Do you know what’s lurking in the air inside your home?

Probably not, says Kyle Fisher, field supervisor for Rolf Griffin Service Experts in Fort Wayne.

“Many people have never had this done,” Fisher says of the Air Advice air quality assessment test his company has offered for the past three years.

Allergists say having an air-quality test can be a key to discovering what components of a home may be causing or aggravating allergy symptoms. Fisher says the test also helps reveal when a heating and air conditioning system isn’t performing optimally.

For the test, a box about the size of a car battery is left in the home for a minimum of 72 hours.

During that time, the instrument continuously samples the air – measuring it for temperature, relative humidity, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, chemical pollutants and particle allergens. The last category is linked to allergies to dust and dust mites, pets, pollen and spores.

Through a phone line, the results are sent to a computer, which develops and prints a report.

Fisher shared test results for one area customer’s three-bedroom, one-story house with an attached garage, basement, central air and gas forced-air heat.

The report showed much of what was right about the house: an acceptable average temperature of 70 degrees and an average relative humidity of 50 percent, which is considered ideal, according to the report. Though it could be lower to help allergy sufferers, experts say.

It also showed negligible levels of both carbon monoxide and chemical pollutants, despite the garage use and the chemicals stored inside.

But particle allergens and carbon dioxide readings were not so good.

Fisher says higher-than-optimum levels of the latter were likely the result of a well-constructed and weatherized home without many leaks of outside air.

The report recommended opening windows on a non-windy day to cut down on pollen and using a fan when cooking or showering to speed air exchange.

Particle allergen levels averaged 13, with spikes of up to 50 in the late afternoon. The report says average levels of 10 or higher are considered “cause for concern,” and levels above 35 are capable of harming the lungs of normally healthy adults.

Fisher says the allergen levels, which don’t indicate specific contaminants, aren’t alarming.

The spikes, he says, are influenced by activity in the home as well as activities such as cooking or cleaning.

But he says the report’s recommendations for duct cleaning and improved filtration for the heating and cooling system are on target.

To improve filtration, Fisher says, the homeowners could switch from a washable air filter to a minimum efficiency rating value filter.

“The minimum should be a MERV 5. Anything below a 10 will primarily protect your equipment, while one of 16 will noticeably improve air quality for your family,” he says.

The MERV 16 filter he recommends would remove 95 percent of allergy-aggravating particles down to 0.3 microns and 90 percent of those down to 0.1, he says. Some higher-rated filters can make equipment work harder and may not be energy-efficient, Fisher adds.

Fisher says filtration at the source is more efficient than free-standing, room-size air purifiers and is usually more cost-effective.

A MERV 16-rated filter costs about $630 to install and about $120 a year to replace, he says.

Free-standing filters may be helpful in giving a boost, such as in a bedroom, in a room where pets spend a lot of time, or in a place where access to the furnace is limited, such as in an apartment building, he says.

But he cautions that consumers should avoid older free-standing models that emit ozone, a respiratory irritant, as an odor controller.

Rolf Griffin offers the air-quality test for $79, with the cost of the service applied against the price for customers who buy a cleaning service or air-quality improvement, he says.

“With the readings, we get a real fix on what’s going on with the air quality in your home,” adds Rick Walz, Rolf Griffin general manager. “It’s a good tool, because you can’t look at your air and see what’s in it.”

rsalter@jg.net