Dust Buster: why it’s so bad for you and your home!

Dust happens.  It accumulates on furniture, balls up in corners on the floor and sneaks into our duct systems.  Not only is it a pain to clean up, dust can also contaminate the air in your home.  It can effect your health, trigger allergies and can even damage items within your home.

Why is dust so bad for you and your home?

Health effects

Dust is a collective term used for a variety of organic and inorganic particles like shed skin cells, dirt brought in from outside, animal hair, lint from clothing, etc. While most dust particles are made from relatively harmful materials, they can also contain bacteria, mold, fungi and dust mites that will trigger allergies.  Our lungs do a pretty good job of filtering out the larger particles when we breath in dust, but smaller bacterias can cause disease and other health issues.

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Effect on appliances

Dust can be harmful to your appliances, especially your refrigerator and freezer.  Dust builds up on the condenser coils at the bottom of the appliance, usually behind a grill.  Too much dust will cause the compressor to work too hard and overheat.  It could fail completely and result in a costly repair or even having to repair the appliance.

Dust build up in your heating and cooling system can cause some serious problems.  You’ll see a decrease in efficiency, could even reduce the amount of heat that’s actually blowing into your home and cause ignition problems.  A dusty furnace is also a safety hazard.  Dirty burners will not burn fuel efficiently and can even allow gas to build up that could ignite.  It can cause an imbalance in your fan’s motor, overheat the blower, crack the heat exchanger and more!  Dust is bad for your heating system!

Minimizing dust in your home

Clean your home and appliances regularly! 

It might seem like a no brainer, but regular dusting and vacuuming will reduce dust and all it’s harmful risks.  Vacuum regularly, but every couple of months be sure to vacuum out the coils under your fridge.

Practice regular furnace maintenance

You need to replace your furnace filter every few months.  It’s easy to buy the cheapest available filter, but consider investing in a higher quality filter to reduce the change of dust particles blowing into you home.  You should also have your furnace inspected and consider having your duct-work cleaned out every year by one of Edmonton’s Best Duct Cleaning Companies.

Use a high quality air purifier

If you have people in the home who suffer from allergies or other lung-related health issues, you can consider purchasing an air purifier to filter out dust particles present in the air.  Research air purifiers that utilizes HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters. The more efficient your HEFA filter, the more effectively it will filter out the dust.

Get out the vacuum and the duster!  You can’t eliminate dust getting into your home but you can keep on top of it and ensure it is not harming your appliances, heating system or family.