Is spring cleaning a hassle?
How about when all that dust builds up for months and months in the winter?
It’s not your imagination: There’s more dust and tiny debris piling up during the months when you keep the heat on and the windows closed.
Fortunately, you can prevent this from happening in your Havertown, PA home — and your heating and cooling system can help you do it!
In this article, we’ll talk about four ways to use your HVAC system to prevent dust and dirt buildup in your home. They’re a mix of DIY strategies and jobs that require a professional.
You can pick and choose which to use. Or, start by giving us a call here at John Cipollone. We’ll help you assess your home and come up with a strategy that’s customized just for you.
Four Ways Your Heating and Cooling System Can Prevent Dust Buildup
You can optimize your heating and cooling system to prevent dust from building up in your home by:
- Getting A Heater Tune-Up
- Changing or Upgrade Your Air Filter
- Vent (And Maybe Duct) Cleaning
- Installing An Air Purifier
Getting A Heater Tune-Up
A heater tune-up is a line of HVAC service you should get every autumn. We won’t go into a lot of detail here, mostly because we’ve already covered the topic a few times.
But, the bottom line is that a tech cleans, inspects, and optimizes your system for the cold months ahead. And, one benefit is getting rid of dust that you can’t get to on your own.
Even if you were to clean on and around your heater, there’s still dirt and other debris that builds up on the fan and other components when you’re not using the unit. But, once you turn it back on, that junk comes blasting through the vents.
A tune-up not only saves you money and keeps you comfortable. It also cuts down on dust.
Changing Or Upgrading Your Air Filter
Regardless of dust in the house, you should change your air filter every month or so. That’s the little screen you slide in and out of your heating and cooling system. Its job is to catch dirt and debris anyway, but it causes a problem if you leave it in too long.
Once that screen gets clogged, air won’t pass through it the way you want it to. As a result, you end up with weak circulation throughout the house — meaning, you don’t get enough heat in the winter.
Meanwhile, a clogged filter means dust is building up more and more inside the system. It may not come through the vents, but it’ll build up on the inside.
Then, once you do put in a new screen, you’re disrupting all that buildup and would need professional HVAC service to clean it out properly.
But, changing it on a regular schedule prevents this problem. And, you can upgrade the filter to catch smaller and smaller particles. You can gauge the strength of the screen by its MERV rating — the higher the number, the stronger it is
However, a filter that’s too strong will block airflow even when it’s working correctly. So, don’t go past MERV 12 without talking to a professional.
Vent (And Maybe Duct) Cleaning
Before you turn on the heater for the season, spray disinfectant into the vents and wipe them down with a damp cloth. Like the inside of your heater, dust builds up here when air’s not blowing through it.
Once the forced air turns on, however, all that debris comes flying into the house. That includes any mold or bacteria that’s taken hold. But, it’s a real easy fix.
Just spraying and wiping down that area takes care of any mild or run-of-the-mill contaminants. If you suspect a bigger problem, you can opt for duct-cleaning — but that’s usually unnecessary.
Duct cleaning requires having a professional reach deep inside the ductwork work to clean it out. We don’t recommend you doing it yourself. It’s easier than you think to do some damage in the process.
But, unless you can see some substantial buildup or you know you have a mold problem, you don’t need this HVAC service. And, don’t let some fly-by-night operator tell you otherwise.
Installing An Air Purifier
Not everyone needs an air purifier that treats their entire home. But, if you have bad seasonal allergies, respiratory problems, or are immuno-compromised, it’s a viable option. And yes, you can go for it even if you just really want the cleanest house possible.
These work similarly to smaller retail models. But, they hook directly to your heating and cooling system. That way, they touch every room your ductwork touches — which is likely all of them.
We recommend the AirScrubber by Aerus paired with an AprilAire filter. We’ve installed these all over Havertown and elsewhere in DelCo, and our customers have let us know how well they work.
What you get with this combination is a filter that’s way stronger than anything you can get for your heating and cooling system. The purifier comes with its own blower, which gets rid of the additional air resistance.
Then, a UV light inside the system eradicates all the microscopic particles trapped by the filter. And that goes beyond even dust and dirt. We’re talking pollen, dust mites, even viruses, mold spores, and bacteria at that point.
HVAC Service In Havertown, PA
Are you ready to keep your Havertown, PA home dust-free this winter? Let John Cipollone help! Starting with a free consultation, we’ll help you build a strategy that will keep you comfortable and breathing easy all year round.