When we offer advice to people about how to prepare their HVAC systems during the fall so they’re ready for winter, we start with a reminder about regular heating maintenance. This is the number one priority to ensure a heating system works at peak efficiency and safety and encounters few (if any) malfunctions.
But we have another piece of advice for homes with central heating, which is to have the ductwork tested to check for leaks. Sealing leaky ductwork makes an enormous difference for both comfort and energy savings in winter.
Almost any modern home can benefit from air cleaners of some type. Indoor air quality is often poor because homes are built today to seal out the heat in summer and seal it in during winter—and that means not much fresh air circulation.
It’s been raining this week and last week in Fresno, CA. This rainfall is very welcome, since we’ve been going through a drought and rain brings relief for farmers. But there’s a downside—and we don’t mean having an outdoor touch football game being rained out. Spring rains cause the pollen count to rise, and this can be terrible for allergies. Watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, and all types of allergy irritations occur because there’s too much pollen drifting in the air.
Now that it’s May, we’re deep into the allergy season. This time of year can be miserable for people who suffer from pollen and grass allergies, leading to the dreaded “hay fever.” Even for people who don’t have specific allergies like these, the high pollen count in the air can add an extra level of irritation to the day from an itchy nose to mild headaches.
The early spring brings with it warmer weather. But it also brings with it allergy season. Bad allergic reactions to pollen, mold, and other pollutants floating in the air can turn a pleasant spring into an extremely unpleasant one—even for people who don’t normally suffer from allergic reactions.