Well-designed and maintained HVAC units improve a home’s air quality and provide a comfortable environment. However, poorly designed and maintained units can harm your home’s air quality, leading to several health complications.
Many homeowners have yet to learn the signs that their home’s air quality is dwindling, and they will often suffer the consequences for an extended time before finding relevant help.
Below, we’ll look at the most outstanding signs your HVAC system is already hurting your home’s air quality and the solutions around them.
Excess Humidity in Air-Conditioned Spaces
Balancing humidity levels is one of the most crucial HVAC functions for achieving optimum indoor air quality. Besides cooling your air, your unit should ensure the humidity levels are comfortable for your home’s occupants. The air shouldn’t feel excessively dry, as this can lead to skin irritation and respiratory issues. On the other hand, excess humidity can trigger mold and mildew growth and encourage dust mites and other allergens to dominate your space.
If your home suffers low humidity, get some houseplants and keep them watered, or install a fan to circulate the warm, humid air throughout your home after washing dishes or showering. For less serious high-humidity challenges, install a ceiling fan to help circulate the air or exhaust fans to push the warm, moist air out of your space.
If your house experiences bigger humidity challenges, install a whole-home humidifier or dehumidifier to maintain your home’s humidity healthily. The main advantage of these units is they work in conjunction with your home’s HVAC unit. This means they won’t under or over-humidify your home like independent units can.
Air Duct Releasing Unpleasant Odors
While there’s no standard odor for high-quality air, you can always tell when the air quality in your space is deteriorating. When you start perceiving unpleasant smells that don’t seem to disappear with time, it could signal that your home lacks adequate ventilation. Your HVAC unit can be the cause of these stale odors if:
- It’s drawing the odors from outside the unit: This can happen if your unit has leaky ducts or improper connections between HVAC equipment and the ducts.
- The unpleasant air emanates from inside the ducts: If the air is from within the ducts, it could be for many reasons. For example, an animal could have entered through an opening and died there. Alternatively, a high moisture level inside the air-handling unit could expedite mold growth, affecting the air quality entering your home.
- It’s not supplying fresh air effectively: When other buildings around your home release poor air quality, your HVAC system could allow this low-quality air into your space for two reasons. It could be having obstructed ducts or a weak balance between extraction fans and injection. Your HVAC unit should maintain a higher quality of the airflow it injects into a room than the air it extracts to keep contaminants and odor out. However, if it’s not doing this effectively, it ends up allowing in unwanted air from the surrounding buildings.
Despite the reason behind the stale odors, ensure your HVAC unit is inspected as soon as you perceive a change in indoor odors.
A Rise in Allergy and Respiratory Issues
Sometimes, you may not easily tell when your home’s air quality has deteriorated until your family members complain about similar allergies or respiratory issues. Some of the most common health issues associated with poor indoor air can include:
- Fatigue
- Sneezing
- Symptoms of flu
- Breathing problems
- Chronic coughs
- Headaches
- Symptoms of Asthma
- Congestion
Whenever these signs become prevalent in your home, it’s important to check your home’s air quality to eradicate respiratory issues. Your HVAC unit contributes to the rise in allergy and respiratory issues when it fails to supply adequate fresh air or temperatures. To improve your home’s air quality, you can install air purifiers to purify air and remove allergens. They can help trap dust, mold, dander, and other irritating biological pollutants in your space before you inhale them.
Excessive Dust Build Up
If there’s an ongoing construction project around your home or if you’re doing some home improvement work, you can expect a rise in dust build-up in your home. However, if none of these is going on and you see excessive dust on surfaces in your home, it’s a sign that your HVAC unit isn’t working optimally. When left unattended, excessive dust can attract dust mites, triggering allergies.
Increased dust build-up is a sign your HVAC unit isn’t effectively trapping particles in the air. The first solution is to check your air filter’s condition. If it’s old, you must replace it immediately for effective air purification. However, you may only need to clean it if it’s still in good shape. If you have excessive dust problems, consider installing a standalone house filter to boost your HVAC’s filtration capabilities.
Too Much Air Blowing at High Speeds
When your HVAC unit blows air too fast, you’ll start experiencing discomfort within your space. Fast-moving air is often just as uncomfortable as freezing air, making it a cause for alarm for many homeowners. You’re more likely to experience this problem if your unit has large-sized fans or high air duct pressure.
To manage this problem, you can install variable frequency drives (VFDs) to help ramp down your unit’s fan speeds and other motor-driven devices whose full outputs aren’t required. A VFD in good use can improve airflow into your space while providing significant savings since excess air speed and pressure lead to energy waste.
Reduced HVAC Efficiency and Frequent System Issues
When you’ve used your system for too long, reduced efficiency and frequent system failure are signs that it can no longer meet your home’s air quality needs. However, if you notice these signs when your unit is still new, it could be that its ducts are clogged or dirty.
For an old unit, you should start planning on replacing it for a better air purification and supply experience. However, for a clogged or dirty duct, schedule a professional duct cleaning to help clear out the contaminants that could be causing issues in your system.
End Note
Maintaining high-quality indoor air is essential for your family’s comfort and health. If you’ve noticed any of these signs recently, it’s important to take relevant action immediately to minimize the effects of poor air quality in your home. Remember to adhere to recommended HVAC maintenance schedules and consult technicians if a problem needs immediate attention.
