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Tips for Keeping Unwanted Guests from Invading Your HVAC System

Written by Comfort Solutions HVAC on . Posted in .

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As the temperatures start to drop, the critters start coming in. Unfortunately, that means you will have a plethora of unwanted pests entering your home, ranging from spiders to mice. Even with the best pest control protecting your home’s interior, one thing you might not have thought about was your HVAC system.

Pests, including mice, spiders, and even squirrels, love to crawl into your home via open vents from your ductwork, and they will also take up residence inside your ducts so that they can stay warm during those chilly fall evenings. 

Your home doesn’t have to be the next pet hotel for fall and winter! Instead, you just need to take precautions to keep the unwanted guests from using your home’s HVAC system as their new residence.

Tips for Keeping Out Unwanted Pests in Your HVAC System

No matter how well you seal your windows, doors, and even bring in the pest control company, you still have vulnerabilities for intrusion when it comes to your home’s HVAC system. Make sure during your fall prevention, you take measures to prevent any unwanted pests from entering your home by:

  1. Doing Fall Cleanup around Your HVAC Units: The area around your exterior HVAC unit should be kept clear. Not only should the unit itself already be elevated on a concrete slab, but then you want to make sure all weeds, hedges, bushes, grass, and flowers are trimmed away and a good border without any plant life is removed. The more plants you have surrounding your system, the more likely you are to have pest invasions. During the offseason, cover your unit’s top with a mesh cover, which eliminates debris invasion.Avoid those large covers that make your HVAC equipment look like a warm, safe place to nest for the winter.
  2. Put Mesh over Vents that Enter Your Home: Any vents leading from the inside out need wire mesh on them – and sealed tightly too. Mesh keeps out birds, insects, and critters, but you want to check it annually to make sure it is still in place and sealed up. Clean out dryer vents too, because the lint build-up encourages critters to use it as a nest.
  3. Seal Off all Ductwork: Any cracks in your ductwork can invite pests lurking in your house to take up nest there. Some common insects that make their way in through cracks and holes in the ductwork include roaches, insects, and spiders. You can seal them relatively easily too – no need to call someone in to do the job unless you see significant damage already on the exterior of your ductwork. 
  4. Maintain Your HVAC Systems: Routine maintenance, including your seasonal tune-up work, can prevent critters from taking up nest. Not only will a technician identify potential entry points, but they can notify you of any signs of an intrusion so that you can contact your local pest control service and have it taken care of quickly. Also, the older and dirtier your system, the more likely you are to have a pest intrusion problem. Keeping your system clean deters insects and critters from taking up residence.

Keep Your Unwanted Guests Outdoors by Scheduling Your Fall Season Maintenance Appointment

Now is the perfect time for your fall HVAC tune-up, just before the weather indeed turns and more homeowners remember that they need to have their system checked. The technicians at Comfort Solutions HVAC not only clean and inspect, but we can make sure you do not have any warning indicators of an intrusion and offer suggestions to avoid them in the future. 

Schedule your fall AC and furnace tune-up appointment today by speaking to a team member at Comfort Solutions HVAC. Call 610-438-9300 or contact us online.