HOW YOUR AC AFFECTS INDOOR AIR QUALITY
We’ve often talked about indoor air quality and how it can affect your standard of living in your home. While we’ve mentioned its connection to your HVAC system, we’ve never properly expanded on these ideas. To ensure that everyone in Santa Clara is enjoying the best quality of air in their homes possible, Legacy Services will explore this connection a little further.
ARE YOU USING YOUR AC TOO MUCH?
Here in Texas, air conditioning is just a part of life. Homes, businesses, and vehicles all have it and use it without much thought. But before you let your AC run all day every day, it’s important to understand the effects it can have on your indoor air quality.
Dry Skin and Sinuses
While your air conditioner keeps your home cool, it also removes much of the moisture in the air. With prolonged exposure to treated air, your skin and nasal passages will slowly begin to dry out. This can lead to dry, itchy, and flaky skin. This is an unpleasant feeling, but fortunately can be treated with topicals and lotions. Dry nasal passages, however, can lead to a host of other health effects. Chronic nosebleeds can be the result of dry air. Similarly, dry nasal passages leave you vulnerable to upper respiratory infections, difficulty breathing, and more.
Your Body Could Become Heat Intolerant
Naturally, the human body is designed to react to seasonal changes in temperature by making your reaction to cold or heat less pronounced the more you expose yourself to it. But in some cases, staying in an artificially maintained temperature for too long can actually trick your body into developing an intolerance for heat. That means that you might react more strongly when you’re exposed to heat, presenting symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, and rapid dehydration. It’s important that you don’t stay in an air-conditioned environment for too long.
Your Allergies Might Get Worse
Yes, an air conditioner is supposed to help rid your home of allergens in the air, but if it’s not properly maintained, your AC can actually worsen your allergies. Clogged and dirty filters in your HVAC system do not keep pollutants from entering your home as well as clean or new filters do. The result is that more pollutants are allowed in, making your allergies more pronounced.
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR INDOOR AIR QUALITY WITH YOUR AC
Are you feeling a little panicked that you’re overusing your AC now? Well, don’t be. The reality is that it’s easy to use your AC properly and improve the air quality in your home at the same time. Just keep these things in mind as you use your AC throughout the year.
Change Your Filters Regularly
In our field, we suggest that you clean your air filters every three months or so. You can do it with the changing of the seasons. If you’re a pet owner, you’ll want to change these filters closer to once a month to reduce the amount of hair and dander that can build up in your filters. New and clean filters ensure that your allergies are kept in check.
Get a More Energy Efficient Unit
This might sound backward, but the less your AC runs, the better. Your AC works in cycles to cool down your home, it doesn’t run all the time. But older, less efficient units cycle more frequently, which can lead to the problems outlined above. New models cool your home more quickly, using less energy, and cycling less often. The result is that the air in your home doesn’t lose as much moisture.
Get An Indoor Air Quality Test
An air quality test can measure the level of particulates and pollutants in your home as well as expose places in your home where mold is growing Similarly, it can also involve inspecting your AC unit and ductwork to ensure that they’re working properly
SANTA CLARA’S CHOICE FOR AC REPAIR AND AIR QUALITY TESTING
Want to make your home more comfortable than ever? Call Legacy Services! We can conduct an air quality test and then make any repairs you might need to your air conditioner. The result is a home that is comfortable and healthy to stay in. Contact us today!