3 Resolutions For Your Home
Every January 1st we all take out our notepads and jot down our resolutions. Maybe you want to exercise more, cut out candy, or read more books. This year, your Daffan team wants to give you a few New Year’s resolution ideas for your home. We promise they’re not too difficult.
1. Replace Your Filters
Replacing your filters regularly can determine how long your cooling and heating system stays alive. Dirty filters blow dirty air (dust, debris, etc.) into your coil. When this happens, the airflow to the coil is restricted and puts stress on your system. This means you may have to have the coil deep cleaned which is costly, replace your coil sooner than expected, or worse, you have to replace your system due to it not being able to handle the strain of the restricted airflow caused by the dirty filter and coil.
So, how often should you replace your filter? That depends on the size of your filter and the amount of activity in your home. Number of pets, a recent remodel, time of year, and foot traffic are all factors that can clog your filter. Check your filter regularly to make sure it hasn’t clogged earlier than expected. If you have a 1” filter, you should replace it every 30 days. If you have a 5” filter, we recommend you replace the filter every 90 days. However, if you have pets, we recommend you replace it every 60 days.
If you’re not sure where to purchase a filter, you can typically find them online or at your local hardware store. We carry 5” filters here at our office. You can purchase one for us to install during your maintenance check or for you to keep around in case you have to replace it before your next maintenance check.
Bottom line: Check your filters regularly. If you have a 1” filter, change it every 30 days. If you have a 5” filter, change it every 60-90 days.
2. Open Your Windows
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: the air in your home is dirty. And with us spending so much time in our homes this year due to COVID, the air is even dirtier. According to the EPA, “Americans, on average, spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, where the concentration of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations.” Over the last few decades, homes have become more and more energy efficient which means they’ve also become less ventilated. This is good in some cases, but bad in others. This means the pollutants in your home have fewer opportunities to get out, leaving you and your family breathing air full of dust, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pet dander, mold, and the list goes on.
Our biggest recommendation in fighting indoor air pollution is to install an air purification system. However, if that is not in the budget for your family at the moment, opening a window or door every now and again to allow fresh air to enter your home will help promote air flow and decrease the amount of pollutants. Keep in mind, that allergy season may be occurring so, don’t open the window or door to avoid allowing more allergens into your home.
Bottom line: Newer homes are well-sealed for energy efficiency. However, you may need to open a window or door every now and again to promote fresh air flow.
3. Keep Leaves and Limbs Away from Your Outdoor Unit
Just like a dirty air filter can restrict the airflow to your indoor unit, leaves, and limbs can restrict the airflow to your outdoor unit. Maybe during Spring, the bushes around your unit have grown or during Fall the leaves from your pecan trees fell. Check around your outdoor unit frequently to make sure the branches from your bushes or leaves from the trees have not impeded the outdoor unit’s ability to get plenty of airflow. This is one reason why regular maintenance on your system is important. The technician can open the outdoor unit clean the cottonwood off the coils and flush out the leaves and twigs.
When you are mowing your lawn, keep in mind which way your lawn mower blows the grass clippings. If they are being blown directly at your outdoor unit, this may be clogging your coils and causing restricted airflow.
Bottom line: Keep an eye on your outdoor unit to make sure the tree limbs, leaves, cottonwood, or grass clippings aren’t blocking the coils from getting plenty of airflow.
