• Ventilator: A ventilator replaces a portion of stale indoor air with fresh outdoor air, reducing energy loss in the process. Air exchangers will let users manually or automatically adjust the fresh air flow. The units retain energy used to heat or cool the home, saving the homeowner money on utility bills.
• UV Light: A UV light is designed to prevent mold spore growth on conditioning coils. This technology, used for decades in water treatment, helps reduce allergic reactions to mold while enhancing overall air quality.
• Air cleaner: An air cleaner offers an effective way to remove up to 94 percent of the particles - dust, pollens, pet dander, plant spores, fungi, bacteria, tobacco smoke, etc. - from the air that passes through the home.
• Whole house humidifier: A whole house humidifier replenishes the much-needed moisture in the air inside the home. This is important because warm, dry air absorbs moisture from everything around it, and breathing this air can be difficult.

Indoor air quality is a term used heavily in the modern HVAC industry. Is it really important, or just another way to spend money?

Actually, beneath the marketing noise, there are solid reasons for considering indoor air quality products for your home. The newer your house, the more tightly it is sealed. Why? To conserve energy. Energy Star® even publishes information about proper sealing of residential homes to help save our natural resources. With modern homes built to be energy efficient, they can also be a breeding ground for mold spores, pollutants, viruses and more.

When you spray a powerful disinfectant in the bathroom, do you think those chemicals just go away? When a child is sick with the flu, does the virus stay confined to their bedroom? The answer is no. Chemicals, pollutants, pet dander, viruses - all of these can be circulated round and round through the entire home when you do not have any indoor air quality (IAQ) components installed.

The important thing to understand is this: one IAQ product alone cannot do everything. They are not mutually exclusive.

A UV lamp doesn't clean your air - it isn't designed to. It is designed to kill mold that can grow in the damp interior of an evaporator coil. If that mold isn't killed, the efficiency of your HVAC system drops, and mold spores can get into your home air. That is all a UV lamp does. If you want it to filter your air, you will be disappointed.