If you are a little lax about changing your furnace filter, you need to consider the disgusting things that can be sucked into your furnace throughout winter. Dirty furnace filters are not only disgusting, but could impact the efficiency of your HVAC system and trigger the furnace to shut down. So, if you need motivation to regularly change your furnace filter, here are six things you may be surprised to find have been sucked up into your system.
Human Skin:
Humans lose approximately one million skin cells each and every day. While you may not notice this shedding, skin is one of the largest components of household “dust”. These skin cells are floating around in your indoor air, and they inevitably find their way into HVAC systems and furnaces.
Pet Hair:
Even if you don’t own a pet, there is every chance that pet hair and dander is still inside your home. Pet owners tend to carry traces of their feline and canine friends around with them wherever they go. These pet traces are passed around and will end up in the air inside your home. So, whether it is from a pet owner friend who regularly comes around for coffee or from putting your jacket with your colleagues at work, chances are you will find traces of pet hair around your home and inside your HVAC system.
Clothing and Fabric Lint:
Fabrics are continually shedding particles as we use and wear them. These particles form lint, which is what blocks up your dryer vents and can clog your HVAC filters. The loss of lint particles is the reason why our clothing and towels stop feeling soft when they get older, and this has to go somewhere. Chances are it is inside your vents and furnace.
Pollen:
Pollen can be a nightmare for allergy sufferers, and it could currently be trapped inside your HVAC system. Pollen can become trapped on your clothing when you are walking outside or when you open up your windows, allowing it to enter your HVAC system. Even if you don’t suffer from hay fever, these traces of pollen could be contributing to your sneezing fits.
Dust and Dust Mites:
Even if you are extremely house proud and would never admit to having dust inside your home, you are likely to change your mind when you check your furnace filters. Unfortunately, dust is home to dust mites, which are one of the most common air allergens. Dust mites feed on dead skin cells that account for up to 80% of dust particles. This should be enough to make you feel a little itchy, so now imagine millions of dust mites living inside your HVAC system.
Insects:
This is another one that may make your skin crawl, but the chances are that there are whole and partial insects inside your HVAC system. It is possible that the remnants of the fly you swatted last month, fruit flies, drain flies and other creepy crawlies have been sucked up by your furnace and are now rotting on your filters. If that isn’t enough to encourage you to change your filters, nothing will.