Taking good care of the HVAC equipment in your Louisville, KY home is a critical part of maintaining acceptably high indoor air quality (IAQ). However, routine HVAC maintenance isn’t a standalone solution to all of your IAQ concerns. This is especially true if anyone in your household suffers from allergies, asthma, or other respiratory conditions, or if you have indoor pets or live on a busy street. Integrated, in-home air filtration could be essential for creating a clean, fresh-smelling environment and protecting the health of your loved ones. Check out these eight impressive benefits that you can enjoy by having in-home air filtration system installed.
1. Eliminate Micro-Fine Particulates That Pass Through Your HVAC Air Filter
Many homeowners are over-reliant on their HVAC air filters for general air filtration. Although these components do remove a fair amount of dust and other contaminants from the indoor air, there are still lots of particulates that they cannot extract.
Micro-fine allergens and other airborne debris regularly pass right through air filter mesh and get circulated and recirculated through homes. Unfortunately, when it comes to your IAQ and the health of everyone in your household, it’s the things that you cannot see that cause harm. These include bacteria, fungi, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), viruses, and more. Many standard HVAC air filters are even incapable of picking up all pollen, dander, and pet fur. This is why you’ll often find buildups of these microorganisms on and around your HVAC air vents. You will notice they have a gray, lint-like appearance.
HVAC air filters exist primarily to protect HVAC equipment. The benefits that they provide for humans are simply an added bonus. Installing a whole-house air filter will give you an integrated IAQ solution that’s been designed specifically with building residents in mind.
2. Enjoy Improved Indoor Climate Control
The allergens and contaminants that bypass your HVAC air filter can and do have an impact on the performance of your heating and cooling equipment. These particulates gradually build up on your heater and air conditioner’s sensitive, internal components. Over time and as these accumulations increase, your furnace and air conditioner will take increasingly longer to produce the indoor temperatures you want. They will also use a lot more energy in the process.
Installing an in-home air filter will both improve your IAQ and lower your home energy bill. As your indoor air quality rises, the performance of your entire HVAC system will rise along with it.
3. Extend the Lifespan of Your Heating and Cooling Equipment
Removing airborne particulates also limits the amount of stress that furnaces and air conditioners are subjected to. When there are no blockages in HVAC air ducts, on air registers, vents, grilles, or on internal HVAC components, air can flow through HVAC systems freely. With less stress, heaters and air conditioners sustain less wear and last a lot longer. In most homes, this means having fewer costly repair issues to contend with and more time before HVAC equipment must be replaced.
4. Get Rid of Stubborn Indoor Odors
Even micro-sized particulates can have a major impact on how the interior of your home smells. Air filtration can remove unpleasant cooking odors, smoke odors, and damp, moldering smells. When your HVAC system is running and your whole-house air filter is doing its job, you’ll always have the benefit of a clean, fresh-smelling environment.
5. Limit the Spread of Airborne Illnesses
Whole-house air filters are installed directly in HVAC air vents. Their ability to capture and retain bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens means that communicable illnesses aren’t circulated from room to room. Many integrated air filtration systems are capable of capturing particulates as small as the aerosols from a sneeze.
If you have someone in your home who’s resting in their room while battling a flu or cold, you won’t have to worry about their germs migrating to other areas of the building via your HVAC ducting. Thus, having one building resident fall ill doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone else in the home will soon be ill, too.
6. Lighten Your House Cleaning Load
If the dusting in your home never seems to be done, investing in advanced HVAC air filtration can make all the difference in the world. Homeowners who once had massive buildups of lint-like material on their ceiling fans or at their HVAC air vents can put their dusters, vacuum cleaner hose attachments, and damp cloths away. Integrated air filters capture and collect the dust particulates that bypass standard HVAC air filters before they have the opportunity to settle on indoor surfaces. With less dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping to do, you’ll have more time to engage in the activities that you actually enjoy.
7. Protect Those With Compromised Immunity and Respiratory Illnesses
Given their ability to extract illness-causing germs while boosting indoor air quality, integrated, whole-house filters are an excellent investment for homes with residents that have lowered immunity. If you have an age-in-place senior living in your home, a brand-new baby, or someone who’s living with a terminal illness, air filtration equipment can make their life a little easier.
Residents with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, seasonal allergies, and other respiratory conditions will have far fewer triggers to contend with. Indoor air that’s free of common contaminants and allergens is far less likely to exacerbate the symptoms of these ailments than is indoor air that’s only been passed through a standard HVAC air filter.
8. Get a Single, Seamless Solution
Whole-house air filters are far superior to basic, standalone units that only filter the air in a single room at a time. These filters are installed directly in HVAC air ducts, and they work constantly without the need for input or intervention from homeowners. They offer a simple, set-it-and-forget-it solution to countless IAQ concerns, and they are installed, serviced, and replaced as needed by HVAC professionals.
Upgrading standard HVAC air filters to options with higher maximum efficiency reporting value (MERV) ratings and higher overall filtration capabilities often causes an increase in HVAC system stress. High-rated HVAC air filters impede airflow and force heaters and air conditioners to work a bit harder. Conversely, integrated air filters are designed to limit stress by supporting adequate airflow. As such, even as building residents benefit from these components, furnaces and air conditioners can continue performing like they should.
9. Enjoy Deeper and More Restful Sleep
You might see improvements in your sleep quality as your indoor air quality improves. Investing in whole-house air filtration can have a positive impact on the sleep quality of people who struggle with sleep apnea, insomnia, and other sleep-related troubles. Your indoor air will be cleaner, fresher, and far less likely to irritate your airways and sinuses. If you regularly wake up with a dry, stuffy nose or suffer from frequent, nighttime nosebleeds, this could be the perfect HVAC system upgrade for you.
We work hard to ensure that our clients can breathe easy in their homes. We proudly serve residents of Louisville, KY and Southern Indiana. We offer air conditioner and heater installation, maintenance, and repair services. We also provide advanced indoor air quality solutions and affordable preventative maintenance plans. To improve your home’s IAQ with integrated air filtration, get in touch with Allegiance Heating & Air, LLC today.
