Indoor Air Quality – Dryer Vents?
It’s summer…even officially on the calendar! For me that means a lot of laundry because everyone is home more. Everyone being home more means more clothes being changed more often (sweat, sports, swimming etc.) which means lots more laundry. Laundry leads me to think of cleaning the dryer lint trap and leads me to thinking about the dryer vent. Then, because of what I do, makes me think about indoor air quality. That’s a long way to say it got me wondering if the dryer vents and/or lint traps have any effect on the indoor air quality of my home.
Answer. Maybe. Of course, you see the lint flying through the air when you clean the lint trap. That may affect the quality of your air temporarily but as soon as the air circulates through you HVAC system and through the high-quality HEPA filters I’m sure you use, that part is taken care of. But, do you use dryer sheets and/or fragrant detergents or fabric softeners? If so, those can have an adverse effect on the quality of your indoor air. Those things are generally created with harsh chemicals that infiltrate your air. Our bodies aren’t naturally equipped to handle such chemicals and therefore can cause adverse affects on our health. It was definitely eye-opening for me.
The other part that I found, upon doing a little research, was that not only can the fragrance filled products we use for our laundry affect the indoor air it can also affect the outside air. That never even crossed my mind. But, when I thought about it, it is very obvious when neighbors are doing laundry. The fragrance filters right out the dryer vents and into our outside air. So, not only could we possibly be polluting the indoor air for ourselves and our guests but we could be polluting the outside air for everyone else. The only true solution for that particular problem is to opt for fragrance free products or make your own and add only natural fragrance.
Of course, another problem with dryer vents is the fire danger that they can become if not properly cleaned regularly. Make sure you are doing that. My research suggested tht over 15,000 fires a year are started by clogged dryer vents. Not only that, but clogged vents prevent your dryer from working properly and can wear them out prematurely.
Who knew simply doing the summer laundry could lead to such questions and possible solutions? Here’s to cleaner indoor air and properly running dryers!
As always, if you have any questions about indoor air quality or are interested in air duct cleaning or air purification please visit our site or give us a call!
Sources: http://createyourhealthyhome.com/improve-your-indoor-air-quality/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3226517/
Air Duct Cleaning Broward
June 28, 2016 @ 5:15 am
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