This past weekend, I observed that the air in my dwelling was “off.” I felt like there was a stink in the air and the air felt completely dirty.
I didn’t have any pets or children and I didn’t change my bi-weekly habits, but I knew the air quality issue was definitely something new.
I wasn’t used to air that happened to be impure. Before calling an HVAC professional or running out and purchasing a modern air purification system, I did my own research to see if there were any other homeowners who had experienced a similar setback and how they fixed the issue… A bunch of the articles I studied were discouraging because they either found a major problem with their HVAC appliance or they bought really high-priced air cleaners. A small amount of the information I study online said that I could replace the air filter and it would improve my air quality by a good amount. I wanted to avoid spending a huge amount of money, so I was really praying that it was a self-explanatory air filter switch. I found the location where my air filter was kept and I unscrewed the front HVAC vent cover and took a fantastic look at the air filter. I was alarmed to see how dirty it was. There was a ton of brown dust trapped in the filter and some of it was actually hanging off. As I tried to take out the old air filter, some of the dust came flying off. There was a cloud of dust surrounding me and I began coughing a good amount. I had to walk away and catch my breath before putting the brand new air filter back in because there was a great deal of dust.