Why Is Pre-summer Tune Up Of Air-conditioned Necessary To Control Allergies?
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” -—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
Summer in colder regions of the world is one of the beautiful times of the year with fresh blooms, warm air, and a blanket of greenery all around. But summer months also means sneezing, congestion, a runny nose and other bothersome symptoms. This is on account of the dust and pollen that are blowing in the wind. In fact May is celebrated as Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month. Besides affecting the humans, the dust and pollens can also have an impact on your air conditioner units. They can get inside the condenser unit and build-up. This can cause hiccups in the system and stop it from functioning smoothly. In the US and Canada, the cottonwood trees particularly plague cooling units very much. The white, silky fluffs from the trees find their way into the air conditioners get entwined with the interior parts, causing them to malfunction.
How to control allergies:
Besides the activities of trees, grasses, and flowers, allergies can also be caused by host of other factors. The dust can get into our house from other quarters as well. These can accumulate in your ducts as well as inyour air conditioner, air handler or furnace blower motor. When you run the AC, the dust and grit get loosened from those parts and are distributed and redistributed in each room. Beside dust and pollens there can be pet dander, dead insect, droppings of rodents and vermin and many more. If there is moisture tricking inside your ducts and parts of A/c then the matted layer of dust and debris can be fertile bed for mold and mildew to breed. If you have kids for some elderly in the family whose lungs get irritated when breathing contaminated air, then they will exhibit respiratory troubles.
In-such cases you should first check you’re A/c’s filter, change it if it is dirty. In case you find that it is not powerful enough to screen the dust particles then replace it with a high efficiency air filter. These have MERV rating greater than 14.Today there are an array of air purifiers and air cleaners available for home HVAC systems. There are filters that can filter out up to 99% of indoor air contaminants, including ozone and VOCs.
If the new filter is not resolving the problem then place a call with the HVAC professional that service your air conditioner. He will assess the health of your air conditioner and would determine if other up gradation or replacements are required. Sometimes ducts get infested with debris, pollen and mold. You need to get it cleaned professionally to get rid of allergies.
If cottonwood strands get into your air conditioner, then call a professional immediately to get it inspected and wasted. Cottonwood strands are difficult to remove as they become entangled with the working parts. A power washer is used to clean the parts but one has to be cautious as too much water pressure can damage the fins on the unit.
Remember, you cannot get rid of the pollens and dust in summer just by closing your windows and doors. You really have to use your well maintained air conditioner system to help purify the air