Your heating and cooling systems have a direct impact on your home’s indoor air quality. Prepping the AC for spring allergy season is a crucial part of making sure your family can breathe easy. It also helps the HVAC run more smoothly since it doesn’t have to combat as many airborne irritants.
When Does Douglas Pollen Season Take Place?
Allergy season in many parts of the country is only experienced through itchy eyes, sneezing, and occasional sniffles. In Douglas, GA, the experience is different. Anyone who’s lived here for long undoubtedly knows about the yellow dusting that arrives each spring. You go to bed and wake up to your car being covered in neon-green powder from our tall slash pines. These clouds of dust aren’t just an eyesore for homeowners. They are persistent irritants that aggravate allergy symptoms. By late May, heavy tree pollen usually tapers off, but it’s not long before grasses and weeds launch their own pollen campaign.
What Are the Best Ways to Target Indoor Allergens in Douglas?
To combat the “yellow blizzard” that occurs each spring in Coffee County, you need to follow a proactive defense plan. The goal is to make sure pollen clouds and other outdoor allergens don’t infiltrate your HVAC system and the air you breathe.
High-MERV Filters
Standard air filters do a great job at catching larger dust bunnies and pet hair. But when it comes to powdery slash pine pollen, the average filter isn’t enough to trap the fine particles. If you upgrade your HVAC with a filter with a higher MERV rating, it will have the tight weave it needs to capture microscopic irritants.
Not all HVAC systems are compatible with high-MERV filters. This is why it’s so important to have a trained HVAC technician inspect your setup. If you use a dense filter on a system that lacks the necessary blower power, it will reduce airflow and hurt indoor air quality instead of helping it. It may also burn out the blower motor.
Keep the Air Filter Changed Regularly
Regardless of the filter’s MERV rating, it needs regular cleaning or replacement. You should check it every month to see whether it’s clogged or coated in yellow dust from the pine trees. If it is, change it.
Dirty filters make ACs work much harder because of the restricted airflow. They have to use more energy and run longer cycles as they struggle to circulate fresh air. With a clean filter in place, there’s a lower chance of your family breathing in recycled allergens.
UV-C Lights
Air filters significantly reduce dust, pollen, and pet dander, but they don’t target biological irritants like mold spores and bacteria. To neutralize or deactivate these microscopic threats, you’ll need UV-C lights.
We place the lights directly into your air handler near the coils. When fungi and germs pass through the purification zone, the UV-C light destroys their DNA. This prevents the pathogens from getting into the air you breathe. This type of air cleaning method is particularly valuable in Douglas during the spring and summer when humidity rises. Lower condensation levels help prevent mold and mildew inside HVAC components.
Duct Cleaning
When was the last time you had your ductwork cleaned? If it’s been more than two to three years, it’s probably time to book an appointment. Georgia red clay dust and pollen love to settle inside ductwork. As conditioned air flows through the ducts, it mixes with these hidden contaminants, compromising the home’s indoor air quality.
During duct cleaning, we use high-powered vacuums and rotating brushes to remove deep-seated layers of grime. This gives your HVAC a reset for maximum performance. Instead of picking up old dust, the air traveling through the ducts will stay crisp and clean.
Schedule a Spring AC Tune-Up
We do much more than inspect electrical connections and check refrigerant levels during AC tune-ups. Our technicians also clean dirt, dust, pollen, and other contaminants from the blower components and drain pans. We have special brushes and foaming cleansers to clean the coils so we don’t damage the delicate aluminum fins. This thorough process washes away sticky pine sap, gritty residue, and other clogged debris. We’ll make sure every component operates efficiently and reliably. The result is a system that delivers cool, crisp air without making you sneeze.
Contact Chancey Heating & Cooling today to schedule professional AC maintenance in Douglas.
