The air inside your home or office can be two to five times dirtier than the outdoor air. You spend up to 90 percent of your time indoors, so make sure the indoor air you breathe is clean.

Two easy maintenance practices can make a big difference in the quality of your home or office air.

  1. Change your air filters regularly. Manufacturers sometimes say that you can go as long as 3 months before replacing a filter, but in our dusty environment we recommend that you change your filter every month. Clogged, dirty filters block normal air flow and reduce a system’s efficiency significantly. With normal air flow obstructed, air that bypasses the filter may carry dirt, hair or any other debris directly into the evaporator coil and impair the coil’s heat-absorbing capacity. Keeping the filter clean can lower your air conditioner’s energy consumption by 5%–15%.
  2. Regularly clean your return grills preventing debris from entering your filter.
  3. Inspect your air handler. An air handler is the indoor part of a central air conditioning or heat pump system that pushes air across the unit’s evaporator coil and into the ducts. It includes the fan that blows cold air through your house. You should inspect it at the beginning of every air conditioning season to make sure it’s not blowing dust and debris through the fan. Start by looking in the closet where your air handling cabinet is located. It’s not suggested to store any household items in the vicinity of your furnace or air handler.