Ways to Combat Back-to-School Germs with Your HVAC

When the kids go back to school, they’re not only spending the day in a hotbed of viruses and bacteria, but they’re also bringing germs back home. To help keep your home contagion-free, you need to implement strategies like teaching the kids to wash their hands frequently, and regularly disinfecting school gear, iPads, phones and other such devices. Routinely sanitizing your home can help, but you can also employ your HVAC to maintain a healthier living environment.

Tips for Fighting Germs With HVAC

Your HVAC system circulates and distributes your air supply, so there are various ways you can use it to limit your exposure to airborne bacteria and viruses, such as:

Keep humidity in check.

Some germs prefer dry conditions, and other like humid environments. Maintaining humidity inside your home in a 30 to 50 percent range can make it less hospitable to both. If necessary, consider adding a whole-home dehumidifier to manage high humidity levels, and use portable humidifiers to alleviate dry conditions, if necessary, during the heating season.

Eradicate germs with UV lights. 

Ultraviolet lights have long been used to cleanse the air in laboratories and hospitals. Nowadays, you can have one added to your home’s HVAC system to zap germs and purify your conditioned air.

Filter the air effectively. 

Standard HVAC air filters can only capture larger debris particles, but there are air cleaners available that use filters with higher MERV ratings to trap viruses and bacteria. These extra-efficient filters can damage an HVAC system, so they must be used in a specialized filtration unit, which should be installed by an experienced HVAC technician.

Monitor your air filters. 

Whether you use a standard HVAC filter or specialized air cleaner, it needs regular checks and filter changes to work properly. Your HVAC pro can advise you about filter replacement frequency in your particular system, but as a general rule, filters should be checked once a month and replaced at the first sign of debris buildup.

For personalized advice about the best strategies for fighting germs with HVAC in your Orlando-area home, contact us at Rinaldi’s Energy Solutions.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Orlando, Florida and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).