It's no secret that air filters are essential for keeping your home's air clean and healthy. But what happens when you don't change your air filter regularly? Can it make you sick? The answer is yes. An unchanged air filter can have serious consequences for your health, both in the short and long term. Immediate problems caused by an unchanged air filter can include itchy eyes or throat, headaches, and more.
If you continue with that same air filter and the problems persist, the long-term impacts could be even more serious. According to experts, these can include possible heart disease, respiratory disease, and even cancer. If you have a carpet in your home and a dirty, clogged air filter, you're creating a dangerous environment for yourself and your family. Even if you don't have asthma or allergies, you're likely to feel the effects of dirty air in some way.
When an air filter is clogged and can't trap contaminants like it should, those things can go back into the air that everyone in your home breathes. This can cause headaches, itchy eyes or throat, and dizziness. If the air filters are not changed and the problems continue, the long-term effects could be respiratory disease, heart disease, or cancer. Sealed buildings that use old filters allow poor quality air to recirculate inside.
We inhale these particles and, depending on our sensitivity, they can cause minor problems such as watery eyes, coughing, sneezing, or trigger symptoms related to asthma and other long-term respiratory complications. If an air filter becomes clogged, poor circulation will occur. This could cause unwanted moisture to stick around and cause mold, which is a pain to remove and can lead to long-term health complications. Homeowners who ignore filters in their heating and air conditioning systems risk increasing energy costs, damaging expensive equipment, and decreasing indoor air quality and personal health. Depending on the type of air filter you use, you will need to follow different programs to ensure that the filter is always working for optimal performance.
When a filter is clogged, it causes the system to struggle to create airflow so hot or cold air cannot properly go where it needs to go. Fortunately, improving the air quality in your home is easy - all it takes is a few seconds to change an air filter. An air filter can collect and house allergens and allow them to circulate around homes when the air conditioner is in use. Smog and other pollutants can enter your home as well, making the HVAC system and filter work harder to keep the air clean. Changing your air filter regularly and relying on experts like Lindstrom Air Conditioning & Plumbing to clean your air ducts are some of the simplest things you can do to improve air quality.
Make sure you buy the correct size for your unit - the edges of the filter should indicate its measurement in inches. If the air conditioner sits around the coils without a filter in place, then you are heating or cooling the same air without pushing it through the ducts. When air filters are not changed regularly, they become clogged by particles and contaminants that adhere to them. So how serious is it if you don't change your filter for more than 7 months? Here we'll explore why it's important to keep your air filters and AC clean for a healthy environment.
