50 million Americans suffer from allergies every year, making allergies the 6th leading cause of chronic illness in the United States. With the temperatures rising, hay fever will be on the rise as well. Luckily there are things a home owner can do to help prevent these symptoms inside their home.
Clean Home = Happy Home
The best thing you can do is clean your home often. Vacuuming and dusting your house once or even twice a week is preferred. This will keep dust mites and other allergen triggers from spreading in your home. Also, getting your ducts cleaned before allergy season helps as well. This will help your home to stay cleaner in the long run, which in turn, helps keep your allergies at bay. Another great thing to do is to have someone inspect your HVAC system twice a year to clean and maintain it. With Bob Hamilton’s $99 System cleaning you can get your system cleaned and checked with a camera to make sure everything is working efficiently, that there are no undetected leaks, mold, or rust and that your system is keeping out those pesky allergens.
Air-Filtration Systems
Once your home has been cleaned, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to install a good air-filtration system into your home’s HVAC. This would include UV Light Filters, Electronic Filters, and Media Filters. Each of these systems has their own pros and cons.
UV Light Filters
UV Light filters use UV light to kill any airborne pathogens in your home. This will decrease mold growth in your home and will also help kill dust mites. This works best when combined with a good media filter, since a UV Light Filter doesn’t stop dust from spreading in the home.
Electronic Filters
These filters will actually keep dust from spreading through you home. They work by ionizing the air that passes through it and the particles are then attracted to the filter and become trapped. These are great since their filters are reusable. You just need to remove and clean the filter every few months for optimum efficiency.
Media Filters
A media filter is what you would usually think of when it comes to an air filter. They are usually the standard for any HVAC system, but did you know they come in different sizes? A thin 20x20x1in filter is the standard but you can get one up to 5 inches thick. The extra thickness of these filters will help keep any allergen particles out of your air so you can breathe easy.
Dehumidifiers
A dehumidifier is a must have for anyone that has allergies. These machines pull all of the excess moisture out of the air allowing you to breathe easier and also reduces mold and mildew growth in the home. Your AC works as a dehumidifier, but it sometimes can’t keep up during really humid days.
If you would like an expert to come out and take a look at your system to see how it can better filter out allergens in your home, give Bob Hamilton Plumbing, Heating, AC, Rooter, and Electrical a call at 913-888-4262.