Expert Article - Heating-Air HVAC

Community Expert: Heating-Air HVAC Lorene Moore

Keep Your Family Breathing Easy At Home

Spring is in the air and there’s pollen everywhere… Most of us experience an increase in allergies, sinus congestion, coughing, sneezing, and shortness of breath during allergy season. Your floors may be spotless and your windows may sparkle, but your home is only as clean as its air. Surprisingly, inside today’s air-tight, energy-efficient homes the air can be as much as 5 times dirtier than the air outside.

Here are some steps you can take to keep the air in your home clean and easy to breathe: • Root out the source of the pollution. Clean rugs and carpets with a HEPA filter equipped vacuum weekly. • Eliminate mold. Turn on the exhaust fan above the stove and also when showering to draw out the humidity. Clean small areas of mold quickly with diluted household bleach. • Keep your household fabrics clean. Pet dander, pollen and dust mites easily collect on fabrics such as bedding, curtains and carpets. Clean these fabrics regularly. • Increase air flow/ventilation. Open a window or install attic fans to draw in outside air. • Install an air purifier. For whole-home air cleaning, add a UV light to your HVAC system. It will kill microbes as they pass through. • Groom pets regularly. Pet dander is a common culprit for many allergies, asthma, and other indoor air quality issues. Regularly bathe and brush your pet. • Make sure your HVAC system is serviced and the filter changed. • Air Filter: Change your air filter regularly to prevent

HVAC system failures, to keep your equipment running at peak efficiency, and to keep your air cleaner. A MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) 8 is the best choice. Check your air filter monthly, specially in the heavy heat and heavy cooling seasons. • Season Check: Have an HVAC professional clean and check your equipment at the start of the heating and cooling seasons. • Clean Air Ducts: If your home’s ducts come up through your floor, the registers are usually easy to pull up.

Use the hose attachment on your vacuum to clean out anything that may have fallen through the register.