What Are the Effects of a Dirty Air Filter?

dirty air filter

Between work and all of the daily chores at home, it’s oftentimes hard to remember the less obvious home maintenance. Unfortunately, the inconspicuous tasks can often be the most crucial, like cleaning and replacing your A/C’s air filter on a regular basis. But what are the effects of a dirty air filter?

  • If your filter is dirty, your entire A/C is dirty. This means that not only is the air you breathe not being cleaned, but an A/C with a dirty filter is pumping dirt, dust and more back into your home.
  • Similarly, a dirty air filter can’t complete one of its main jobs: to filter allergens out of the air it brings into your living space. Allergens like pollen have a number of symptoms which can team up to make you miserable, including but not limited to fatigue, headaches, chest tightness, sneezing, watery eyes and a runny nose. What’s worse, these symptoms won’t go away until the air filter is cleaned or changed!
  • Reduced air flow. This affects your well being much less than it does the HVAC unit. Air conditioning units are meant to work within a certain amount of air flow, and without that air flow to rely on, your entire A/C may fail.
  • Cooling inefficiency is another issue a dirty filter tends to cause. The dirt on the filter becomes dirt on the cooling coils, which results in a build-up of frost that makes the HVAC unit work twice as hard to achieve the same indoor temperature.
  • Naturally, your power bill will see a definite spike. The cooling inefficiency combined with the reduced air flow mean that just because of a dirty filter, your A/C is functioning at just a fraction of its usual capacity. This means it needs exponentially more power to keep your home at the same refreshing cool.

There’s no one better to remedy the effects of a dirty air filter than Bass Air Conditioning Company, serving the Spring Lake, Hope Mills, Raeford, Dunn, and Lumberton area of North Carolina. Don’t hesitate to contact us today!

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