Have you begun to notice your home is increasingly dusty in recent days, weeks or months? Not only might this be an annoyance and a frustration, it may also speak to a greater quantity of contaminants and other hazards in your air that need to be removed.
At Airtime Heating & Cooling, we’re here to help with a variety of HVAC services, ranging from AC and furnace repair and replacement to several solutions for indoor air quality – including homes dealing with high levels of dust and related concerns. Here are several of the primary causes of dust increases within the home, plus what you can do about each of them to limit these risks moving forward.
The first area to look at if you’re experiencing dust issues is your HVAC filter. Filters should be changed at least once every few months, and sometimes more often depending on the filter type you used – for washable filters, these should be cleaned regularly as well.
Failure to do this will result in filters accumulating dust and other materials over time. When they build up too much, they become ineffective and allow dust to spread throughout the home, including in your ducts and vents plus within any room where air is pushed to.
While this is less common in a dry state like Utah, high humidity levels within the home or a certain part of the home are still easily possible. These often lead to dust building up, plus to the formation of mold and mildew. If you’re concerned this is the cause of your dust, purchase a basic hygrometer to test for humidity levels, plus consider a whole-home humidifier or dehumidifier.
In some cases, your filters will be clean and working well – but dust will still make its way around because it was already present in your ducts. This often is due to leaks that cause dirty air from your attic or other spots to enter your standard air supply, including within ducts that are supposed to be supplying recently-filtered air.
Another of the most common causes of dust in the home is major gaps to the outdoors, and maybe the most frequent situation here is a crack or gap around a window area. You might be surprised how much dust will be prevented simply by re-caulking any small crack or gap areas in windows.
Finally, one of the simplest dust causes in some homes is dust being tracked in by occupants, especially in homes with several people living in them. This is simply avoided by requiring shoes be taken off before entering the house.
For more on the common causes of dust in your home, or to learn about any of our indoor air quality solutions or other HVAC services, speak to the staff at Airtime Heating & Cooling today.
