Your indoor air quality is important when you think about dust, dander, and debris, but you may not have planned ahead for wildfire smoke. It’s a serious health risk to everyone it affects despite the degree.
To plan ahead, you need the right systems installed. Let’s talk about what you can do to defend your home and your family against wildfire smoke.
Install a Whole House Air Purifier
Whole house air purifiers are one of your biggest lines of defense against wildfire smoke. They strip pollutants from the air and make it easier to breathe. The type of air filter you choose for your air purifier also plays a vital role.
Close Your Fireplace With a Throat Damper
Your fireplace is meant to let smoke rise through the chimney and exit your home, but in wildfire conditions, it can actually be a liability and allow wildfire smoke inside instead. Thankfully, there’s a solution to this: use the throat damper in your fireplace.
Use High-Efficiency Filters in Your Air Conditioner
You don’t have to turn your air conditioner off during wildfire smoke conditions. Using a HEPA filter can pull more smoke particles from the air, though you’ll definitely want to change your filter earlier than expected once wildfire smoke has cleared. That way you can be assured no leftover smoke particles in your filter will impact your indoor air quality.
Other Tips for Protecting Your Home From Wildfire Smoke
With smoke comes ashes. It’s not unreasonable for ashes to coat the group, especially if you’re fairly close to the scene of the wildfire. It’s dangerous for you, your pets, and your family to breathe in any ashes you may track in from outside. This is what you can do.
- Take a shower shortly after entering the home (especially if you work outside all day).
- Use doormats and clean them often.
- Don’t wear shoes beyond the door. Put them into a bag when you enter the home.
- Don’t use evaporative coolers, since they bring in more air from outside.
- If you have some, run portable air purifiers in multiple rooms to complement the efforts of your whole house air purifier.
Be Prepared for it All
Wildfire smoke conditions are frightening, but you can defend against them. The biggest threat to your home and your family is the low air quality that wildfire smoke creates. Safeguard against that first and foremost, and make sure you have the right home systems to help you combat it.
Our team of Home Performance Experts has served the I-5 corridor from Blaine to Marysville, Oak Harbor to Concrete, and the San Juan Islands since 1972 with a mission of Improving Lives™. We look forward to serving you too! Contact Barron Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, and Electrical today.