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The Role of HVAC in Indoor Air Quality Management

October 31, 2024

Have you noticed an increase in your employees’ allergies or sick days? If so, you’ll benefit from understanding how to improve air quality in commercial buildings. At Interstate AC, we’ve served the community for over 20 years and can efficiently tackle jobs of any complexity.

What Is Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)?

Indoor air quality includes the temperature, airflow, humidity levels, and pollutants in a building’s air. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates Americans spend roughly 87% of their time indoors. Consequently, indoor air often affects a person’s health more than outdoor air.

Indoor air pollution affects your employees’ health, satisfaction, and productivity. From reducing volatile organic compounds to regulating humidity, IAQ remains an important aspect of occupational safety.

Signs Your Company Has Poor Air Quality

How do you know you should improve air quality in commercial buildings?

Increased Health Issues

The most long-term effects of poor air filtration in a commercial office building include persistent health problems. The least severe consequences include a rise in allergy symptoms like a runny nose, scratchy throat, and itchy eyes. However, even minor symptoms can significantly reduce how efficiently your employees work.

Prolonged exposure to low-quality building air can have serious consequences for your workforce. A polluted indoor environment can produce the following health complications:

  • Coughing, wheezing, and trouble breathing
  • An increase in the frequency and severity of asthma attacks
  • A burning sensation in the chest
  • Eye and throat irritation
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema
  • An increased vulnerability to breast or lung cancer
  • An enhanced risk of heart attack

Uncomfortable Work Conditions

Employees thrive in office buildings with good indoor air quality. If the air quality is poor, your workers may notice a spike in relative humidity. When the level surpasses 60%, it can feel like working in a tropical jungle.

When an HVAC system doesn’t perform well, it may not have adequate air movement, which can cause your employees to feel too hot or cold. Uncomfortable indoor environments can also make it difficult for workers to concentrate.

Poor HVAC Equipment and Ventilation System Performance

HVAC systems that don’t perform well often lead to a poor indoor environment. A system may operate poorly because of dirt buildup or blocked air vents. Dirt and dust can contain indoor air contaminants, making maintaining indoor air quality impossible. When a commercial building has subpar HVAC systems, health complications aren’t far behind.

Unpleasant Smells

While not all indoor air pollutants (like carbon monoxide) create foul smells, mold, and other biological contaminants often do. These smells can distract from an office environment and indicate the presence of air pollution that can spread health complications throughout a commercial building.

How To Improve Indoor Air Quality in Commercial Buildings

Do you want to improve office air quality? Growing office plants and regularly dusting your office furniture can help, but don’t overlook the important role heating, cooling, and ductwork play in maintaining good indoor air quality.

Clean Your Air Ducts

If you want to improve air quality in commercial buildings, clean your air ducts every three to five years. If you notice the signs you have poor air in your office building, you should schedule duct cleaning more frequently. If you live in an area with poor outdoor air quality, you should also consider scheduling cleaning more often.

When dust builds up in your ducts or vents, exhaust fans blow it throughout your building. Investing in clean ductwork can help you improve indoor air quality throughout your building.

Change Your Air Filters

Improving indoor air quality requires regularly changing your system’s air filters. The air filter helps mitigate the effects of poor outdoor air quality by trapping dust and particulates before they enter your ductwork.

You can find air filters that only require cleaning or changing every three months, but you should change most filters every 30 days. Certain factors can increase how frequently you should change your filter, including:

  • Employees who smoke near the building
  • Allowing pets on the premises
  • Living in a polluted area
  • Not dusting or vacuuming frequently

Schedule Annual Furnace and Air Conditioning Maintenance

Routine HVAC maintenance plays an important role in maintaining indoor air quality. By scheduling maintenance for every HVAC device at least once a year, you ensure it continues to regulate humidity, maintain great airflow, and filter pollutants. This also saves you money in the long term by keeping your energy bills low, reducing the frequency of repairs, and extending the life of your device.

Install Filtration Systems

The Environmental Protection Agency identifies building-wide systems like an air purifier or indoor air quality sensors as one of the best ways to maintain adequate air quality. While your air conditioning and furnace play a pivotal role, the devices can’t handle all the purification you need.

Call Interstate AC To Improve the Quality of Your Indoor Air

Are you a building manager who wants to improve air quality in commercial buildings? Reach out to Interstate AC.

Whether you want us to install an air purifier or need help controlling relative humidity, you’ll love our dedication to customer satisfaction. Building managers love us because we make HVAC repairs, installation, and maintenance stress-free.

Schedule service by calling 615-802-COOL (2665).


Frequently Asked Questions

If you still have questions about why a building owner should improve the air quality in an office space, consider the answers to the topic’s most common questions we’ve provided below.

Does Poor Indoor Air Quality Violate OSHA Standards?

Poor indoor air quality can violate the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards if the particulate matter reaches 500 parts per million. OSHA and the Environmental Protection Agency require office buildings to maintain these standards.

What Are the Major Indoor Pollutants?

Major indoor pollutants include secondhand smoke, building materials like asbestos, gaseous pollutants from gas stoves, and particulate matter like dust mites.

Why Should Building Management Improve Air Quality in Commercial Buildings?

Building management should improve air quality in commercial buildings to keep workers healthy, satisfied, and productive.