When the springtime weather warms up outside, it can mean sneezing, itchy eyes, and congestion for many. While you can’t control outdoor pollutant levels, you can control the air inside your home. In fact, your HVAC system plays a pivotal role in reducing your indoor allergy symptoms.
How Do Allergens Enter Your Home?
As the outside air kicks up tree and grass pollen in the early spring, it can enter your home through various means. Every time you open your door, you’re essentially allowing airborne contaminants inside. Contaminants find a home on the surface of your pet’s fur. As they come inside, these contaminants can rub off onto your carpets, upholstery, and into the air.
If you have any air leaks around your door and window frames, it could be allowing allergens inside your home. Even your clothing and shoes can track in these unwanted airborne contaminants. Once these allergens end up inside your home, they can settle into your carpets, bedding, upholstery, and more. Without proper air filtration, this can cause more spreading of allergens.
Change Air Filters Consistently
One of the absolute best things you can do to help minimize allergens in your home is to routinely change your HVAC air filter. You should consider this your first line of defense against unwanted contaminants like dust, pollen, and other airborne irritants. It’s rather common for filters to clog more frequently during peak allergy season than at any other time of the year.
Standard HVAC filters typically need to be replaced about every 30 to 60 days. We highly recommend checking your filter on a monthly basis and always having a spare replacement ready. All HVAC filters have a rating on the MERV scale, with a higher rating translating to better filtering capabilities.
One of the best ways to combat airborne contaminants is to choose a filter with a rating between 8 and 13. This captures the largest amount of airborne contaminants from your ducting without affecting the performance of your HVAC system. They do make filters with lower ratings that are a bit cheaper to purchase, but don’t offer the same level of filtration. With a highly rated filter, you can capture unwanted mold spores, dust mites, pet dander, pollen, and so much more.
Schedule a Spring HVAC Tune-Up
Another thing you simply don’t want to overlook is scheduling a professional HVAC tune-up. They should be done in the early spring to prepare your HVAC system for the upcoming summer season. Professional maintenance is great for cleaning, calibrating, and ensuring optimal efficiency from your cooling system. By cleaning your system’s components, we can reduce mold spores and other airborne contaminants. We can also ensure that your system is operating safely so that it can effectively filter out unwanted airborne contaminants.
Consider Duct Cleaning
If your HVAC system relies on ducting to deliver conditioned air throughout your home, it can be a highway for unwanted contaminants. Allergens like mold spores, pet dander, pollen, and dust can all accumulate inside your ducting. If your ducting has leaks in it, it can pull in debris from your wall and floor cavities that can further decrease your indoor air quality.
If you notice visible dust blowing from your vents or a persistent musty odor, you likely need to clean your ductwork. Anytime you do renovations in your home, or you notice an increase in your allergy symptoms, it’s a good idea to invest in professional duct cleaning service. This is where a professional comes out with specialized tools to sanitize the inside of your ductwork. This is great for removing airborne contaminants and optimizing HVAC system efficiency.
Get a Whole-Home Air Purification Solution
If you’re a Pennsylvania homeowner who suffers from severe seasonal allergies, you may want to take it a step further in upgrading your filtration system. A great option is to go with a whole-home air purification system. This gets installed directly inside your HVAC system to better filter out unwanted airborne contaminants. These systems can capture microscopic particles, reduce mold spores, and even neutralize bacteria and viruses in your home.
UV-C germicidal lighting is a popular air purification upgrade for homeowners. These get installed either directly inside your ductwork or over your evaporator coil. They work to prevent mold growth and reduce microbiome contamination. They’re specifically designed to use a type of light that disrupts the DNA of airborne pathogens. This prevents them from reproducing and spreading.
Consider a Whole-Home Dehumidification System
Pennsylvania’s fluctuating humidity levels during the spring and summer months can worsen allergy symptoms. This is because excess moisture combined with heat promotes mold growth. Mold spores are one of the biggest allergens that allergy sufferers have. Ideally, indoor humidity levels should be between 30% and 50%. When humidity levels climb higher than 50%, various things happen. This includes increased dust mite activity and mold growth. To make it even worse, your air will feel heavier and more uncomfortable because your body is unable to cool down.
A whole-home dehumidification system can be the answer to controlling these unwanted side effects of high indoor humidity. With a whole-home dehumidification system, you simply set your desired humidity level on your thermostat. Anytime that your humidity level increases, your dehumidification system will kick on alongside your HVAC system. This will allow it to remove excess moisture from the air to bring it back into your desired humidity range. By better controlling your indoor humidity, you can minimize dust mite activity and mold growth.
Extended Media Filter
Another great way to boost indoor air quality is with an extended media filter. This type of filter is a good balance between affordability and better air quality than just a standard HVAC air filter. Extended media filters get installed inside your return ducting. They’re much larger than traditional HVAC filters, as they have multiple filtration stages. Many even include carbon filters that can help to reduce persistent musty odors in your home. Extended media filters typically last about six months and can make a dramatic difference in your indoor air quality.
Seal Up Air Leaks
Air leaks can allow unwanted airborne allergens to easily enter your home day and night. Air leaks develop on the exterior walls of your home. You’ll most likely find them around door and window frames and near your light and electrical outlets. You can run your hand over these locations and see if you notice a difference in temperature.
If you do, you have an air leak that you will want to seal up. You can seal these air leaks with a few different materials depending on their location and size. Some of the most popular options include spray foam, weather stripping, caulking, and foam insert pads. By eliminating these air gaps, you can prevent the drafting of unwanted airborne contaminants into your home.
Reliable AC Maintenance Service
Comfort Solutions HVAC provides reliable HVAC maintenance service for Easton, PA and the surrounding communities. We can also help with all your HVAC installation, replacement, and repair needs. Just call our office today to book your next service consultation with one of our friendly HVAC technicians.
