My asthma is much more sensitive to central heating than last year. I have upped the hoovering and dusting, got an additional air purifier, but the asthma attacks really only cease now once the central heating is off.
Any ideas? And, no, I cannot turn off the central heating.
Hmm, a few thoughts - definitely don’t turn the heating off, don’t know about you but cold is my worst trigger.
Have you been tested for ABPA (allergy to aspergillus)? It’s very prevalent at this time of year. Also, do you have any mould at all in your home? It can start as little black spots which you hardly notice at first, eg along window sills. Could your allergies to dust mites have got worse? I’m wondering if there’s anyone else who could do the dusting etc. I pay a cleaner out of my PIP because doing it myself would be asking for trouble
Use a hepa filter on your vaccuum cleaner to make sure you are not just blowing possible culprits around. Heating makes the air circulate differently. You might need to think about hooering soft furnishing e,g, curtains and cushions if you think it is exacerbated by an allergen. El
I had a simliar issue in one of my old apartments. I found the ducts that output the central heating to each room and blocked them with filters, like 3M filtretes (rated at 1500+). Simple taping worked just fine. These Filtretes come in various sizes, are relatively cheap, and do not add much air resistance. They are also called "furnace filters". There are also cheaper imitations, but I have never tried them.
You can also find the intake of the system (if you do not share it with anyone else) and filter at the intake with a (much larger) filter. But then you would have to clean the entire system of ducts etc. first which is a quest.
I generally do not believe in air purifiers that do not act at the source and just move around the air indoors. With the CH always on, the purifier will never win the battle, unless the air is filtered at the source. There are several scientific papers on this subject.
On a different note, can you experiment with the CH off (for a few hours), but with a simple fan on? It could be that the air movement created by central heating stirs dust/particles up (from floor/upholstery) and that makes the asthma worse. If you feel better with the CH off, even with the air movement, then it's definitely the CH that was problematic (and then you can filter).
Dust down the back of the radiators?
I found that dry hot air from central heating made my asthma worse, my mum had heating so high, got a thing of water on rads to dampen air slightly which helped. Lungs need a certain amount of moisture, too much humidity makes worse, hard to get balance right. Stick your beak out the window, leave them open if poss, turn heating down, add bit of water to the mix, sit in bathroom run shower for a while. Trial and error as to what works for you. 🤞I feel less guilty putting heat on for hour a day now! 😁
I have opposite problem here, old house, damp, mould everywhere inc. on leather sofas windowsills, walls etc. nightmare as mould my worst trigger. So need to cut down moisture in air, difficult as warm wet autumn, perfect mould conditions which floats spores all round house. Major mould war time now! Open windows often as poss. clean trickle vents ( blocked with filth).Used those sodium crystal things in wardrobes, filled with water in weeks even summer. Now using cat litter in pots, ordered tub sodium bicarb so much cheaper., mould spray brill! Try anti histamines get rid of triggers but not Tigger! 😹 🤗
I'd turn heating down to a level u can breathe better x
Have you tried putting little bowls of water near radiators in case its a tad too dry?
I only mention ☝ because 10 years ago for one week in four I used to stay with a good friend's parents in a very posh retirement complex of houses and apartments. He was a carer for his wife so I was able to give him a complete break. State of the art underfloor heating and air duct heating plus radiators was hell. They were 90 so had it pretty hot so I'd pack light summer clothes. My asthma was terrible there, they had an egg shaped humidifier on a table on low setting. I'd hover over it which helped and would turn it up when he was out for a quick blast, it was amazing. I didn't think of bowls of water but bought flowers to put in vases (that he would tolerate but not turning up his humidifier or turning down heat). It was just v. interesting re the humidifier & my asthma.
I put my humidifier on whilst central heating is on, I put it in the hall which is central to all my rooms in flat. If I don't i feel very dry and congested. I'm careful in keeping it clean, a must with humidifiers.
I think it's good to have several humidity gauges around, to see what humidity you need to feel comfortable. With proper ventilation (0.5 air changes per hr), I have seen humidity in my UK flat to go down to 30% during winter months. W/o ventliation, humidity is higher, but then of course there is no fresh air to breathe (CO2 gets high). If the flat is small (say under 75 sq m), keeping humidity to 50% is doable with one humidifier. My humidifier (essentially a glorified electric kettle) was running at about 600W to bring the RH to 50%, the duty cycle was probably 50%. But when my asthma is controlled, dry air is not a problem anyway.
BTW, on a plane, when it gains full altitude (10K m), humidity is <20%.
I find if your heating is on if you open a window slightly to let fresh air in, the mix of air and heat does the trick for me.
I also put in HEPA filters in an apartment I lived in that was 100 years old and had a big duct system. (You can get the ducts professionally cleaned but it's pricey.)
The filters helped a lot and had to be changed every three months because so much dust had built up. We love our wall radiators in our house now. Not sure if those are an option for you or plug in heaters.
Good luck and keep us posted if you experiment and find anything that works. x
My asthma is more sensitive this year in general - I suspect partly because we’ve had quite a damp year. It also played up when the central heating went on but calmed down to closer to what I would normally expect for the time of year after I thoroughly dusted between all the metal fans and behind the radiators. I’m assuming you have dusted between the metal fans - a fiddly job but worth doing.
It may just be that, like me, your lungs are just more sensitive in general because of this year’s weather and so can’t tolerate what they would normally be able to. Not much help as far as dealing with the problem you have, but it might explain it.
I have my central heating on at 17.5 to 18 degrees as I can’t cope with the heat drying out the air and when I get cold I just layer up, but I’m lucky my house is quite a warm house.
Try putting a bowl of water near the radiators in the rooms that you are in, as this will help put some moisture back in the air or you can pickup some cheap humidifiers. I have one next to where I sit and one next to my bed.
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