Five Furnace Tips For Pet Owners
Your pet is likely a member of your family, but they can put added stress onto your heating system. The following five tips can help you keep your furnace working well.
1. Consider a Programmable Thermostat
Your pet needs to be at a comfortable and healthy temperature even if you will be away at work all day. Fortunately, a programmable thermostat can make it simple to manage the temperature to balance your pet's needs with reducing energy costs. Your vet can help you determine the lowest possible heat setting that is still safe and comfortable for your pet, and then you can program the thermostat to this lower setting when you are away during the day.
2. Clean and Change the Filter Correctly
A pet means that your furnace filter is going to be trapping a lot more hair and dander, so you may need to change it monthly — or even more often depending on shedding season. Changing the filter isn't enough, though. Fur can also get lodged inside the filter housing, which is the slot in which you place the filter. Use the hose attachment on your vacuum cleaner to clean out this hair buildup inside the housing each time you switch out the filter.
3. Manage Fur and Your Vents
Cats and dogs alike will sometimes lay on or near floor heating vents due to the comfortable excess warmth. This leads to fur and dander inside your ducts. You can remove the vent covers and vacuum inside the ducts each time you clean your house to minimize the problem. Placing a vent guard or air deflector over the vent can help discourage your pets from laying right on or against the vent.
4. Add a Purifier to Your Heating System
Although filters will catch most pet hair so it doesn't recirculate through the system, dander and pet dust can be harder to filter out with just a standard furnace filter. You can install an inline air purifier onto your furnace air intake to provide the additional filtration necessary to keep pet dander both out of the air you breathe and out of the interior of your furnace.
5. Schedule Annual HVAC Maintenance
Never skip annual maintenance, especially if you have a pet. Your service tech will do more than lubricate and inspect your furnace — they will also make sure there is no pet hair or dander inside the blower housing or coating the inner workings of your furnace.
Contact an heating contractor for more help with all of your furnace needs, or check our websites like https://www.erickson-plumbingqc.com/ to learn more.