Is my HVAC system healthy?
You dust and dust, but as soon as you look away, your furniture is dusty again! What gives?!
Indoor air quality has become extremely important during the coronavirus, with people spending more time at home. How can you maintain your air quality and what indicators can tell you when it’s time to call an expert? Here are three tips to maintain your indoor air quality.
Change your filters religiously
Making sure you change your AC filters on time will really help with your indoor air quality. It can be hard to see how much heavy lifting a dark filter is doing, but on a white filter it will definitely show. Dust, pet hair, allergens, and pollen end up in your filter instead of ending up in your lungs.
PRO TIP: Write the date you replaced a filter on the front cardboard part in permanent marker and then put a reminder in your phone of when to replace it. You and your HVAC guy will never have to wonder when you changed it last and you’ll know when you change it again.
Vacuum hard floors often
Carpets trap and lock dust into its fibers for later disposal through the practice of vacuuming. They filter the air. Hard floors, however, do not have a mechanism for holding dust in place. If you walk across your hard floors on a sunny day, you will likely see the dust you’ve kicked up in the light of the sun beams. Vacuum hard floors regularly to avoid the build up of this dust. Your HVAC system won’t have to work as hard if you are capturing this regularly.
PRO TIP: Vacuuming is much better than dusting. Studies show that vacuuming is up to twice as effective as sweeping when it comes to dust removal.
Get your HVAC system cleaned
If your house is dusty all the time, no matter how often you wipe everything down, it is time to turn into a detective. Check your return vent, the place where air goes into the system. Then check your vents throughout the house, where air comes out. A generally clean return vent is an indicator that the dust and allergens in the home is relatively low. Pat yourself on the back! Pair a generally clean return vent with dust rings or dust on the air vents, and you have compelling evidence that the dust is in your system— not your home.
PRO TIP: Rapid re-soiling is common with newly constructed homes. If you own a new home and are noticing rapid re-soiling, construction dust may have traveled into your vents unnoticed. Call an air duct cleaner and get an assessment scheduled: they are usually free. If you are looking to have a home built or considering a remodel, request that the air ducts be professionally cleaned (and the house be professionally cleaned!) as part of the building process.
Amber Starling, Author
Founder and President of
Good Witch Cleaning Services, LLC
IICRC Journeyman Textile Cleaner