What is the most common HVAC problem

The most common HVAC problem we see in the field is your air filter, something you can actually do yourself at home. According to Energy Star, it is the one thing you can do for your system yourself. You don't need a pro. You can do for your system yourself to make an impact on your system and your energy savings. All the air in your home comes through your heating and air system, so it needs to come through your air filter. If that filter is dirty, restricting airflow, the system is going to have a problem. It's almost like, it's almost like deciding to run a marathon but You only brought a straw. You're breathing out of a straw the whole time you're trying to run a marathon. Now, what's going to happen? Well, you're probably going to pass out because you're not getting enough oxygen to sustain you on that run. Same thing with their system. When it gets into the hot part of the year or the cold part of the year, it's trying to run a marathon. It needs to breathe. It cannot breathe out of a straw. The air filter is the one way it can make a difference. Now, when you look at air filters, you go to Lowe's, you go to Home Depot, you go to Walmart, go to the big box stores, and there's so, there's so many options. Which one do I get? We've seen two mistakes. One, Somebody gets the cheap filter that doesn't stop anything but sandwich bags and chickens and big things like that, but it's not stopping the particles that are causing dirt to accumulate in your system. Or they go on the other end and they buy the really expensive filter, allergy kind of filter,, that is so good at collecting particles, it's also restricting airflow in the system as our time of breathing. It's kind of like having a dirty filter. Well, your filter could be too good, too much for the system to handle. So I like to always go middle ground. Filters are based on a MERV MERV rating. A MERV rating is how efficient it is at collecting those particles, collecting those smaller particles that are affecting your system. The higher the rating, the more effective it is. So you got a MERV, you know, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12. You see all these different MERV ratings when you look at filters. I recommend at least stick with a MERV 8. A MERV 8 filter is a good middle of the road. It's not going to stop airflow. It's not going to catch the sub— what they call submicronic particles. It's not going to do a great job of that, but it's not going to do a terrible job at catching particles. At the same time, your system can breathe. Now, when a pro comes out to the house to do that maintenance twice a year, you can always ask. They can look at it, see what your system can handle. Every— everyone's a little bit different, uh, the duct system's a little different. Some have the capacity to have a more efficient filter, some don't. You need to talk to a professional, but the number one problem we see for your HVAC system is a dirty air filter. And you can solve that problem simply by checking and changing your filter. It should be done every month. You should change your filter at least every 3 months if it's not dirty, but once a month, check, change that filter. And let your system breathe this summer or winter. It needs to breathe.