Though Whatcom County continuously ranks as having some of the best air quality around, we’re not without our air challenges. From allergy to smoke season, there are times when it’s tough to get a clean breath.
This doesn’t even touch on indoor factors like off-gassing, bacteria, and the stale nature of the air in most homes. (The EPA reports that indoor air is five times more polluted than outdoor air.) But Barron Heating and Air Conditioning has a solution that’s so clean “you lose the urge to open your doors and windows,” says Wes Diskin, Barron system designer.
For many of us, smoke season has proven a bigger foe than allergy season ever was. Worse, compound that smoke with summer heat and the suffering escalates. Diskin explains, “It’s one thing to be closing your windows and doors from the smoke outside. But when it’s really hot, then you’re just trapped. You can’t go outside because you can’t breathe, and you can’t stay inside because you can’t breathe.”
Barron has solutions.
“Air quality has a bunch of different layers,” Diskin says, explaining the three pillars of their system. First, there is the necessity for clean and well-sealed ductwork. Clean, leak-free ducts ensure that air goes right where intended instead of leaks in walls, crawlspaces and the attic.
Once the ducts are ready, air conditioning can be addressed so that doors and windows can stay shut and keep out smoke and irritants, such as allergens. “You can then control your indoor environment from a comfort standpoint,” says Diskin.
Once the air is controlled for direction and temperature, we can start to think about how to clean it up. Barron advises an electronic air cleaner to zap big-particles first. “Electronic air cleaners allow air to pass through the system easily, but are really great on particulates,” says Diskin. “They also eat smoke. So that system can not only filter the air in the house really well, but can also attack one of the main contributors to [poor] air quality in our area.”
“Then we have an air scrubber,” he continues. This system boasts not only a filter, but releases ionized hydrogen peroxide that’s known to eliminate “sick building syndrome,” viruses, bacteria, and more.
In other words, the indoor air may suddenly become as fresh as, or fresher than, the outdoor air. During flu season, especially, many of us are used to running around with Lysol, hitting every doorknob. “You never have to do that again,” says Diskin, “because this is actively doing that all the time.”
Finally, Diskin explains the last step in Barron’s Ultimate Air system: a bypass HEPA filtration system. “This bypass HEPA filtration is so thick and dense that we can’t put it into the heating system or it would choke it out,” he says.
Barron bypasses the system for this HEPA filter, running the air through the HEPA system a little at a time, kind of like dialysis for the air. The air goes through a HEPA filter, a carbon filter, and photovoltaic oxidation. The photovoltaic oxidation destroys volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and indoor off-gassing or chemical compounds from things like that new sofa.
“You can’t help but have your life and your health changed by a system like that,” says Diskin. Considering that the EPA reports the average American spends 90% of their time indoors, air quality is probably more important than most everything else.
“We’re doing this because it affects people’s lives in dramatic ways,” Diskin says. He tells the story of a family with a child who had to seek refuge outside regularly because the indoor air made him feel sick. Twice per week the family took the child to a children’s hospital for treatments. Once these systems were installed, those treatments were reduced to once per month and the child was able to feel comfortable in the house all the time.
“You can’t see it,” says Diskin of the particulates, viruses, and VOC’s that can make us ill inside our homes.
He tells another story of a woman who had a body-covering rash and wouldn’t leave her home as a result. Her house was making her sick, and when they installed the system, she was able to not just find relief, but to rid herself of the rash and regain her freedom. She suffered in this way for decades, Diskin explains, and the rash went away within two weeks. “I got my life back,” she told Diskin.
“That’s why Barron Heating is different,” Diskin says. And there is feeling in his voice, almost a cracking. He cares about the difference this makes for people. “We are effecting a solution. We changed it from ‘Let’s make it better’ to ‘Let’s impact people’s lives, and let’s love customers and change the health of our community.’ And that’s what we’re doing.”
Barron Heating and Air Conditioning is booking up fast for the summer season. As the heat rises, their phones start ringing and don’t stop. Diskin encourages those interested in changing their indoor air quality for the better to call right away and ask for an assessment.
System designers will come out within a week or two and design a system that suits your space perfectly. And Barron’s Energy Smart Financing Partners make it easy with payments as low as $50 a month with no early payoff penalty and an exceptional low interest rate. Barron can answer questions and help with financing as well, ensuring your air quality needs are met with the best possible solution.
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