Indoor Air Quality

Fight Back Against Fall Allergies with HVAC Tools & Services

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For many, fall is a time of increased allergy symptoms. With higher pollen counts outdoors, these allergens make their way inside where they cause unwanted aggravation. Use your HVAC to fight fall allergies with the following indoor air quality solutions from Sanborn’s Air Conditioning & Heating!

Fall Allergies in Redlands, CA

In Redlands, CA, allergy season typically starts in early spring and evolves into fall seasonal allergies. Fall brings new pollen from plants and trees. Fallen leaves often gather and decay, increasing mold spores in the air. Rising pollen counts create troublesome allergy symptoms including:

  • Watery eyes
  • Sneezing
  • Shortness of breath
  • Coughing
  • Nasal congestion
  • Postnasal drainage
  • Itchy throat, eyes, or ears
  • Ear congestion
  • Headaches

Why Do People Have Allergies? 

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Melinda Braskett, medical director of the UCLA Food and Drug Allergy Care Center says genetics are at work. 

She also references the “hygiene hypothesis,” which suggests because of vaccines, antibiotics and our germ-free lifestyles, we’ve dramatically reduced the foreign invaders to our immune systems. This situation manifests when our immune systems have a hard time discerning ragweed pollen from genuine threats. 

Allergies in the Inland Empire

For southern California residents, asthma and allergy triggers ebb and flow from season to season. Spring is bad for many because the rain brings new growth in weeds and flowers blooming. 

Plus, the rain beats the pollen spores into smaller particulates. This makes it easier for spores to settle deeper in the lungs and wreak even more havoc. Because the winters are so mild, many weeds and plants bloom year-round. 

In addition, as climate change symptoms like warmer temperatures and higher carbon dioxide concentrations impact the vegetation, weeds produce more pollen than in the past. 

More vegetation in the spring also provides more brush to burn in summer wildfires. This translates into airborne ash particulates. The Santa Ana winds bring airborne particulates miles from where they originated. For those close to the ocean, they have higher incidences of mold and mildew spores in the air. Pet dander and dust are year-round, of course. 

What’s the Difference Between Allergies and a Cold?

According to Sameer Gupta, MD., one difference is the “itchiness.” Gupta is an allergist-immunologist and a member of the medical staff at Scripps Memorial Hospitals in Encinitas and La Jolla, as well as San Diego’s Scripps Mercy Hospital. 

The “itchiness” he describes is the sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and itchy nose feeling. Also, allergies can last for months while a cold usually hangs around for a few days to two weeks. 

HVAC to Fight Fall Allergies

Use your home’s HVAC to fight allergies, starting with your heating and cooling equipment. Preventive maintenance in the fall cleans out dust and other allergens from HVAC components. It also helps your heating system prepare for the season ahead and reduce the risk of repairs or a breakdown. 

Regular maintenance also helps your system run more efficiently and saves energy. Technicians access and clean compartments within your system during a preventive maintenance tune up. 

This prevents any allergens that have settled on components from recirculating back into your home. Techs also change air filters to ensure air moves through the system correctly and contaminants are filtered out of circulating air. 

Sanborn’s Air Conditioning & Heating offers a number of reliable indoor air quality systems to reduce allergens in your home. They work with your home’s heating and cooling systems, allowing you to use HVAC to fight fall allergies for better health and comfort. Here are some examples and how they work. 

Media Air Cleaners

Media air cleaners use advanced, high efficiency filtration to extract contaminants as they circulate through your home’s heating and cooling systems. 

These powerful filtration systems remove up to 99 percent of airborne allergens inside your home, making a noticeable impact for the allergy sufferers in your family. Remove pollen, dust mites, mold spores, and other aggravating particulates that cause troublesome allergy symptoms.

UV Air Cleaners

Mold is not only a concern to the allergy sufferers in your household – exposure to mold has the potential to cause serious health effects to all. UV air cleaners are a great line of defense against mold as well as other harmful pathogens, such as virus and bacteria spores in your home’s air supply. 

Using ultraviolet light energy, these air cleaners neutralize contaminants as they pass by. The particle is killed, unable to reproduce or to aggravate your allergy symptoms. HVAC techs install UV air cleaners directly within your home’s heating and cooling equipment. There they protect against mold growth within your system.

Humidifiers

In a more dry home, there are higher levels of allergens than in a home where moisture levels are kept in balance. A whole house humidifier works with your home’s HVAC to fight allergies by adding appropriate moisture to the air. 

This helps with chronic nosebleeds, sinus infections from dry sinuses and even static electricity and other dry air concerns. This creates an indoor environment with fewer allergens, alleviating troublesome allergy symptoms for your family.

DIY HVAC TIP

Check and change your AC filter as needed. We recommend checking your filter monthly. Most people change it every two to three months. If someone in your household smokes, is sensitive to allergens or asthma triggers or you have multiple pets, change it more often. This is also beneficial for your HVAC performance and energy efficiency. 

More Tips to Fight Seasonal Allergies

In addition to using HVAC to fight fall allergies, these tips help Redlands, CA homeowners prevent allergy symptoms indoors:

  • Vacuum at least once a week
  • Clean surfaces throughout the home regularly
  • Be sure pets stay out of the bedroom
  • Keep doors and windows closed
  • In the spring or during periods of rain, rearrange your yard work schedule, for example. Spend time outdoors later in the afternoon, instead of the morning. 
  • When working outdoors around pollen or inside during dusty projects, wear a face mask. 
  • Shower and wash hair before bed if you’ve spent time outdoors. Don’t take pollen and other allergens to bed with you and rub your face in them all night on your pillowcase. 
  • Invest in allergen-blocking pillowcase and mattress covers.
  • If you know you have occasional allergies, take allergy medication prior to triggering activities. Allergy medication is a prevention tool. It often takes a day or two to “kick in” so use it before exposure if possible. 

Don’t let seasonal allergies stand in the way of your health and comfort. Use HVAC to fight fall allergies with the help of Sanborn’s Air Conditioning & Heating! Our Redlands, CA indoor air quality specialists have the solutions you need to reduce allergens indoors. We also offer 24/7/365 emergency service if your air conditioning or heating breaks down. 

Contact us today to improve comfort in your home.