Could Your HVAC Be Causing Humidity in Your Home?

 Having a humid home can make you feel incredibly uncomfortable at the very least, but humidity can also have a negative impact on your health, and even damage your walls and furniture.

If your home is uncomfortable, or unusually humid, it could be caused by several factors, one of which is yourHVAC system.

What factors could be causing humidity in your home?

One of the most common factors behind an uncomfortably home is:

The weather and/or climate

While there isn’t much you can do about the weather or the climate where you live, there are a few things you can do to help ease your discomfort while inside your home, such as opening your windows during the day to let trapped, humid air out, or investing in a good quality dehumidifier.

Another factor that has been known to increase the humidity in a home, is:

Having a lot of plants

Houseplants are a wonderful addition to any home, and aside from their visually calming effect, they can help to improve the quality of the air you breathe. However, having a lot of houseplants can contribute to humidity levels, and begin to have a negative impact on your home. Try to limit the number of plants you have inside your home, and don’t be tempted to overwater them. By watering them too often, any water left sitting on the surface that hasn’t been absorbed by the plant, will evaporate and make the air more humid. Choose your plants carefully and be sure to water them according to their specific needs. You may also discover some plants that absorb humidity, and adding a couple of these to your collection could help ease any humidity problems your home is suffering from.

Lastly, it could be that your HVAC system is contributing to high humidity levels in your home:

Problems with HVAC

It’s always a good idea to check the condenser in your HVAC system, as this can easily become dirty and blocked, and when it does, it will almost certainly contribute to humidity levels in your home. Fortunately, there’s a simple way to ensure that this never happens, and that’s by having your entire HVAC system checked and maintained by a professional company who specialize in vent cleaning. Have this done at least bi-annually (and more often if required, such as if you live with pets or the system is old), and you can help keep the moisture levels in your home at a comfortable level.

A humid home is an uncomfortable one, but by checking for the above when the atmosphere in your home starts to feel unpleasantly hot and moist, you can help keep everyone cool and dry!

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Could Your Dirty Dryer Vent Really Cause a House Fire?

 It’s a shocking fact that as many as 17,000 home dryer fires are reported in the U.S. every single year, and in some instances, the fires have even gone on to cause deaths, injuries and millions of dollars in property loss. Want to know what’s responsible for almost a third of all dryer fires? Dirty dryer vents.

Many families use their dryers every day, and don’t always think to check the vents for a build-up of dirt and lint. However, failure to do so could mean that your clothes take longer to dry, which leads to higher energy bills as you run damp clothes through another cycle, and could even cause a potentially catastrophic dryer fire.

What is the primary cause of dirty dryer vents?

Lint is usually the main culprit, and because we’re drying clothes, this is pretty hard to avoid. While lint may be unavoidable, however, we can check the vents regularly and clean them as and when required.

Some vents may benefit from being professionally cleaned, and many families find this to be the most convenient and cost-effective way to keep their dryer vents clean and functioning at their best.

How can you tell if your dryer vents need to be cleaned?

Here are some of the most common consequences of dirty dryer vents, and what to look out for when trying to determine whether your vents are in need of a thorough clean:

- A musty odor that lingers on the clothes after the drying cycle is complete

- Clothes are unusually hot to the touch

- The room hosting the dryer feels excessively hot after each use

- The dryer vent hood flap doesn’t open properly when you use the dryer

- Debris inside the exterior dryer vent opening

- Large amounts of lint built up in the lint trap during each use

- Dryer sheets smell funny after each use

What can you do to prevent a dryer fire in your home?

The best steps to take to ensure that your dryer never causes a fire, is to have your dryer professionally installed, professionally cleaned on a regular basis (depending upon how often you use your dryer) and professionally maintained by a company who specialize in dryer vent cleaning.

You can also do the following to keep your dryer vents free from dirt:

- Clean the dryer lint before and after every cycle

- Clean the filter with a nylon brush at least bi-annually

- Clean the lint from the vent pipe every 3 months

- Carry out a visual check for damage on the venting system behind the dryer

- Place a cover on exterior wall dampers to keep the elements out

- Make sure the exterior vent cover opens when the dryer is in use

Dryer vent fires can be devastating, but with regular cleaning and maintenance – ideally from a professional dryer vent cleaning company – you can make sure your clothes get dry efficiently, and more importantly, that your home, its contents and anyone inside it, are kept safe at all times.

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5 Common Problems Your HVAC Could Be Suffering From

 While some common problems with HVAC systems are easy to fix yourself, such as changing a dirty filter, others require help from a local technician. To help you distinguish which problem your HVAC is experiencing, and what you need to do to get it fixed, here is a list of the 5 most common HVAC complaints:

1. Grubby filters

The filters in your HVAC should be changed at least twice a year; some households may need to change them more often. They can get pretty grubby over time, and dirty filters are one of the primary causes of allergy symptoms, such as itchy eyes, sneezing, runny nose and coughing. Not only that, but they can prevent humidifiers from being able to do their job properly, which in turn, can cause a spike in your energy bills.

To help keep your home allergen free and your energy bills lower, remember to regularly change your HVAC filters.

2. A malfunctioning thermostat

This can be a minor problem, and one of the first things to check for if your furnace isn’t working properly, is the thermostat. It may be a simple case of replacing the batteries, or you may need to call a HVAC technician to come out and repair it for you.

3. Odd noises

All HVAC systems will make a certain amount of noise, but if yours is making a rattling, hissing, bubbling or clanking sound that it wasn’t making before, it could indicate that something is very wrong, and you’ll need to get a HVAC technician out to look at it, right away. The sounds could be the result of a refrigerant leak, or a misbalanced part, but you won’t know for sure until you have it professionally inspected.

4. Grubby coils

Ever heard of ‘dirty sock syndrome’? If you haven’t heard of it, you might well have smelt it! If your home starts to develop a certain unpleasant aroma that resembles smelly socks, it could be that the coils, pipes and/or ducts in your HVAC are to blame. If you live in a household with pets, for example, dander and pet hair may have caused the coils, pipes and ducts to become dirty and clogged, and you’ll need a professional air duct cleaning team to come in and spruce them up.

Regular duct cleaning can help ensure that your home always smells fresh, and that you never have to face the dreaded ‘dirty sock syndrome’!

5. A leak

The condensate produced by all HVAC systems is usually drained away, but when the pipes are clogged up, they can start to leak water. Fortunately, a leak like this is easy to resolve, and your local HVAC technician will be able to fix it in next to no time.

Having your HVAC ducts and vents regularly cleaned can help keep the entire system functioning at its optimum all the time, and help you avoid costly call outs for repairs.

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