HVAC systems regulate the air in your home through heating, cooling, and ventilation. However, if your HVAC is not working correctly due to a lack of repair or a dirty system, it can have many negative effects on your home’s indoor air quality.
A dirty HVAC system usually starts with a dirty air filter. When the filter builds up with dust and debris, the only thing getting through the filter is even more dust and debris. This builds up in your ventilation system and therefore harms your air quality. These filters must be changed out every 1-3 months to keep your system working at its full capacity and keeping your indoor air quality as clean as possible.
What Kind of Contaminants Enter Your Home?
Air contaminants are constantly entering your home through all directions, and your HVAC system helps to reduce these contaminants.
- Cleansers, glues, and pesticides can add to the volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) and toxic vapors in the air.
- Building materials often create dust, fiberglass particles, and asbestos.
- Those living in your building create contaminants like perfume, carbon dioxide, and tobacco smoke.
- Paint, carpet, furniture may create off-gas emissions that add gases and odors to fill the air.
- Fabric and furniture also lead to the production of dust and dust mites.
- Any place in your home with water can lead to mold, bacteria, and other microorganisms that float around in the air you breathe.
Effects of a Dirty Ventilation System
- Allergens: With dirty air ducts come allergens that float around in your home’s air. Allergens can easily cause headaches, itchy eyes, fatigue, itchy skin, and more. It can cause mild to extreme discomfort to not just those living in your home, but also anyone who may be visiting.
- Health Issues: Similarly, health issues may arise when your indoor air quality is poorly regulated. Asthma and other breathing irregularities, stubborn colds, and heightened lung disease symptoms may arise with ineffective ventilation systems.
- Inefficient Temperature Regulation: Poor airflow also causes your heating and cooling systems to ultimately fail. The system fails to take in and convert air because it’s blocked by so much debris and dust.
- Higher Costs: Because of the poor airflow and inefficient temperature regulation, your system has to work much harder in order to heat, cool, and ventilate your home. This leads to using more power and, therefore, a higher power bill. You can save a lot more money by simply changing out the filter every few months.