By Sierra Air Conditioning & Plumbing
No matter how much you dust, sweep, and vacuum, dust and dirt still manage to accumulate throughout your home. It’s estimated that on average, your home will collect about 40 pounds of dust each year! Around 70% of that dust comes from you and your family members (including the furry ones) as they shed dead skin cells and hair. The remaining 30% comes from dirt and organic matter that you and your family bring into the home from outside each day. This dust and dirt become trapped in your home and as air circulates throughout your home, the dust and dirt enters into your Home Comfort System and accumulate.
As dust and dirt build up inside of your Home Comfort System, it causes the following issues:
Decreases Efficiency of your Home Comfort System & May Cause Expensive Repairs
Even a thin layer of dust and dirt– less than an eighth of an inch – can affect how your coils and components work.
One of the biggest issues dust may cause is reducing the level of heat exchange. The coils of your air conditioner play an important role in the cooling process. As dirt settles onto the coils, it creates a barrier between the coil surface and air, preventing the coils from absorbing or releasing heat. This will trigger a drop in the amount of cool air you get indoors and cause the AC to work even harder to compensate, which in turn will speed up wear and tear. A dirty evaporator coil can also begin to develop ice and freeze up because it can no longer absorb enough heat to lower its temperature.
Too much dust on your AC system is also harmful to the motor of your AC system. When dust accumulates on the fan motors, it may cause faults in the electrical cables, cause bearings to seize, or lead to motor problems.
Increases Energy Usage
When key air conditioner components are covered with dust, they don’t operate as effectively as they should. This puts undue stress on your AC unit during operation, causing you to use more energy in the process as well as more wear on your system, shortening its lifespan.
Decreases Indoor Air Quality & Clogs your Air Filter
Air filters are fitted to the AC system to keep away big particles of dirt or dust from entering the AC system through suction. If this dust and dirt are allowed to accumulate to higher levels, it will lead to clogging of the air filter. A clogged air filter is one of the major causes of air conditioning system repairs. Such unnecessary repairs can be eliminated by practicing proper care and maintenance for the equipment.
As your Home Comfort System operates, it moves and transfers the dust and dirt particles to different parts of your home and continues to recirculate these particles. This means that the dust and dirt are staying trapped in your home, and you are breathing it all. If someone in your family has respiratory issues or allergies, poor indoor air quality can become a serious problem. It’s important for your health to have clean air filters to help to filter out allergens.
How to Help Prevent Dust and Dirt Build-Up
A simple step you should take to prevent dust build-up is to change your air filter regularly. With the frequent high temperatures in Las Vegas, we recommend changing your air filter once a month.
We also recommend scheduling tune-ups twice a year – once in the spring to clean your cooling system and once in the fall to clean your heating system. Our technicians make sure that there is no large debris in your outdoor unit by cleaning it from the inside out. In the fall, our techs clean the safety switches and burners in your attic to ensure the safety and efficiency of your system.
