Americans spend around 90 percent of their time indoors, whether it's working, eating, enjoying hobbies, or sleeping. As a result, the need for a cleaner, healthier, more connected home has never been greater.
Fortunately, eComfort is your one-stop-shop for everything you need to improve indoor living.
Let’s start with the stuff you breathe. If you’ve ever seen a ray of sunlight shine through your window at just the right angle, you’ve noticed all the dust flying in the air. You may have even been tempted to hold your breath.
Besides dust, though, there may be chemicals, dead skin, and even insect droppings floating in your home’s air! In fact, concentrations of indoor air pollutants are 2-5 times higher than outdoor concentrations.
Fortunately, the following solutions can go a long way in improving home air quality.
Ventilation products help your home breathe by exhausting stale air and bringing in fresh air. Different products offer different levels of ventilation. While exhaust fans simply exhaust the bad stuff, air exchangers replace it with fresh air. Heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) and energy recovery ventilators (ERVs) take it a step further by preserving the air temperature and humidity levels.
So basic yet so important, having fresh, clean filters in your heating and cooling system can go a long way toward healthier home air. The higher the MERV rating on your filter, the smaller the particles it will capture. Filtration is not a “one and done” deal, however. You need to replace your filters every 60 – 90 days, which eComfort makes easy with its filter subscription service.
Air purification products target the pollutants instead of filtering or ventilating the air. Electronic air cleaners or HEPA filters capture everything down to even some bacteria. Ultraviolet (UV) lamp systems use UV light to destroy organic contaminants, including many viruses if exposure time is long enough. If you’re serious about clean air, you can’t beat an air purifier.
Humidifiers and dehumidifiers remove or replace water in the air. If there’s too much moisture, you may feel muggy, and mold can grow more easily—that's when you need a dehumidifier to remove the excess water. Too little moisture in the air will dry you out and make it easier to get sick—a humidifier will solve that by adding moisture. Home humidity levels should remain at 40% – 60%.
Clean drinking water is vital for your family’s health and safety. Unfortunately, you can’t count on the utility to completely clean your water. Ironically, the cleaning additives introduced during the water sanitation process can be harmful at high levels. Not to mention you may have rusty pipes in your home that taint incoming water. Investing in water filtration is a great line of defense, especially if you get groundwater.
Carbon is the world’s oldest form of water filtration and works by trapping water contaminants as they pass through. It is effective at removing organic compounds, such as pesticides and herbicides, chlorine, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and certain heavy metals. However, carbon does not remove minerals like calcium or magnesium.
A reverse osmosis water filter is the ultimate home water filtration system. It forces water with contaminants across a semi-permeable membrane (think of a sand sifter). The contaminants stay behind while the clean water flows through to the tap. It typically has several filtration stages, including a built-in carbon filter for extra protection. Choose reverse osmosis for seriously healthy water.
If you're having trouble getting that nice, soapy lather when bathing or seeing limescale buildup on your shower walls, you could have hard water. The "hardness" is caused by too much calcium and magnesium in the water. Using a water softener will remove these unwanted minerals on a regular basis and make you feel cleaner after a shower.
The growth of smart technology has made home life more convenient and interesting. Most importantly, it has automated backup and safety devices, making them more reactive to all the disruptions we experience these days.
A smart home starts with a central hub that integrates every device in one central control system. The Google Nest Hub responds to your voice when you ask for the time, weather, or even a recipe on the internet. When paired with other devices like security cameras, it will alert you who’s at the door and remotely turn on the lights. That’s just a sampling of what it can do too.
If you’re ever away from home or at home alone and want to know what’s going on, smart security cameras and/or doorbells can help you keep an eye on things. The Nest Cam indoor security camera streams video of your home straight to your phone, alerts you to any abnormal sounds, and even allows you to communicate (tell your dog to get off the couch while you’re in Bora Bora!)
Smart smoke detectors and CO Alarms offer major improvements over traditional models. You can install multiple alarms throughout your home. When one activates, all the others display the alert, letting you know where the smoke or gas was detected. This gives extra time to react if the leak is on the opposite side of the home. It can also alert you when you're not at home, so you can call for help.
Smart thermostats "learn” your temperature preferences and constantly keep your home comfortable. They can also detect how many people are in a room and adjust the temperature accordingly. Some models even include a fully integrated voice assistant that you can talk to if you have a question, want to make a temperature adjustment, or need to order groceries. Check out our article on ecobee vs Nest smart thermostats to compare these two major options.
Power outages are bad during normal times, but they can be catastrophic during these “new” normal times of working or learning from home. Imagine having to give a virtual board presentation and the power goes out. Oops. A home standby generator will automatically kick on in the event of a blackout and safeguard your power. Some come with smart technology that lets you monitor power usage.
Your home is primarily a living space. However, it can also be an office, classroom, rec center, or even worship space. Most importantly, it’s your sanctuary. With all the time you spend at home, don’t shortchange cleanliness and safety. eComfort is dedicated to making your home smart, safe, and clean.
Please contact us for help with any questions about our suite of products and how they can help you.