As greenery and warm weather return to Beckley, WV, many homeowners brace for allergy season. Seasonal allergies in this area can be quite brutal, with tree and grass pollen being springtime culprits. By the time summer rolls around, ragweed pollen invades. This leaves many residents coughing, sneezing, and wheezing for months. The issue is that this pollen enters your home and concentrates there. It can easily cause symptoms, especially for people who already have respiratory issues and sensitivities. You already have a weapon in your home to fight against seasonal allergies: your HVAC unit.
At Childers Air Plumbing & Electric, we offer a range of HVAC services that focus on your home comfort. We want to help you reduce the exposure to pollen and other pollutants in your home. Your indoor air quality (IAQ) is a vital part of your health. With the right steps to take with your HVAC unit, you can greatly improve your IAQ and breathe cleaner, healthier air.
Upgrade to a High-Efficiency Air Filter
The first way you can use your HVAC to fight back against the allergy season is to upgrade your filters. They keep dirt and debris out of your systems and ultimately out of your air. However, even the newest models have filters with relatively low MERV ratings. This means that tiny particles still get through. Once in the home, they circulate and concentrate. The average HVAC filter does not stop them. Upgrading to a better filter is an excellent first line of defense.
A higher MERV rating indicates that the filter can capture smaller particles. For most residential systems, a MERV rating between 8 and 13 provides an excellent balance between air filtration and system performance. Higher ratings mean that your filters are dense enough to capture fine spores, pollen, and dust. These pollutants stay out of your blower motor, your ductwork, and ultimately out of your home. It’s a simple upgrade, and we can help.
Commit to a Regular Filter Replacement Schedule
Replacing your filters with a better type and replacing them regularly are separate things. Your filters need to remain clean. The thing about denser filters is that they clog more easily. This happens because they capture much smaller particles, catching more debris. You must create a schedule to check, clean, and replace your superior filters. Especially around pollen season, you will need to be diligent about this.
We generally recommend checking your filter every 30 days during high-use seasons. It’s best to buy a few high-rated filters at a time. This way, you can easily replace them. You can clean a used filter and let it dry, if it’s reusable. This allows your system to filter for clean air continuously.
Invest in a Whole-Home Air Purifier
High-rated MERV filters are great, and they do work, but you may want more. Some pollen is incredibly small, on a microscopic level. In other words, great filters significantly reduce pollen, but they do not eliminate it. If you want to remove pollen, a whole-home air purifier is likely your best option. These systems install into your existing ductwork, utilizing your return register. This system removes pollen from your indoor air every time you or your pets enter the home.
Many advanced air purifiers use ionization or UV light technology to neutralize contaminants. Electronic air cleaners can trap particles as small as 0.3 microns, including bacteria and viruses. For scale, the smallest pollen is typically 2.5 microns, so an air purifier captures these pollutants. By integrating air purifiers into your HVAC setup, you get a level of protection that no HVAC filter can match.
Schedule a Professional Spring Tune-Up
Dust, allergens, and other debris accumulate over time inside the HVAC cabinet itself. This means contaminants sit on your blower motor, evaporator coils, and all over your system. So, the first time that the AC kicks on, it blows all this debris throughout your living space. This debris contributes to seasonal allergies. A tune-up from Childers Air Plumbing & Electric can help keep your system clean.
During a maintenance visit, we perform an all-points inspection and tune-up:
- Cleaning the evaporator and condenser coils
- Inspecting the blower components for dust buildup
- Checking for any signs of mold or moisture
- Clearing the condensate drain
The cleaner your system is, the healthier your air is. The HVAC system can easily become its own source of pollution. Routine maintenance prevents this. It also offers the added benefits of extending your equipment lifespan and reducing the risks of breakdowns. Calling us in for maintenance is a smart choice.
Manage Humidity Levels to Prevent Mold
Spring in the area here also brings increased humidity. We’re a landlocked state with mountain cover. This means humidity levels can get high. Increased moisture in the home makes it an ideal breeding ground for mildew, mold, dust mites, and other biological growth. Any humidity level over 50% is too high for the home. It’s ideal to keep the humidity level in your home between 30% and 40%. Your AC unit is decent at extracting humidity, but it’s often not enough.
Mold can be a lot more hazardous to your health than allergens, especially if it’s black mold. A great way to improve your IAQ here is to invest in a whole-home dehumidifier. Just like with the air purifier, a dehumidifier attaches directly to your HVAC system. You won’t have to deal with tanks to dump in every room. The system captures and drains moisture out of the home. This is a great way to get balanced air that isn’t conducive to mold growth.
Seal Leaky Ductwork
Your air ducts are the highways that transport treated and conditioned air throughout your home. Any gaps or leaks will allow unfiltered air from crawlspaces and attics to enter the home. This air can be filled with dust, allergens, mold, and insulation fibers. Since it leaks into your ducts, it bypasses your filtration system entirely.
We can inspect your ductwork for leaks and offer durable, long-term fixes. By sealing these gaps, you ensure that 100% of the air coming into your rooms is treated and clean. This helps you breathe clean air year-round, not just during allergy season.
At Childers Air Plumbing & Electric, we are dedicated to helping our neighbors breathe easier. We’re a local company whose technicians also live in the area. This means we understand how the number of allergens appears in the springtime. We offer a range of quality solutions for your IAQ and your HVAC. We’ve been in business for over 70 years and have ample experience in the area. Our technicians are true problem-solvers whose only goal is your home comfort.
Contact Childers Air Plumbing & Electric today for more information on how to combat allergy season in Beckley
