Dirty furnace filters can be deadly

What do you suppose is the result if you don’t keep your furnace filter clean? Do you think your furnace will be able to function forever without problems using the same dirty filter year after year? What do you think will happen when your filter becomes over-saturated with dirt, pet hair, allergens and dust? You are seeing more than the fan simply refusing to work properly. A dirty filter in your furnace can be deadly, make you sick, or worse, set your home on fire.

When your furnace or air conditioning unit isn’t properly maintained every six months or every year, dirt, dust, and other debris can build up inside and cause serious long-term problems. Not only will you pay more for heat if your heating unit has to struggle harder to heat the same amount of space, but you’ll also risk some pretty serious dangers that are also involved in not responding properly to a dirty furnace filter. When your furnace and air conditioner motor become clogged with dirt and debris, that air is what will circulate through your home, instead of the clean, crisp air you once enjoyed. Your family will be breathing in all these toxins that would otherwise have been absorbed from the air by a clean or new filter. If you continue to breathe this stale air, there is a chance you could get sick. So if your family is sick and the cause can’t be found, it might be time to replace your filters and restore clean air to your home.

After a few years of neglecting your oven, serious things can happen. Your oven may just break down and you’ll be lucky if you can find a cheap replacement part. If your heat exchanger warps or cracks due to the unbearable heat building up inside your furnace, harmful carbon monoxide fumes can seep into your home, not only making you sick but also potentially killing you and your entire family. Can you imagine all this, simply because you didn’t bother to maintain your furnace filter?

Faulty boilers have also been known to cause fires, all because the filter wasn’t clean and air couldn’t circulate properly through the boiler and throughout the house. Cleaning up after a fire is incredibly expensive, and there’s no telling what damage it can cause in the process. What if your whole house catches fire? What is a pet, or family member trapped inside when it happens? Hopefully changing your furnace filters or buying filters that are permanent and just need cleaning now seems like a less trivial matter. You can save yourself a lot of stress, a lot of health problems, and a lot of financial burden by simply keeping your filters clean or replacing them frequently. If you are in any doubt, you can always contact a contractor who can check your furnace and clean your filters if necessary.

With so many reasons to keep up with your heating system maintenance, and no known reasons why not to, you should take the next few moments to check the condition of your heating system’s filter to ensure air is circulating properly. for your home, that your heat exchanger is still in a solid, healthy piece, and that there is no risk or danger present that could have been easily avoided.