Your air conditioner doesn’t just help you beat the heat. By turning it on throughout the spring and summer while keeping doors and windows closed, you can help keep your home’s indoor climate free of allergens and pollutants. Here’s how using your air conditioner can actually improve air quality throughout the next heat wave.
Effortless Filtration
You might not think of your air conditioner as an air filter, but that’s exactly what it is. When you properly maintain your HVAC system, its built-in filters will automatically work to clean all of the air that it circulates throughout your home during the process of heating or cooling it to the perfect temperature. Check out this post from Sun Kool Air Conditioning that explains the basics of how your system filters the air it brings in to improve the air quality in your home.
By keeping the filters clean and hiring a professional to check the ducts throughout your home at least once a year, you shouldn’t have any problems with pollen or other allergens spreading throughout your home via your HVAC system. Close up those doors and windows and enjoy truly clean fresh air.
Balanced Humidity
Did you know that excess humidity inside of your home will actually encourage allergens to stick around? That’s right; dust mites, mold spores, and mildew thrive in a humid environment. Plus, humidity makes your home feel warmer and can even add a mugginess to the air, which certainly isn’t comfortable. It’s suggested that you keep humidity below 50% to prevent mold growth.
Fortunately, the right HVAC unit will help to remove humidity as it conditions the air, meaning that you won’t have to put up with hot, damp air any longer. This will make your home’s interior much healthier to live in, and and you’ll feel better, too. If your air conditioner isn’t dehumidifying the air enough on its own, you can also add a separate dehumidifier to keep things perfectly balanced.
Easy Maintenance
If you upkeep your air conditioner properly, you’ll be able to enjoy all of its allergen-fighting benefits. However, your air conditioner won’t be able to keep allergens out if you don’t maintain it. Simple maintenance tasks that you should be doing include dusting around vent registers so allergens aren’t blown around the room and being certain to clean up debris around the units themselves too (both inside and out).
If your air conditioner is older than ten years old, you might consider replacing it so that it can work more efficiently and at the highest standards. If you live in a very polluted area or if you have very sensitive allergies, you might consider adding on an additional air purifier within your HVAC system.
Do Your Part
Image via Flickr by Davide Gabino (aka Stròlic Furlàn)
If you do your part to keep your home dust free, your air conditioner will be able to do its job with ease, and you’ll be able to enjoy clean, healthy air inside your home all year long.
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