA Air Cleaner, which removes 99.97% of all particles as small as .3 microns from a home’s air. It’s great for a multi-family home, as it removes cooking, smoking, paint smells, and other household activities. You may not want to smell the fried fish from a downstairs suite, and the AMHP-300-GT, will take it away nicely.

This unit also helps protect and prolong your home’s heating and cooling equipment’s operating efficiency, so it does double duty. It makes the air cleaner and saves you money down the road on the replacement of your HVAC.
At the top of the line is the Clean Comfort UV Light Air Purifier. Ultraviolet lamps have been used in a wide range of sterilization applications for almost 100 years! It has a self-cleaning quartz germicidal UVC and UW oxidizing lamp, which disinfects the air in your home, lowering the concentration of mold, bacteria, viruses, and odors. It comes with a three-year parts limited warranty. It will fit perfectly in your furnace and split systems ducting.

Although we’re struggling with the smoke outside right now, the benefits of cleaner air throughout the year are an excellent reason to look into improving your indoor air quality today. Once winter sets in, and all of our windows are sealed shut, indoor air quality becomes compromised by pollutants from wood stoves and other heat sources; pet dander; dust mites; VOCs, (volatile organic compounds), and poor air circulation. Air purifiers improve winter AND summer air quality inside your home.

Please note that an air purifier can not be counted on to remove carbon monoxide from your home’s air. Even if you use an air purifier, you should keep a carbon monoxide detector operating at all times.

The folks at Thomson Industries can help you find the right solution for your home. You can phone them at 604-552-2990 or make an appointment online at thomsonindustries.ca