You no longer need to worry about doing heating and air maintenance because experts from Eagle Rock Prestige HVAC will give you some helpful AC service and maintenance tips this Halloween season.
It’s that time of year when ghosts, monsters, and charming princesses appear on your doorstep, asking for candy. However, the autumn season can also bring about HVAC disasters that require rapid repair. Here are three HVAC scares that you should keep in mind this Halloween season:
- Poor Indoor Air Quality
Poor indoor air quality is one of the most frightening HVAC concerns your household may encounter. You’ve been using your air conditioner all year round, and dust may have accumulated on your filters and within the ductwork if you haven’t kept up with maintenance.
Poor indoor air quality aggravates asthma and allergy symptoms, as well as causes headaches, lethargy, and dizziness. If you change your filters on a regular basis and still have issues, arrange a duct cleaning or an air quality check.
- Hot Thermostat
Allowing your thermostat to become too hot can lead to a slew of issues with your HVAC system. Consider this: if you place your thermostat near heat-producing equipment or in direct sunlight, it will read incorrectly. This can cause problems with the entire HVAC system.
In order to make proper changes, thermostats require an accurate assessment of the temperature of the air. Keeping anything hot, such as lights, speakers, and gadgets, away from the thermostat can save your HVAC system from overworking.
- Carbon Monoxide
Carbon monoxide, sometimes known as the silent killer, is an odorless, tasteless, and colorless gas that can be lethal if ingested. It is caused by incomplete combustion, which can happen when there is a fire or when an appliance, chimney flue, or furnace exchanger fails.
Carbon monoxide poisoning symptoms include dizziness, drowsiness, nausea, severe headaches, and disorientation. Install a carbon monoxide detector in your house to protect your family from this lethal poison.
Things to do to Prevent Your HVAC Units from Damage this Halloween Season
Halloween is almost approaching, and with it comes a slew of fun, eerie décor. Unfortunately, if you’re not cautious, getting the correct appearance might come at a price. When decorating, it’s essential to take precautions to avoid damaging your HVAC equipment. Aside from availing air conditioning services, here are things that you may do at home without spending a bunch of money:
- Keep your vents free from obstruction. The vents in your HVAC system are an important aspect of maintaining optimum ventilation. If you cover any of your system’s vents with decorations, airflow will be reduced, resulting in greater electricity costs as your system’s performance declines. Make sure your decorations are placed far enough away from your vents to enable enough air to circulate in and out.
- Decorate outdoors and keep your outdoors closed. If you have a front porch, it is an excellent place to decorate rather than the interior of your home. If it’s warm enough, you may spend Halloween on your doorstep, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. This will save you from having to open and close your door all night and will help to keep the temperature in your home correctly maintained.
- Do not cover your outdoor unit with decorations. It might not go with the rest of your external Halloween decorations, but you should avoid sprucing up your outdoor HVAC unit. Keep displays and decorations a safe distance away from your outdoor unit. Items placed too near to the device might have a detrimental influence on its performance. Furthermore, little decorations may become caught within the unit, causing it to malfunction.
- Avoid placing candles near your HVAC unit. Without candles, no Halloween display would be complete. While candles may add a frightening mood, you should be careful not to position them too close to your HVAC unit. You should also keep candles away from combustible objects and heat-generating gadgets. If you must set candles near any of these things, use battery-operated candles or lights.
- Use the safest decorative lighting possible. When the sun goes down, decorative lights can add a lot to your Halloween décor. However, while utilizing ornamental lighting, it is important to exercise caution and verify that it has a high safety rating. When decorating your house, always use safety-approved lights, especially if you want to install them near your HVAC unit. Using safe lighting can aid in the prevention of fires and other electrical risks. Halloween decorations may make your holiday much more enjoyable, but it’s critical to decorate your house securely.
Things to Do When Your HVAC Fails During Halloween
Halloween is frightening enough without having to worry about small rodents infiltrating your HVAC system and house. Insects such as stink bugs, silverfish, roaches, and spiders (technically not insects, but nevertheless creepy crawlers) and tiny animals such as rats, mice, and even squirrels and raccoons can enter your HVAC system through gaps and openings.
These unwanted visitors have the potential to do significant harm. Little animals that sneak into your outdoor unit, especially if it has a complete cover over it, can cause performance problems and even equipment failure since they prefer to gnaw through refrigerant lines or get entangled in fan blades.
If you have an infestation in your ductwork, it may cause undesirable odors, allergies, and insect detritus, all of which can degrade your indoor air quality. Cockroaches are carriers of illnesses such as diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid fever, and cholera. They can also produce allergic responses or asthma symptoms. If mice or rats get into your ductwork, they can cause damage by leaving waste and creating holes.
Here are things to do to prevent HVAC malfunction in the middle of Halloween:
- Cover Vents. Pests can enter your home through vents to the exterior, such as the attic, soffit, or dryer vents. To keep pests out, totally cover them with a thin metal screen mesh.
- Seal ducts. Many species of pests can enter through holes and fractures in your ventilation ducts. It’s a good idea to examine your ducts and make sure there are no leaks.
Keep outdoor units clean. Small pests searching for a winter home prefer to snuggle up to your outside air conditioning equipment. Keep all vegetation at least 2 feet away from the house. Beginning in the fall, stink bugs will seek refuge in locations such as your air conditioner.
Don’t let these HVAC problems keep you awake at night. To make your next HVAC appointment, call Eagle Rock Prestige HVAC right away. You may also read our other blogs to read more tips about saving your HVAC units from defects.