Spring is great for breathing in the dewy breeze after a long, frigid winter. However, it might not all be fresh air you’re inhaling.
Spring may not only be in your step. It’s also all over the air. Besides higher temperatures, springtime brings various new elements into the atmosphere.
Common pollutants during spring are seemingly harmless and easy to underestimate. However, springtime pollutants, like pollen, can be more harmful and dangerous than we think.
The flowers in full bloom may make you feel more gloom.
In groups, pollen looks like dust but is actually microscopic. They may contaminate our indoor air through air conditioning and central heating systems.
Relentlessly sneezing, coughing, and itching is no way to feel within your safe space. Don’t let things like pollen make you just as uncomfortable indoors as outdoors.
Learn more about how spring affects your HVAC systems and how to prevent them.
How Airborne Pollutants Can Impact HVAC Systems in Puyallup
Homeowners may think airborne pollutants are “harmless” for HVAC systems. However, they pose various risks that lead to malfunctions, which are detrimental to HVAC performance.
Users may notice unusual spikes in utility costs without making significant adjustments to their heating and cooling usage. There may be internal particle pollution lurking within HVAC units that hinder critical components and burden functions.
Particles as small as pollen may gather within HVAC systems and create disruptive clusters that clog resource circulation. Clogged internal circulation hinders HVAC performance, producing subpar heating and cooling while increasing utility costs.
Pollen is relatively harmless, but its non-threatening qualities make it one of the most dangerous airborne pollutants. HVAC users often underestimate how much pollen impacts heating and cooling units.
It can contaminate intake pipes and air outlets, causing blockages that may progress to corrosion. Always check on your HVAC systems during spring when pollen is most abundant before they cause hazardous clogs and compromise internal units.
How Pollen Impacts Your HVAC System
As small as pollen is, it can pose significant risks to your health and HVAC system.
Pollen may easily infiltrate our air filters and outdoor HVAC units. A large buildup may cause clogs and blockages that hinder airflow, causing mechanical failure.
System malfunctions may emanate from different things, mainly influenced by external factors. Pollen can collect within various areas of your HVAC system, clogging pipelines, fans, and motors.
They may be miniature, but the risks they pose aren’t always as small. The damage may also warrant costly repairs.
Pollen is dangerous for your HVAC system. However, pollen can also be hazardous to your health. The microscopic particles can give you the sniffles, causing nothing worse than hay fever.
How Pollen Impacts Your Health
Milder symptoms are typically nothing to worry about and can be remedied with antihistamines. However, pollen can also trigger more serious respiratory illnesses.
Infants, seniors, and those with compromised immunity can even develop life-threatening symptoms. To make matters worse, you may never attribute them to pollen and much less to your HVAC systems.
You might throw money down the drain, paying for visits to the doctor and medical aid without resolving the cause. Pay attention to your HVAC systems to get to the root of the problem or at least rule it out.
Inspect Your HVAC System
Air handlers make it easier for various particles and organisms to circulate in our homes undetected. The best way to tell how well your HVAC system is holding up against particle pollution is by peering into indoor and outdoor units.
While you may not see pollutants in the air, you might see them on your HVAC filters. Nearly all HVAC systems have accessible filters.
You may access them behind removable panels for regularinspection and cleaning. Filters should have clear meshing, with all their panels free of saturation or discoloration.
Particle pollution may build up and begin clustering, producing heavy saturation on one side. We should clean our filters when we see any sign of contamination to prevent further spreading.
Remember, filters are more manageable and easily replaceable. Other components aren’t as easy or affordable to replace.
Always inspect your systems to gauge and prevent system contamination.
Is Your HVAC System Contaminated?
Sophisticated systems have safety systems that let users know of internal contamination. If your HVAC system is contaminated, it might emit visible or audible signals to warn you.
However, not all air conditioners and furnace systems have those safety features. You must look into matters manually or wait until your senses pick up on them.
Air conditioners with dirty air filters may exhibit various symptoms, such as leaking orproducing unusual noises and odors. Like air conditioners, central heating systems dealing with clogs may also emit alarming sounds and smells.
However, liquid leaks are more exclusive to cooling systems due to condensation or by facilitating coolant circulation. A leaking heating system is more dangerous.
Your furnace may not leak any liquids, but clogged heating systems may lead to gas leaks. While you can see leaks from air conditioners, you can only smell them from heating systems.
Call for professional inspection and evaluation when you notice leaks in your HVAC systems, especially your heaters.
How to Tell Your HVAC Systems Are Clogged or Contaminated
Mechanical filtration and ventilation systems may have electronic integrations to measure your home’s air quality. An electronic air filter might produce ratings that determine the presence of various particles and contaminants.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any devices that are designed to exclusively detect the presence of pollen in your HVAC systems.
However, pollen is considered a “larger particle,” measuring 25 microns. Most filters are designed to sift up to .3 microns, making pollen easier to filter.
Being much larger and among the first to be filtered, pollen can quickly saturate all filters. Standalone filters and those in your HVAC systems can fill up with pollen more rapidly than other airborne particles.
Pollen may cause enough strain to inhibit air distribution, causing various effects. Still, they are easy to clean and are more manageable than other contaminants.
If you get to them in time, you may salvage your air filters and the rest of your HVAC system.
How to Protect Your HVAC System Against Pollutants
You can’t do much to prevent pollen from getting into your HVAC system. They freely blow around the outdoor air and may enter your air conditioners and furnace systems.
You can’t stop mother nature from running her course. However, there is something you can do about it after to prevent it from impacting your home heating and cooling systems.
It doesn’t take much to keep yourself comfortable in your home all year. There are steps to help keep pollutants, costly damages, and other unnecessary stressors away.
These three steps can protect your home against pollen and other pollutants.
- Routine Inspection
- Sustained Vigilance
- Regular Cleaning and Replacement
Systematically deploying these three steps helps you save time, money, and energy. Practice conducting inspections at least once a month, especially in springtime.
These inspections help you maintain vigilance, making it harder for airborne contaminants to get past you and into your HVAC systems. Still, inspection and vigilance aren’t the only steps in due diligence.
Clean your air filters. If you notice dirty air filters, do something about it.
Clean Your Air Filters Regularly
Don’t be intimidated. Cleaning air filters is easier than you think. Various DIY articles can guide you through cleaning HVAC air filters.
Remember, different types of filters have varying needs. Some HVAC systems come with replaceable filters, requiring replacement rather than cleaning.
Before facilitating their maintenance, you must know how to manage your air filters properly.
Read up on your different HVAC systems and attend to all your standalone and integrated filters to gauge indoor pollution.
While it’s bad enough to bring pollen home, they aren’t the worst things out there. Your HVAC system may be breeding hazardous pathogens, exposing your family to various health risks.
When You Should Call the Pros
Pollen is easily distinguishable, and most of us know how it looks. We don’t know what other hazardous contaminants may look like, especially when they are all meshed together on filters.
Spring AC maintenance involves a range of maintenance tasks. Some tasks are doable without supplementary skills or equipment.
However, some maintenance efforts require professional attention. Refrain from attempting more complex tasks on your own. You may not even know what you are up against in there.
Need Springtime Maintenance for Your HVAC Systems in Puyallup, WA?
You don’t have to risk sustaining injuries and causing further damage to keep pollutants away this spring. Instead of conducting haphazard maintenance and repairs, call Taylor Heating & AC’s reliable technicians for effective and affordable HVAC services.
The Taylor Heating & AC company has provided Washington with over forty years of reliable services. Our client’s well-being matters to us more than just the task at hand.
We will work on your HVAC systems while prioritizing your comfort, health, and safety. Allow us to remedy any of your existing HVAC issues and pre-empt any looming on the horizon.
Don’t hesitate to call us for any heating and cooling needs. Our team provides AC & Heat Pump Diagnostic & Repair any time of year.
