Unemployment, cancelled vacations, and new health policies. These are just a few of the many changes brought on by COVID-19. But how does this affect air conditioning?
What started as a far away and distant problem quickly took hold in the US causing what most assumed would be a minor two-week shutdown that turned into an ongoing and unending (for the foreseeable future) adaption to our way of life.
COVID-19 has and will continue to change the way we live and do business in the United States.
Whether you’re a homeowner or a business owner, you’ll want to understand how the virus can impact your air conditioning system.
COVID-19 and your air conditioner
While major news sources provide conflicting evidence (Forbes, Healthline) we’re here to help put your mind at ease and let you know what you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 with regards to your air conditioning.
Before we share these methods, it’s helpful to understand how COVID-19 affects your air conditioning system.
In addition to pulling air from outdoors, your air conditioner also spends a significant amount of time recycling air. Air isn’t simply blown into your home, but is sucked back out through return ducts.
This air is passed through your air handler, which has a filter on it to catch particulates, and is then sent back into your home.
If the virus is in your home, or was ever in your home, it could survive for several days within your ducting and air conditioner system. This ultimately is what causes much of the concern regarding COVID-19 and your air conditioner.
So what can you do about it?
System Cleaning
If you suspect or know that someone with the virus was within your business or home, you should seek to have your system cleaned as soon as possible.
Cleaning your HVAC system, sometimes called an A/C tune-up or preventative maintenance, is essential for removing lingering virus particulates in and around your equipment.
In addition to our regular cleaning processes that help your system run more efficiently, we’ll change your air filter.
The filter is what catches the virus particles and holds onto them until they knock loose and find their way back into your house.
By changing your air filter, we eliminate any molecules it has already caught.
Duct Cleaning
Simply changing your filter is not likely to be enough, though.
While it’s a great first step, the virus can survive on more surfaces than your air filter.
Duct cleaning is particularly recommended for condos, large offices, and other commercial properties where a single ducting system is shared by multiple residents or offices.
The virus could find itself traveling throughout the whole building via the ductwork. This is the primary concern of those who argue against the use of air conditioning amidst the pandemic.
On top of using the tool above to clean your ductwork, we also fog the whole line which acts as a disinfectant, neutralizing bacteria and viruses that aren’t as easily knocked loose as dirt and dust.
The only way to truly remove the particulates is to have your entire ductwork cleaned. For the homeowner, this is fairly affordable and simple. But for commercial properties, it can get quite expensive and take several days to complete.
UV Lights and Air Purifiers
A more cost-effective and, in fact, more permanent solution would be to install a UV light or air purifier to your HVAC system.
Harvard recently published a study by an infectious disease expert that has found UV lights, which have long been used to defeat Tuberculosis, are just as effective in killing COVID-19.
Both UV lights and air purifiers are designed to destroy bacteria, viruses, and allergens from your air as it cycles through your system.
These products not only are capable of protecting your home or business from COVID-19, but they’ll also help if you or a loved one suffers from allergies.
Schedule an appointment
At Precision Temperature, our technicians are trained to perform and install all three of the above safety methods.
Whether you’d like a simple maintenance, a thorough duct cleaning, or the more permanent UV light/air purifier solution, give us a call to schedule an appointment at 619-588-5321.
Precision Temperature is a family-owned business that’s been serving San Diego since 1987. We’re licensed and insured, and our technicians are taking every precaution to keep you and your loved ones safe during these difficult times.
