Ah, the eternal (and rather gross) question: why is dust piling up in your home? Is there anything you can do about it?
Dust overload
Did you know that the average home (6 rooms) gets up to 40 pounds of dust per year? And, keep in mind, not only does this dust circulate in the air, collect on surfaces, and otherwise become an allergen and an inconvenience … it also collects inside your air ducts.
So that means, no matter how vigilant you are about cleaning your home, now that it’s time for spring cleaning, you could still have some of the world’s largest dust bunnies collecting in your air ducts! And, that large portion of the 40 pounds of dust in your home might not just be dust, but could also be bacteria, pollen, smoke, chemical vapor, pet dander, insects, and more creepy, gross things lurking! Of course, all of them can aggravate allergies and asthma, even if you keep the rest of your home clean.
So, what can you do?
This wouldn’t be a very good post from us if we talked about how gross dust in your home was, but didn’t offer any solutions! Our first piece of advice is to at least do what you can when it comes to the existing level of dust in your home, with a HEPA filter vacuum cleaner. This way, your vacuum will be catching very small particles, instead of just kicking them back up into the air when you vacuum!
On top of that, you need to run your furnace fan when you’re vacuuming, in order to catch particles that do get kicked up when you’re:
- vacuuming
- dusting
- washing rugs and drapes
- sweeping the floors
- wiping the walls
Wow, we just made a whole spring cleaning checklist for you, too!!
Keep in mind that running your furnace fan (switching your thermostat to “fan on”) is not going to do much good, if your air filter is dirty. So make absolutely sure to change your air filter every couple of months, so that it can actually catch airborne dust and other particles.
Our fresh, tech-savvy solutions
Also, here at Weather Master, while we don’t do duct cleaning, we do have a variety of Lennox brand air cleaners and purifiers that can help those suffering from dust (and other particle) related allergies, asthma, hay fever, or other breathing difficulties!
Modern air cleaners are able to attack dust, pet dander, and even bacteria and viruses at the source. Our Lennox PureAir has a MERV 16 HEPA filter, which means that it captures particles larger than .3 micrometers. Dust, bacteria, sneeze droplets, and smoke are all large enough to be caught by this highly sophisticated filter!
Whether you’re interested in improving the air quality of your Raleigh home for you and your family, or you just like getting helpful tips from us, we want you to know we’re here for you! Contact us online or call us at (919) 853-7910 for all of your HVAC needs.