When you have furry friends sharing your New Home, Texas, home, they often bring a lot of love and affection to your family members. However, many pet owners don’t realize that dogs, cats, and other domesticated animals can impact the efficiency of their HVAC systems, as well as the indoor air quality and safety of the system’s operation. We’re not saying to get rid of Fluffy or Fido, but be aware of how their presence can impact your HVAC, and take steps to protect your family.
Keep it Clean
Pet hair is one of the main things that impact HVAC efficiency in homes with animals versus those without. Both indoor and outdoor air contain many different contaminants, including skin cells, dirt, dust, pollen, and other debris. However, a cat or dog in the house will also shed their fur or hair regularly, which can move into the HVAC system and clog the ducts. Your system’s filter should keep some of the hair out, but many homeowners don’t change their filters as regularly as they should.
When you have a pet, you should increase the frequency of filter changes to ensure it can do its job and keep hair, dust, dirt, and other debris out of the ducts. You can also choose a filter with a higher filtration range, which can prevent smaller particles from moving through the system. Pet owners should also have their ducts cleaned out more frequently to eliminate any debris that has settled. By keeping the ducts clean and free of hair, dander, pollen, and dust, you can enjoy better indoor air quality and improved HVAC efficiency.
Routine Maintenance
It’s always important to keep up on routine HVAC maintenance, but it’s especially crucial for pet owners to schedule these services twice per year. Schedule your furnace tuneup in the fall, before the cold weather hits, and your AC tuneup in the early spring. By keeping up with the required maintenance, you can ensure that your HVAC system is running properly.
As a pet owner, it’s especially important because your system is more likely to get overloaded with pet hair, particularly if you have a furry dog or long-haired cat. The extra hair can wrap around moving parts of the HVAC or clog up an area where air should be moving through, which your HVAC technician can spot during a tuneup. Maintenance can also keep your system running more efficiently, which can help you save money on monthly bills. Air conditioning and heating systems that are well-maintained typically require fewer repairs and last longer than units that sit ignored.
Maintain a Comfortable Temperature
When you adjust the temperature on your thermostat, you’re probably thinking about the comfort of your human family members. But don’t forget about Fluffy and Fido! Their bodies are covered with a layer of fur, so if you’re allowing your home to get too warm during the summer months, they could suffer health effects as a result.
Your pets are likely home even when you’re not, so consider their comfort before you allow the interior of the house to get too warm. You certainly don’t need to keep it set at 68 degrees when you’re away, but don’t shut off the system completely, even if you’re on vacation or away for a few days.
Pet Safety
Pets are often too curious, which can put them in precarious situations. When it comes to HVAC, curiosity really could kill the cat and dog, so it’s important to keep them safe. If your pets go outside, consider building a fence around the air conditioner’s compressor to prevent them from getting too close. Some animals will claw at it, stick their wet noses in it, or worse, mark their territory on it, which can cause damage that’s expensive to repair. As the condenser coil fins spin, animals are especially fascinated by these moving parts.
Indoor pets should be kept away from the furnace and air conditioning system as well, for their own safety.
If your pets are causing trouble with your HVAC system, our technicians are able to help. Contact our HVAC team at Bruce Thornton by calling 806-589-1014.
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