The Answer Guide

How Can I Reduce Dust?

Do you find the need to dust frequently?...
Would you like to be able to dust less often,still keep you home clean,
and improve indoor air quality all at the same time?

Dust is the plague of many homeowners. It seems to appear out of thin air and gather in your home. Dust, dander, and allergens permeate the air in any home.

Worse than the dust you can see are the particulates floating in the air of your home that are invisible to the naked eye. Like dust, these particulates will eventually settle. But that can take half a day or more and while they are floating in the air, you are breathing them into your lungs.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution that will capture 95% of indoor pollutants automatically, without effort on your part. For pennies a day over the life an electronic air cleaner, you can reduce household dust and airborne pollutants.

A Few Facts

• Government research studies have found that indoor air is 10 to 100 times more polluted than outside air. People spend 90% of their time indoors.
• Most airborne particles are so small they cannot be seen without the aid of an electron microscope. These particles comprise 80% of the airborne particles in your home. The airborne particles visible with the naked eye represent 0.1% of visible particles. The rest are visible with a microscope.
• It should be no surprise then, that each person breathes an average of two teaspoons of dust, dust mites, pollen, mold, viruses, bacteria, pet dander, carpet fiber and second-hand smoke into their lungs each day. These particulates are invisible to the human eye.
• Throw-away filters trap less than 10% of the pollutants, while electronic air cleaners capture 95%

Where dust comes from?
Dust comes from a variety of sources, including skin cells, carpet and fabric fibers, gypsum dust from walls, wood fire ash, candles, pollens, dust from outdoors, your hair, insect remains, and so on. What you can see is just the half of it (well, not even the half of it). Your home is filled with invisible airborne particulates from aerosols, cooking residue, grease, smoke, bacteria, and viruses. Visible particulates collect on your furnishings. Invisible particulates remain airborne for long periods of time, increasing the chance you will inhale them so they will collect on your lungs.

What can I do?
Throwaway air conditioning filters can help catch some dust. More effective are mechanical filters (i.e., deep, pleated media filters). The most effective solution—some say the only effective solution is an electronic air cleaner, which traps 95% of indoor pollutants. Over it’s life, an electronic air cleaner costs less than 30¢ per day, a bargain compared to the price of paying someone to dust.

© 2003 Service Roundtable