Much like children, having pets can have a profound effect on your life — and your home. Your pet can fill your days with cuddles, affection, and companionship. They can help you exercise more or learn responsibility. However, they also tend to leave their hair...well, everywhere. Every pet owner of any length of time knows the struggle of trying to clean pet dander. And this can impact your HVAC system and indoor air quality as well.
The rules are a little different for HVAC systems when you have pets. Households with pets require slightly different HVAC maintenance and possibly even different systems. Here are our HVAC tips for households with pets.
Change Your Air Filters Frequently
Most households should change their air filters every 2-3 months in order to ensure they don’t become clogged. However, if you have pets, you need to check them even more frequently. If not, your furry friends’ collective dander will inevitably filter to the air filter, clogging it. The fuller the air filters are, the more energy the HVAC system has to use in order to bring conditioned air into your home. If you don’t monitor and change your air filters frequently, you could end up paying a hefty HVAC bill, and possibly repair costs if the HVAC system becomes overworked. And dog food is already expensive enough.
Be Mindful of Allergies
Chances are if you have pets, you probably don’t have an allergy to pet dander. But your guests might. As your HVAC system filters conditioned or heated air into your home, the dander in your home may circulate into the air. This is especially true when it gets caught in the air filter and in your HVAC system. Thus every time someone comes into your home, they are breathing in pet dander. It can also worsen the symptoms of respiratory conditions. Even if you don’t have an allergy, it’s not ideal for anyone to breathe in pet hair constantly.
HVAC Solutions for Households with Pets
In order to be mindful of allergies, you’ll want to clean your home thoroughly as well as monitor your HVAC system regularly. You’ll have to clean your system and schedule routine maintenance more frequently than you might have otherwise. You might also consider high-efficiency air filters, as they’re able to remove small dander particles, or air cleaners that can help to remove pet dander from the air altogether.
Your pets are an important part of your life. No matter how much they might shed, you wouldn’t trade them for anything. Some households will keep their pets even when they’ve developed allergies themselves because that’s how much they mean to them. They’re part of the family. That’s why it’s important to know how to accommodate your HVAC care to keep the house comfortable for everyone in the family.
At Air Solutions in Bryan-College Station, we have 50 years of combined experience with all things HVAC. We can help with your routine HVAC maintenance as well as introduce you to HVAC solutions that work for both the humans and pets in the household. Contact us today for more information.