Your home's HVAC system is essential for controlling the temperature in your home and keeping it comfortable during hot summers, cold winters, and all the weather in between. Another area where your home's HVAC system is critical is air filtration. The use of air filtration systems is an important part of modern HVAC installations as it provides an added level of safety and quality of life to your home. There are numerous types of airborne irritants that air filters can remove from the air that enters and is cycled throughout your home. Here is more information on air filtration and the value it adds to your overall quality of life.

About Air Filters and What They Do

Air filters are designed to clean the air that flows through your home's HVAC system and typically need to be replaced every six months with disposable filters and washable ones lasting up to five years. Air filters catch various contaminates as they enter your home and remove them from the air. This helps improve your home's indoor air quality. The result is that the air itself is healthier to breathe and also removal of these particles can help protect your HVAC system and its components from damage or contamination. When buying air filters, an important consideration is the filters' MERV rating. MERV or Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value rates how effective a filter is at filtering the air that flows through it. Ranging from one to twenty, filters that have a rating of fourteen or higher remove most airborne irritants, and the highest-rated filters can even block certain bacteria and viruses. Do note that filters with high MERV ratings may reduce overall airflow and strength due to increased filtering.

Benefits of Air Filtration

• Remove Irritants: a lot of harmful things can get into your home's air and removing them can improve your overall health and the health of your family. Some of the pollutants an effective HVAC filtering system removes include pollen, smoke, pet dander, dust mites, molds, dirt, and more. These irritants can negatively impact your overall health and if you have breathing problems, asthma, or other health concerns, these irritants can greatly impact your life.
• Can Improve Airflow: without proper filtering, debris can collect in various parts of your HVAC system including the ducts and the HVAC unit itself. Over time, this can greatly reduce your HVAC's ability to move air throughout your home, making your system less efficient. It also makes cooling or heating your home more difficult and longer. Air filtration keeps the system clean and, as long as you remember to change the filters, keeps air flowing.
• Improve The Lifespan of Your HVAC System: without filtering, your HVAC system has to work longer and harder to cool and heat your home. Over time, this puts a greater strain on various components such as the fan motor. This causes breakdowns to occur more often due to greater stress on your HVAC system, leading to expensive repairs. Keeping the air clean reduces this unneeded strain and helps your HVAC system last longer and work better.
• Can Add Value To Your Home: modern HVAC systems, such as PTAC Units, are very efficient, and they include matters of air filtration. Modern air filtration methods are more effective than ever and can help improve your health, which is something that future homeowners will value if your home is ever put on the market. In addition, recent world events and the increase in hybrid job opportunities have increased knowledge of and the desire for homes with high indoor air quality.

Proper air filtration is an important part of a modern HVAC system. If your HVAC system is not filtering air correctly or you are looking to update your HVAC system or its filtration, contact a professional today for more information.