Tag: Dust Mites

Whole House Dehumidifiers

Whole house dehumidifiers work just like any other single room dehumidifier does except they help remove excess moisture from your whole house, not just one room. Excessive moisture, or humidity, is just plain uncomfortable. It also encourages the growth of mold and mildew.

Mold and mildew, along with other allergens like dust mites, can make an allergy sufferer downright miserable. No one should have to be miserable in their own home. Keeping your house a little drier could help those allergy symptoms and if the excess moisture is throughout your home then this is the time to look into whole house dehumidifiers.

The first thing you need to do before you start shopping for your dehumidifier is to measure each room and add up the total square footage of space you need to have dehumidified. Then either shop online or in a retail store to find a dehumidifier to handle that square footage.

The dehumidifier you buy will not look like any of the smaller portable units that you can easily set in one room or another. The dehumidifier you will buy is much larger and heavier and will sit in one place near your heating and/or cooling system so it can be connected directly into the ductwork of your house.

Do some comparison shopping and find one that is powerful enough to remove the most amount of moisture. Most have settings so that you can program them yourself and give you a nice range. Moisture levels in your home should be around 50% at all times. make sure to buy a unit that has been Energy Star rated so it is energy efficient and won’t cost an arm and a leg to operate.

One nice thing about installing a dehumidifier of this type is that the water it removes from your house gets drained into a floor drain so you do not have to worry about emptying a heavy bucket full of water everyday. No more spills to wipe up.

Ever wonder how they actually work? Well, I can tell you that a dehumidifier works just like your air conditioner. There are coils inside the unit that have a refrigerant inside and when the warm, moist air passes over them it creates condensation. The condensation drips down into a collection pan, or bucket and is then drained into the floor drain or emptied, by you, into a sink or even outside.

The difference between your air conditioner and your dehumidifier is that the air conditioner cools the air and does not remove any moisture from the air it sends into your home, the dehumidifier warms the air back up before releasing the drier air into your home.

Whole house dehumidifiers will give you a more comfortable home and reduce mold, mildew, and other allergens so you and your family can rest easier. And since excess moisture can affect the materials used to build your home, your home will not rot from the inside out as well.

Thermastor Dehumidifier

Using a ThermaStor dehumidifier will decrease the amount of humidity inside your home or workplace by taking the extra moisture out of the air. Too much humidity inside your home or workplace encourages mold and other allergens to grow and can cause the wood your home or work building was built with to decay and weaken.

Based in Madison, Wisconsin, ThermaStor has been in business for 34 years. They are a leader in the industry with the technology for advanced high-efficiency heat transfer products, like their heat recovery water heaters. They offer a wide range of home and/or office dehumidifiers to make living and working more comfortable and restoration equipment for larger jobs of dehumidifying, “air scrubbing”, extracting water and drying by evaporation.

If you have allergies or asthma, a ThermaStor dehumidifier can help reduce the symptoms you experience by lowering the moisture in your home. Molds and dust mites thrive in moist environments so it would stand to reason that if you decrease the level of humidity in your home the mold and number of dust mites would decrease as well. Your symptoms may not disappear altogether but you may find significant relief from them.

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology recommends maintaining the humidity level in your home at or below 50%. Not only will this help decrease allergens it will also help prevent damage to exposed wood surfaces like floors and beams.

A dehumidifier can also help you save money on air conditioning. You know the difference between dry air and moist air. Moist air is heavy and can make it hard to breathe, dry air is cooler and a lot more comfortable so you can save some money on your electric bill.

Just make sure you have a good system set up to dispose of the water when the container is full by emptying it yourself or hooking up a hose that leads from the unit to a floor drain.

One thing you need to take care with is to buy the right sized humidifier for the job. A too small dehumidifier will not remove enough moisture from the air and may end up costing you more money on that electric bill because it is having to work overtime.

The best way to choose your dehumidifier is to measure the length and width of the space you will have the dehumidifier in and figure out the square footage. Make sure that the unit you buy will handle the area needing dehumidification.

If the square footage is at the upper end of the capacity of the unit you are looking at, it is advisable to choose the next highest capacity dehumidifier to be sure you are getting the coverage you need and that the unit is operating at peak efficiency.

If too much moisture is a problem in your home or workplace there is a ThermaStor dehumidifier that will work for you. Whether the space is large like a warehouse or small like a crawlspace ThermaStor makes a dehumidifier for the job. They even offer products that will handle the dehumidification of indoor pool and spa areas.

Types Of Allergies

Its estimated that 60 million Americans suffer from
some type of allergy. Thats 1 out of 4. Its the 5th
highest chronic disease in America and the 3rd most
common chronic disease in children.

Many people suffer from more than one allergy type.

Pollen from trees, grass and weeds are in the
indoor/outdoor allergy category. Other common
indoor/outdoor allergy triggers are mold spores, dust
mite and cockroach allergen and cat, dog and rodent
dander.

About 75% of people with allergies have indoor/outdoor
allergies. The most common pet allergy is cat dander.

Skin allergies are another common allergy. The most
common causes of skin allergies are plants like poison
oak, ivy and sumac.

Allergic reactions can also be caused by skin contact
with latex, cockroach and dust mites and even some
foods. Skin allergies are the main allergy for about
7% of allergy sufferers.

While we here a lot about food and drug allergies,
theyre the primary allergy of only about 6% of
allergy sufferers. Food allergies are more common in
children.

Peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat, soy, fish and
shellfish are responsible for 90% of all food
allergies. Food allergies claim over 200 lives yearly.
When it comes to common drug allergies, penicillin is
the winner.

Almost 400 Americans die every year from allergies to
penicillin.

Latex and insect allergies both claim around 4% of
allergy sufferers. Latex allergies result in 10 deaths
a year and nearly 100 deaths a year are the result of
insect allergies.

Eczema Treatment for Kids Keeping the Skin Moisturized

As a parent, its extremely difficult to see your kid having to put up with the symptoms of eczema. This is where you need to make the most out of an eczema treatment. Your kid needs relief from his or her skins inflammation, scaling and itching the nasty symptoms of this skin disease.

The best way to help your kid from going through these symptoms is to know what triggers them. There are triggering factors which aggravate the symptoms or cause flare ups; being able to point them out and prevent them from causing flare ups do more to your kid with eczema than alleviating the symptoms when they are already there. Some of the known triggering factors may include exposure to: detergents, shampoos, dust mites, extremes in temperature, wool, polyester and others. Of course each kid afflicted with eczema may have other substances that their skin condition is reactive to, resulting to flare ups.

However, its not at all times that you can prevent your kids from coming in contact with such triggering factors. With this the case, its best to maintain your kids skin well-moisturized. Skin dryness makes his or her eczematous skin even itchier. Read on to get some important pointers on how to keep your kids skin well-moisturized.

It is recommended to give your kid a bath rather than as shower. Water from the shower head brushing against the eczematous skin will only irritate it. Many doctors advise giving your kid a bath daily for at least 10 minutes lukewarm water never hot water. Hot water will only aggravate the dryness of the skin. Do not shampoo his or her hair in the bath tub; its best to do the shampooing prior to soaking your kid in bath water. This is because some of the ingredients in the shampoo may irritate the skin. Use a mild, unscented moisturizing soap. When it comes to drying, pat the skin gently with towel and never rub it, especially on the affected areas.

Within 2-3 minutes after you give your kid afflicted with eczema a bath, you should moisturize the skin. Like mentioned earlier, itchiness is triggered by skin dryness. Immediately after bathing, do not expose your kid to flowing air because it will hasten water evaporation on the skin, resulting to dryness. There are many types of moisturizers you may use on your kids eczematous skin. Some of them are even formulated especially for the skin disease. However, a greasy ointment works best in moisturizing the skin. It takes a few trials to find one moisturizer that your kids eczema does not react to negatively. Its recommended to reapply moisturizers at least 2-3 times throughout the day.

During winter time, when the air is cold and dry, you must apply a more generous amount of moisturizer on your kids skin. Also, try to not expose affected areas to the frigid air to delay skin drying. During summer time, sweating also contributes to the worsening of the symptoms. It is best to have your kid stay mostly indoors, if possible. If your house has air conditioning, you should make sure that the skin is kept moisturized at all times. Also, you should install a humidifier.

Eczema treatment and prevention of flare ups is not at all that tricky, if you know the culprit. Just remember, the best way to minimize itching of the eczematous skin of your child is to prevent it from drying.