Derek Cole explains how dust buildup in your HVAC system acts as insulation, reducing efficiency and raising energy costs. Check filters monthly, replace them every three months, and get professional maintenance twice a year to avoid expensive failures.
Chapters
Do not overlook dust buildup on your H VAC system. Do not overlook it. I know as homeowners, we try to keep our homes clean, tidy, neat. But you're dusting inside, you're mopping inside, you're vacuuming inside. Don't overlook your HVC system because it needs the same kind of treatment. It can even affect your health. Because a dirty system, a dirty air conditioning unit, a dirty heating unit can reduce the indoor air quality, something we call IQ indoor air quality. Dust and other contaminants can accumulate and can mix with the air, leading to poor indoor air quality. You could have increased energy cost, dust and debris trapped in your system. Heating air is all about heat transfer, right? Whether removing heat or we're adding heat into the space from outside. So if you have heat, if you have a gas furnace, obviously the heat comes from, you know, a fire or something like that causing, causing it to be warm. But when you look at H Vac and look at dust and dirt, those are the, you know, it's all about heat transfer. So the biggest problem is dust and dirt. Why is that? Because they act as insulators, making it harder to transfer the heat or the air condition into the space. So the harder the system works, the more energy it uses, the decreased lifespan you get because it's working harder than it should to get the same amount of energy into the home. Does that make sense? So that's going to increase your energy cost as well as decrease the life of the system, the life of the components, whatever's being affected by this dust and dirt buildup. Also change your air filters regularly. Now it's recommended, I recommend it you check them once a month. It's recommended that you replace them at least every three months. Now, I would check once a month, make sure you're good to go. If you keep checking it and it's not getting dirty every three months. Also, if you keep checking and it's not getting dirty, where's the air going? Is it bypassing the filter? Because air is like water. It's got. The unit is going to get there. It needs. You want to go through the filter. You don't want it to go from under house, from outside, from in the attic. You don't want that error to come through the system. You want to come through the filter that always condition clean air coming through your system. Also look at the duct system. The ductwork may need to be cleaned. Cleaning your ductwork is a thing. So if your dirt needs to be clean, we can handle that. And it should Be clean on a, I wouldn't say a regular basis. But unless you have an extreme problem, it's pretty rare that you need your duct cleanings like you know, back to back years unless you're having challenge or having a problem. Therefore, your duct system needs to be looked at. Say, where is this dirt come from? How do we stop the dirt? How do we stop dust? How can we help the system run more efficiently? And byproduct bonus, you're breathing cleaner air and maintain your home. Keeping your home clean can help prevent dust from entering your HVC system. They're talking about dusting and vacuuming and cleaning up. All this can help your system reduce the amount of dust that could get to it. A schedule regular maintenance, it's very important. Twice a year. The system needs to meet, needs to be maintained, needs to be cleaned, needs to be checked. I mean that's the hardest working appliance in your home. It works the most, it runs the most. Every bit of air that is in your house comes through the HVC system at some point. Correct. So you want to be the best air you can breathe and you want the dust and dirt, if there is any, to come through the filter to get trapped and then go to the system because you don't want to get from the crawl space or the attic or outside. Just don't overlook it. Don't, don't take it, don't take it for granted that the system is always going to work. There's, you know, some folks and aut they're, they're not mad at you, they're mad at the situation. And the situation is it's a grudge purchase. I mean, no one's, you know, saving. Well, I won't say no one. Very, very few people are saving for H vac breakdowns. You're not planning on your air conditioner unit breaking down. That is not a something in the household budget that you're thinking about. So when it does happen, it's very inconvenient. It's a problem. We need to come make it as easy as possible. But also you need to think about if you have not getting regular maintenance on your system. It's really the most important thing you can do is to have your system checked, maintained, clean. That way you can try to head off, try to prevent some of these problems. A lot of these problems we see are preventable problems. It could be a capacitor going out. Was it reading weak like 2 months ago? And then with the stress of the heat of the air conditioning season, maybe went out. So that's something that you could have prevented if you would have maintenance and check that component ahead of time. Now, you can't catch everything, but all you can do is give yourself the best chance to not have breakdown.
