Tips To Keep Your Air Filter Clean

Did you know the quality of your air can play a part in how often you get sick? Your indoor air quality can also determine the severity of your health symptoms. As flu season is upon us, it is important to maintain good indoor air quality to help minimize the symptoms and keep residents in your home healthy. In this blog, we will discuss tips to keep your air filter clean and boost indoor air quality in Bedford.

Benefits Of A Clean Air Filter

Air filters trap dust and other allergens to keep them from entering the air you breathe. You should be changing each filter in your home every 3 months at minimum. Factors such as indoor animals may dirty your filter quicker and require you to change it more often. Paying close attention and cleaning your air filter on time can provide many benefits to your home, such as:

• Clean Indoor Air
• Less Dust
• Better Health
• Improved HVAC Efficiency

If your air filter is clogged, it allows more pollutants to slip by. Not only does this result in a dirtier home and poor air quality, but an overworked HVAC unit. Your heating and cooling unit struggles to push air through the dirty filter pores and can result in high energy bills and costly repairs.

How To Keep Your Air Filter Clean

Do you feel like you change your air filter more often than every 3 months? The task can seem pesky, but extremely necessary to breathing clean air in your home. However, we can help make sure your air filter stays clean as long as possible with a few simple tips. Below are ways to help keep your air filter clean.

• Purchase A Better Filter
• Ensure Your Thermostat Is Set To “Auto”
• Check For Leaky Air Ducts
• Groom Your Pets
• Lower Soot Pollution

Purchase A Better Filter

If your air filter is constantly dirty, you may be buying the wrong filter. Cheaper air filters may not be the most cost effective option in the long run. Cheaper filters tend to have shorter lifespans when compared to more expensive filters. Filters are measured by minimum efficiency reporting values (MERV), which indicates its effectiveness to catch particles.

Ensure Your Thermostat Is Set To “Auto”

If your thermostat is set to “On,” the fan is constantly running and circulating over the air filter. This means your air filter is always catching contaminants and getting dirty quicker. To solve this problem, switch your thermostat to “Auto” and the blower will only run when heating and cooling your home.

Check For Leaky Air Ducts

Not only do leaky air ducts raise your energy bills, but can bring more contaminants into the air. Leaks can bring in extra dirt and dust into your ducts from places like your attic. The more dirt in your ductwork, the quicker you will need to change your air filter.

Groom Your Pets

Pet dander can cause your air filters to get dirtier quicker, which is why we suggest having your pets regularly groomed. Grooming your animals can cut down on excess hair they leave around your home, which clogs air filters. If you personally groom your pets, it is best for your home and air filter to brush hair outside.

Lower Soot Pollution

While we all love our holiday scented candles, they could be causing soot pollution in your home and dirtying your air filter. Don’t worry, you don’t need to throw away your candles to maintain a clean air filter. We recommend just paying close attention to the candle wicks. Trimming candle wicks or sticking to flat braided wicks can help reduce the amount of soot in your home.

The Importance Of Indoor Air Quality In The Winter

Low temperatures in the winter can increase the likelihood of getting sick with illnesses such as the flu and COVID-19. Regularly changing and cleaning your air filter is the easiest and most cost effective way to maintain good air quality in your home. However, homeowners can take further steps to increase air quality and lower health symptoms, such as:

• Ensure your carbon monoxide detector is working properly.
• Clean air vents and air ducts.
• Utilize ceiling fans in winter mode to increase ventilation.
• Use a humidifier if humidity levels are low.
• Safely store cleaning products.
• Invest in an air purifier.

If you wonder why your air filter gets dirty so quickly, we recommend trying one or all of our air filter tips. We are here to help keep you breathing easy this winter season, along with keeping your home warm and cozy. For heating repair in Bedford or surrounding areas, give us a call!