If you’re anything like the folks who work at Arthur Hagar Air Conditioning & Heating in Fort Worth, then you love your pets to death. There’s nothing quite like coming home from work and getting that special, excited greeting that only your dog or cat can give you. After all, wouldn’t it be nice if everyone you interacted with today appreciated you half as much as your pets did?
While there is nothing quite like the affection and love of your furry friend to warm your heart and soothe your soul, there are some things that owning a pet — or two, or three, or four… — can actually make harder in your life. One of those things is the care and maintenance of your residential HVAC system. Pet dander and pet hair can wreak havoc on your home’s HVAC system, but you may not even be aware problems are taking place. Too much pet hair can increase allergies, reduce the efficiency of your residential HVAC system, and in the direst of situations, even cause damage to it.
In today’s blog from Arthur Hagar Air Conditioning & Heating in Fort Worth, we’ll provide you with the tips you need to make sure that you’re taking great care of your residential HVAC system and your pets. For help with regular maintenance or repairs to your residential HVAC unit, whether it was caused by pets hair or something else, get in touch with the reliable and friendly residential HVAC experts at Arthur Hagar today.
Vacuum and Dust Regularly
Your pets are shedding constantly. It doesn’t matter what kind of dogs and/or cats you may own, every animal sheds as they grow new, healthy hair. As a general rule, younger animals shed a bit less and older animals shed a bit more — but they are all doing it all day long.
As you and your pets move throughout your home on a daily basis, you are kicking up dust, pet hair, and pet dander that is will eventually find its way into your residential HVAC system’s intake. From there, it can get into your actual HVAC units, reducing efficiency, increasing your heating and cooling costs, and if left unchecked, potentially causing expensive HVAC repairs and replacements down the road.
The best way to avoid shelling out cash for avoidable repairs is to simply maintain a regular cleaning schedule in your home. Dusting and vacuuming regularly allows you to collect the majority of pet hair and dander produced by your beautiful fur babies and helps your air filter do its job better. For the best results, vacuum first. Vacuuming tends to kick up a fair amount of dust which can be collected with a duster afterward.
Groom Your Pet Regularly
This particular tip is a win for everyone involved. Regular pet grooming, whether done by a professional pet grooming company or by you or a family member at home, helps to remove hair and dandruff, promote a healthier, more stable coat, and helps your pet feel and look great. If grooming at home, make sure to do the brushing, combing, and washing outside. This keeps hair and dander from escaping into your carpet or onto a hard surface where it can eventually be caught up in your intake vent.
As a bonus, grooming provides for quality time for you and your pet to spend together. Or, in the case of professional grooming, it grants you an opportunity to really help your pet express themselves. Because if Muffin the Burmese Mountain Dog needs a pink mohawk, then Muffin gets a pink mohawk. Don’t worry, we think it looks great, too.
Don’t Forget to Change Your Air Filters
This is a standard fare maintenance tip for your home’s residential HVAC system, but when you own pets, it becomes even more crucial. Air filters only do their job well when they aren’t already dirty, full of pet hair, and weighed down beyond what they were built for.
Regular air filter changes will keep your HVAC system’s air intake flowing optimally and cleanly, reducing the chances of clogging or damage to your unit. Additionally, when you change your home air conditioner or heater’s air filter regularly, you’ll notice that the air in your home is cleaner, better smelling, and kinder to friends and family members with allergies of almost any kind.
Depending on the residential HVAC system that is installed in your home, you will have different guidelines for what a “regular” air filter change actually qualifies as. Some older units utilize massive, heavy filters that hold up fairly well over the long term and may need to be changed as infrequently as every six months. However, most residential HVAC systems use a thinner filter that should be changed no less than every three months. For the best results, buy better air filters and change them more frequently — as often as every month depending on where you live, how many pets you have, and the quality of filter you use.
Get Your Air Ducts Cleaned
Another great tip for anyone with a residential HVAC system, but especially for people who own pets, is to get your air ducts cleaned. Due to the vast number of variables that can contribute to dirty air ducts, there are no set guidelines for how often you should do it. However, we’ve been in the residential HVAC business since 1949, and we’ve worked with many of our clients for decades. What we’ve discovered is that most people with pets should at least seek a professional opinion every three years to determine whether or not it is time for an air duct cleaning.
Over time, debris, dust, and pet hair can accumulate in your ducts. This accumulation can increase the severity of allergies in your home, but also puts your residential HVAC system at risk when larger pieces of debris, often a result of dog and card hair build-up, break loose and end up in your actual HVAC unit. Regular air duct cleaning prevents this from happening.
Schedule a Maintenance Appointment With Arthur Hagar Air Conditioning & Heating
At Arthur Hagar Air Conditioning & Heating, we love helping Fort Worth homeowners keep their residential HVAC systems clean so they and their pets can live their best lives together without fear of massive HVAC repairs and replacements. Call us today, or fill out our online form to schedule a service call.
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