Using Essential Oils to Improve Your Indoor Air Quality

Safe, Effective Tips from Air Conditioning Experts

Essential oils have become all the rage lately. These substances are a popular alternative to the usual scented products, such as air fresheners and scented candles. Essential oils only require you to use a few drops to affect your entire home, making them an economical choice, and come in a wide variety of natural scents. Additionally, they don’t fill your home with smoke or aerosol.

However, as popular as essential oils are, most people don’t know how to use them correctly. Indoor air quality is a complicated subject and improving your home’s atmosphere isn’t quite as simple as some people think. That’s why we asked our air conditioning experts to outline a basic guide on using essential oils in your home.

Using Essential Oils in Your Air Filter

Applying oils directly to your air filter is the most effective way to eliminate odors throughout your home in one simple step. But if it’s not done correctly, you could damage your air conditioner and make your indoor air quality worse.

Use these simple steps to ensure that your oils are applied correctly and effectively:

• Start with a new filter to ensure that no existing dirt or dust ruins the effect you’re going for.
• Make sure your filter is the right size – an over or undersized filter won’t be nearly as effective.
• Make sure your scents fit your intended results, and that any combinations you use complement each other.
• Use your oils sparingly! Usually, you only need 10-20 evenly distributed drops to effectively scent your entire filter. Using more can create too strong of a scent.
• Install your filter as usual, making sure that it’s firmly attached and not blocked by any furniture.

Diffusing Essential Oils

Diffusers are small devices that disperse a mist of essential oils throughout your home. Unlike treated filters, diffusers can be turned off and on, moved around your home with you, and used with different oils without needing to be replaced, making them a more adaptable alternative. However, you should still know basic information about your oils and your diffuser to effectively treat your air.

Make sure you know what you’re doing when you diffuse essential oils:

• Know what oils are safe to use – some oils can be harmful to pets and even humans.
• A little oil goes a long way. Most diffusers only require a few drops to create several hours’ worth of mist or smoke.
• Don’t leave your diffuser on for too long. The mist or smoke that comes from a diffuser is much more concentrated than oil diffused by a filter and can affect your health with prolonged exposure.
• Watch out for diffusers that involve a lit flame. An unattended diffuser can easily start a fire!

Need Indoor Air Quality? Talk to your air conditioning repair experts at Airrific Air Conditioning & Heating today! Call (941) 371-3355.