Are there practical modifications of your home central heat and air conditioning system that can block / filter out airborne stuff to protect the quality of air you breathe inside your home? Can such modifications act to overpressure your home so that good inside air is forcing out bad outside airborne stuff?

Thoughts?

Thanks.

You need a lot of air to overpressure a space. I work in / around overpressured workspaces and the system requires both recirculating and makeup (as in take in more from the outside) air handlers. While some of that extra air is needed to replace all that is being exhausted out from / thru the equipment in the workspace, some of it is there just to overpressure the building.

I don't think there is any way for a home system to do overpressure a home as it doesn't have all that extra air to use.

As for filtering, I know they use *big* pleated filters on the intakes; I'm not sure what else is inline.

What exactly are you trying to filter/keep out? Dust? Gases? Everything?

I don't think I've ever heard of a residential home being overpressured, unless it was a HVAC kind of mistake. Not that I'm an expert, but if you ever try to go down that path, you need to keep in mind that air is meant to circulate a certain way through a house. If the airflow is altered, it could lead to moisture build up and mold in places you wouldn't expect.

There was an episode of that Ty Pennington show (Extreme Home Makover?) A few years ago, where they made a house livable for kids who allergic to everything. There must be a video or recap somewhere with some ideas that might help.

There are air quality studies that suggest that interior air quality can be inferior to exterior air quality. It probably depends upon individual circumstances.

Just invite an HVAC salesman over for a chat. I'm sure there are ten bazillion things they will gladly sell you.

I doubt you will find anything that works more than "theoretically" however.

A Bomb shelter or basement?,No you are too close to Parkfield,that wouldn't be practical.I know,Leave the house & get a Sailboat,What's that you say? You already have a Sailboat,lol? Ahoy there matey, Head for the Salty Sea,some of the Best air to be had!

If you're ever building a new home consider injected foam insulation. My father built a house with it and it was so airtight his driers didn't work unless a window was open.

Be aware of your local radon gas situation when considering this. A tightly closed house can lead to undesirable accumulations of this gas, which i understand is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the USA.

If you wanted to try it with your home, you would probably have to do it with a single room, rather than the entire house. If a safe room were build with that sort of thing in mind, it could probably be done, but not easily or cheap. And it still might affect your lungs or brain if the pressure was too great.

Sue