3 Reasons You Need to Replace Your Furnace Filter

As the height of heating season approaches,  you may start to think more about how to save heating costs and improve the air quality in your home since you may be spending more time indoors. Replacing your furnace's filter is one of the best and easiest things you can do to save money and keep your indoor air clean.

Furnace filters are your home's first line of defence against allergens, dust, and other airborne particles. They also protect your furnace's fans and heating coil from potential damage caused by these particles. So let's take a closer look at the benefits of regularly checking and replacing your furnace's filters.

1. Protection from Airborne Particles. Your furnace works by pulling cool air from your home into the vents and furnace where it is heated and sent back out. The filters protect the fans and heating coils from being damaged by particles that get pulled in with the cool air. A filter's main purpose is the protection of these mechanical parts, and cleaning air is only a side effect. As the filter becomes dirty, your furnace must work harder to pull in the cool air. This results in possible damage to the furnace and a reduced lifespan.
2. Improved Furnace Efficiency = Cost Savings. As mentioned above, when your filter becomes dirty the furnace must work much harder to pull in cool air. This means your furnace is not working as efficiently resulting in higher heating costs. Not to mention the cost of repairing/replacing parts more often as they break down.
3. Improved Air Quality. A nice added benefit of furnace filters is the improved air quality of your home. There are different types of filters available on the market ranging from basic fiberglass to electrostatic and HEPA filters which filter out smaller particles like cigarette smoke and bacteria.

How Often to Replace Your Filter

The frequency at which you replace your filter will depend on the furnace and your home. Some things that might affect how often you need to replace the filter are:

• How many animals you have in the home
• If anyone smokes inside
• How often you have the furnace running
• How dusty your home is
• How often you have windows and doors open

A general guideline is to replace your filter every 2-3 months. For those with smokers inside or more pets, you may want to replace every month. Always check your furnace manuals to see if your furnace requires a particular replacement schedule.

Georgian Duct Cleaning is a family owned business in Simcoe County with over 20 years experience working with residential, commercial and industrial HVAC ducts. Call us for a free quote or for more information. (705) 722-5952 Or 1-800-363-2563

How To Improve Your Home's Indoor Air Quality

The average person spends 90% of their time indoors!  Healthy indoor air can make a huge difference in your overall health. 

How would you rate you indoor air quality?

Take the Lung Association’s Healthy Home Tour to take closer look at different areas in you home and how they contribute to your indoor air quality.  Designed to help you find out what can be harmful to you and your family, the Healthy Home Tour is the perfect tool to help you determine the quality of your air.  

  

You can also follow these tips for improving indoor air quality:

Clean your air ducts!  Air ducts can become clogged with pet hair, dust, building materials, mould, bacteria and fungal growth.  Every time your heater operates, these contaminants are fed through your heating system and into the air you breathe.  All forced heating systems require periodic cleaning.    

Clean your floors regularly.  Vacuum one – two times per week with a HEPA filter to ensure dust and debris is not blown back into the air.  Finish with mopping to catch any left over debris.  You can even mop with plain water or even use a microfibre mop.

Check your humidity levels.  Homes with high levels of moisture in the air are more likely to have issues with mould.  Controlling humidity will help you limit mould growth – consider using a hygrometer to measure humidity levels and a dehumidifier to reduce high humidity.

Avoid Chemical Pollutants.  Smoking isn’t the only potential pollutant of indoor air.  Harsh chemical cleaners should also be avoided, or minimized, due to their strong synthetic fragrances that emit chemicals into the air.  The Lung Association recommends making your own cleaning solutions using ingredients such as baking soda, vinegar or lemon juice mixed with water.

Improve Ventilation.  Poor ventilation is a contributor to mould growth and has a huge effect on indoor air quality.  Make sure you home is letting in enough fresh air while also using exhaust fans that vent to the outside.  Exhaust fans that vent to the outside are incredibly important for venting moist air from your bathroom or above your stove.

Bring in Houseplants.  Houseplants can help clean the air in your home by filtering out different pollutants.  Check out these 15 houseplants that help improve indoor air quality via the Mother Nature Network.

Avoid Scented Candles and Air Fresheners.  Commercial air fresheners can release harmful chemicals and pollutants in the air, with some even containing phthalates.  Scented candles may also contain similar pollutants, with the addition of soot residues.  If you can’t give up your candle or fresheners, look for a natural alternative such as essential oil diffusers or soy based candles.

Georgian Duct Cleaning is a family owned business in Simcoe County with over 20 years experience working with residential, commercial and industrial HVAC ducts. Call us for a free quote or for more information. (705) 722-5952 or 1-800-363-2563 

Ontario Duct Cleaning Buyers Beware!

There are some great duct cleaning and furnace servicing companies out there in Ontario - and there are some that should be closed down.

The good duct cleaning companies are run with integrity, transparency and are motivated to help people by offering the best customer experience, great service and products with absolute professionalism.

Unfortunately the duct cleaning side of our HVAC industry is unregulated and as a result there are many companies out there who are not in the business to offer a service with integrity and honesty. 

They are motivated only by money. So you have to watch out for them. I'm giving you this advice because I don't want you to fall for the scam.  As we often get the phone call afterwards from the homeowner afterwards to tidy up the mess.  They always say they wished they would have called us in the first place, and if they did, our quote, which can be a little higher but it's honest and we have a local guarantee for our customers.

Watch out for the scams - Here are some typical examples you can spot with these companies:

• They do aggressive telemarketing, often from overseas
• Advertising duct cleaning for the whole house for $99 dollars - often this is impossible
• Advertising duct cleaning for $39.95 plus $7.95 per vent - not good
• They use mail coupons and Groupons and do not seem to be present on the internet - they have to have a good website - don't you think!?
• They do not have a truck marked with a company name, and maybe they don't have any official name that can be scene and viewed
• They have a negative air machine and do not use compressed air or brushes to clean you vents
• They shove a vacuum hose down your heating vents and thats all they do
• They claim that duct cleaning takes under 1 hour to complete
• Telemarketers calling your home randomly to offer you they’re unbelievable deals on duct cleaning - often saying their truck is in your area and they will give you a special price

There are a number of other obvious and not so obvious scams and such going around ... So here are some key questions to ask when looking to hire a duct cleaning company.

1. Do they use compressed air or brushes to agitate the dust in you ducts?
2. Do they have a negative air machine either portable or truck mounted to recover the dust and debris from your ducts?
3. Are they local?
4. How long does the cleaning take? On a home of 2500 Sq Ft and under it should take no less then 2 1/2 hrs and that is for a very basic and efficient duct cleaning

Checkout our Website at www.georgianductcleaning.ca we use all the proper methods and equipment and we have videos from the manufacturer of our equipment that give you complete transparency of our methods and equipment so we can clean your homes heating and or cooling ducts.

This link takes you to a video from Marketplace on CBC. It’s a great piece they did on exposing these blow and go companies in the Toronto area, You can be sure that we have plenty of the same kinda companies across Ontario. http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/episodes/2013/01/when-the-repairman-knocks-3.html

Please feel free to contact us anytime if you have any questions about proper duct cleaning methods, equipment and pricing. Call us at 705-722-5952 for a FREE QUOTE.

HPAC Engineering Article: HVAC Duct Design for Colleges, Universities

Here's an interesting article that gives some useful background information into the world of duct design. Understanding this stuff helps us to service our customers ducts better as we really know how duct systems work!

The owner of Georgian Duct Cleaning invented and refined many of the tools that are now found throughout the industry in North America. 

GEORGIAN DUCT CLEANING - SIMPLY THE BEST THERE IS!  Our team of fully trained, certified technicians would be happy to provide any of our services in your home or commercial building.

Georgian Duct Cleaning is a family owned business in Simcoe County with over 20 years experience working with residential, commercial and industrial HVAC ducts. Call us for a free quote or for more information.  (705) 722-5952 Or 1-800-363-2563