The first step to caring for your indoor air quality is ensuring that the air filter within your HVAC system remains in good condition—unclogged and installed properly so that it can adequately do its job. However, while your indoor air quality does benefit from this, the sole purpose of your air filter is actually not to improve the air quality in your home.
The Important Role That Filters Play
Your air filter does keep out many of the particles in the air that can make you sick, such as pollen and other allergens—although a whole-home air filtration system could do even more. But your air filter serves a secondary purpose that homeowners often don’t take into consideration. They protect your HVAC system from damage.
Air from your home is tasked with flowing into the air handler so that the AC system can cool it (or so the heater can heat it). Without a good air filter in place, however, debris can actually damage the interior of the system.
What If Your Air Filter is Too Dirty?
An air filter that is severely clogged is almost worse than having no air filter at all. A dirty air filter can actually obstruct air from flowing into the system at all. Since your air conditioning system is designed to take in a certain amount of air, any hindrance to that airflow can actually cause it to malfunction.
As a result, your HVAC system becomes overworked, and your system is much more likely to break down when you really need it—or at least require repairs that would have otherwise been unnecessary.
Changing Your Air Filter
For peak air conditioning performance and for the best return on investment, you should change your filters at least once a month. If you don’t use your system very often—although who doesn’t in Florida—then you can change this to every 2-3 months.
IERNA’s Heating & Cooling provides quality air filtration services throughout Wesley Chapel, FL and beyond. Contact us today to learn more about our additional indoor air quality products and services.