Your four-legged friends are a part of the family, which means you need to learn how to work around the havoc they can cause to your HVAC system. Excessive pet hair and dander can minimize indoor air quality and make a home uncomfortable in any season. Here are our top HVAC maintenance tips for pet owners:
Brush Your Pet Outside Regularly
One of the worst things for HVAC systems is their tendency to become clogged with excessive pet hair. You can stop this in its tracks with one simple step: Brush your pet more frequently. The best place to brush them is outside.
If you never remove their loose fur inside, you don’t run the risk of pet hair that makes its way into the HVAC system. For those who have to brush their pets inside due to weather and other circumstances, make sure to vacuum up the pile of loose hair as quickly as possible to prevent it from getting away.
Vacuum Up Pet Dander To Save Your HVAC System
Pet hair isn’t the only thing that can clog up your air filters and lead to an inefficient and overworked HVAC system. Pet dander plays an equally important role in the indoor air quality of your home.
You should strive to vacuum your house with a high-powered vacuum at least twice each week. Some people may even do so more regularly.
Make sure to hit spots where your furry friends spend most of their time, like pet beds, kennels, and their favourite corners to lounge in.
Change Air Filters More Frequently
It’s no secret that pet hair and pet dander can cause serious issues with your air filters, like clogging them up, which leads to your HVAC working less efficiently because the air can’t filter through the air ducts as easily. This leads to more wear and tear on your unit, but you can limit these effects with frequent air filter changes.
Most homeowners can get away with only changing their air filter once each season (every three months). When you have pets, the lifespan of an air filter is significantly shortened. Depending on how much your pet sheds, you may have to change it out every two months.
You may even find that you need to replace your filter more frequently during the shedding season in the spring. If you have a pet that sheds fur tumbleweeds everywhere, your air filters may only last a month during this season.
Get Better Quality Air Filters
This is also a great time to consider buying higher-quality air filters. The less expensive ones on the market might be tempting, but they filter out far less than those with a higher minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) rating. Look for MERV ratings of 10 to 12 if you want them to filter out pet dander effectively.
Better filters can lessen your experiences with pet allergies. You may not realize how sensitive you are to pet dander and pet fur until you work to remove it from your home with a high-quality air filter!
Protect Your Outdoor Air Conditioner Unit
Does your dog seem interested in your HVAC unit when you let him out into the yard for a little romp? Many homeowners don’t think about their pets as being interested in their air conditioning unit, but it could prove problematic. Pets often brush up against it, sending their fur and dander directly into the circulation of air in your home.
They may also be tempted to lift a leg on your HVAC system, leading to extensive damage.
This can all be avoided by blocking off the unit while still making it accessible for your HVAC technician when routine maintenance services are due. You can build a small fence with a gate around it, keeping those furry friends out. As a bonus, this might also minimize wild critters who look for a warm place to burrow in the winter.
Don’t Forget Semiannual Maintenance
Last but not least, you should always ensure you’re on the books for your semiannual HVAC system maintenance. Provincial Heating and Cooling will send a qualified technician to your home to inspect the air conditioning and heating systems for signs of damage or wear and tear.
Every six months or as the seasons start to change, you want to have HVAC maintenance done to prepare for the season ahead.
This can also serve as a great opportunity to ask questions about how you can improve your HVAC maintenance throughout the year, leading to fewer repairs and less expensive costs down the road.
We can make recommendations for your home’s air quality, such as adding an air purifier if necessary. Don’t let your Winnipeg furnace maintenance wait.
Improve Air Quality With Provincial Heating and Cooling
Don’t let your beloved pets ruin your indoor air quality or your HVAC system. Pet fur and dander can significantly decrease your air quality and can increase your experience of allergy symptoms. When you need help with HVAC repair in Winnipeg or just want to ask questions about keeping your home’s systems in good condition, Provincial Heating and Cooling is here to help.
Give us a call today to schedule your maintenance appointment for the upcoming season change!