For the past several weeks Howard has been suffering from allergy attacks. We finally figured out that his allergies were better during the night when the furnace wasn’t running and the worst hit just after the furnace came on in the mornings. Hot air isn’t usually allergenic, so we decided to blame the dust that the furnace blows back into our house. I resolved to pay for a duct cleaning. Then I called around and found out that there are $90 duct cleanings that I can duplicate with a home vacuum cleaner and there are $750 duct cleanings which get the whole system truly clean at the expense of my budget. I decided to try vacuuming everything out myself and to clean the filter really well to see if that would make a difference for Howard.
Many of our heating vents are in the floor. I had no idea that floor vents were such magnets for detritus. In fact I am now entertaining the theory that each vent is the home of a little gnome who hoards things. I’m not sure I can explain the quantities of junk in any other way. Each gnome had very definite preferences as to hoarding material. In my boy’s room I hauled 6 handfuls of crackers out of the vent along with random small toys. The girls room contained a comparable amount of beads and sunflower seeds. The vent nearest the front door had 78 cents in change and piles of sawdust. The vent in the corner of the living room had dead ants and cheerios. The vent in the kitchen was the most eclectic. It contained random food crumbs, crayons, a pencil, bits of paper, and a mousetrap.
Having cleared the vents, I tackled the air intakes. This is when I learned why $750 might just be worth it. The dust inside those intakes could have been measured with a ruler. I vaccumed out as much as I could reach. Patches was fascinated by this whole process. He hovered beside me holding the flashlight, helping remove and replace screws, and sometimes even vaccuum. He loved it, he wanted me to go find more vents and intakes to vacuum. I felt tired and grubby, but there was still the filter to clean.
Usually when I clean the filter I take it out on the front lawn and spray it off with a high power hose nozzle. This is January, the hose is full of ice. So I took the filter up to the bathtub. I decided to use soap and hot water because I remembered that much of the dust I vacuumed was kind of sticky. It was amazing how quickly the tub water got filthy. I kept swishing and soaping and emptying water and refilling and soaking. Finally the filter was almost back to it’s original blue color. I allowed it to dry and stuck it back in.
What have I learned from all this? That I should probably clean my vents more often. Also, spraying a filter off with the hose does not get it as clean as washing in hot soapy water. I sure hope that it all makes a difference for Howard’s allergies. he has been really miserable lately.
My wife has asthma. We’ve found it’s worth it to get the Allergen filters. Really helps.
My wife has asthma. We’ve found it’s worth it to get the Allergen filters. Really helps.
Hee, we moved last year. With us came the Fridge we bought after the last one died. We had never cleaned the cooling vent at the bottom, and we suspect that neither had the previous owners. We pulled out 10-12 inches of fluffy dust matt stuff from the bottom of the fridge when we moved it. When we plugged it back in, all of the temperature settings had to be reworked because it got much too cold. (Seriously, we put sodas in the freezer to chill them. It used to be 30 minutes to chill them, about 45 to get them right to the edge of slushy. Now they are frozen solid in 30 and explode in 45.)
Hee, we moved last year. With us came the Fridge we bought after the last one died. We had never cleaned the cooling vent at the bottom, and we suspect that neither had the previous owners. We pulled out 10-12 inches of fluffy dust matt stuff from the bottom of the fridge when we moved it. When we plugged it back in, all of the temperature settings had to be reworked because it got much too cold. (Seriously, we put sodas in the freezer to chill them. It used to be 30 minutes to chill them, about 45 to get them right to the edge of slushy. Now they are frozen solid in 30 and explode in 45.)
Floor Vents
We used to have floor vents at home and my mother found that putting baskets that covered most of the vent captured most of the things that we small children somehow got to go down there. Little baskets like the ones a foot long 8 inches wide and 6 inches tall worked well.
Also in the future, they are excellent hiding places for things they don’t want their parents to find when they reach those ages.
Floor Vents
We used to have floor vents at home and my mother found that putting baskets that covered most of the vent captured most of the things that we small children somehow got to go down there. Little baskets like the ones a foot long 8 inches wide and 6 inches tall worked well.
Also in the future, they are excellent hiding places for things they don’t want their parents to find when they reach those ages.
furnace filter
Investing in a new filter would be a lot cheaper than the $750 job and might help if the old filter still has residual dust in it after all that scrubbing.
My filters to the electronic air filter get washed in the dishwasher with NO soap. It works. However, I don’t know if regular filters can be washed this way. You would have to consider what the dishwasher might do to the filter and what the filter might do to the dishwasher. My filter is all metal so it works for both concerns.
furnace filter
Investing in a new filter would be a lot cheaper than the $750 job and might help if the old filter still has residual dust in it after all that scrubbing.
My filters to the electronic air filter get washed in the dishwasher with NO soap. It works. However, I don’t know if regular filters can be washed this way. You would have to consider what the dishwasher might do to the filter and what the filter might do to the dishwasher. My filter is all metal so it works for both concerns.
Re: furnace filter
Our filter is too big to fit into our dishwasher. I checked before doing by hand in the tub.
Re: furnace filter
Our filter is too big to fit into our dishwasher. I checked before doing by hand in the tub.
Re: furnace filter
I thought Howard went through that series of shots to get rid of his allergies. Did that not work?
Re: furnace filter
I thought Howard went through that series of shots to get rid of his allergies. Did that not work?
Re: furnace filter
He did have allergy shots and his allergies are much improved. This furnace thing has only been a problem since early December. Furnaces haven’t been a problem during prior years, so we know that something has changed. Washing the filter has already helped a lot.
Re: furnace filter
He did have allergy shots and his allergies are much improved. This furnace thing has only been a problem since early December. Furnaces haven’t been a problem during prior years, so we know that something has changed. Washing the filter has already helped a lot.