Your HVAC unit and air ducts deliver heated or cooled air throughout your home year-in and year-out. The air your HVAC unit produces travels through your air ducts and heats or cools your home through the air vents in each room. The EPA defines the dust and other particles in your home’s air as particulate matter, “a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets.” The EPA also notes that “Particle pollution is made up of a number of components, including acids (such as nitrates and sulfates), organic chemicals, metals, and soil or dust particle.” If you remove your furnace filter and hold it up to the light, you can probably see several hundred of these minuscule particles floating in the air.
While your HVAC filter is designed to trap this particulate matter and prevent it from entering your air ducts, often particles still get through. The amount of particles your HVAC filter traps coincides with the quality of air in your home: the lower the quality of air, the more particles your filter will trap, and the more particles are likely to get through the filter. If these particles are allowed to build up, your HVAC system can become less efficient, having to operate longer to heat or cool your home. An inefficient HVAC system can result in inconsistent heating or cooling, higher utility costs, and expensive HVAC unit repairs (for instance, an A-coil or blower motor) if the problem is left unchecked. Air duct cleaning from Sears, which focuses on the dirt in your air ducts, can also boost the efficiency of a dirty HVAC system, cleaning out the particulate matter that can hinder HVAC effectiveness.