The term black mold is one homeowners never want to hear. It’s one of the scariest possibilities for a house in a place like Florida, where the damp and often warm weather makes it easy for mold to start developing in parts of the house. Mold of any kind is unpleasant to look at and creates bad odors. Black mold, however, presents a health threat to the people in a household.
One of the most harmful places where black mold can develop is inside the ventilation system of a house. Not only is it hard to recognize because it is out of easy sight, but the harmful spores from the mold will spread all around the house when the air conditioning and heating system comes on and the blower fan pushes air to the different rooms.
Winters here in North Central Florida are mostly pleasant, but we do have stretches of days when the temperature drops to the point where heating systems have to come on. Most people have heaters that use ductwork to move heat to the various rooms, such as furnaces (electric or gas) and heat pumps. Unfortunately, no matter how well your home’s heater works, you’ll run into trouble if the ductwork is leaky.
One of the biggest problems homes in Florida deal with is humidity creating mold and mildew. While mildew is an unpleasant-looking nuisance capable of damaging wood and drywall, mold can present a more serious hazard—toxic mold spores.
The best way to prevent any serious issues with your furnace is to schedule routine maintenance for it. A qualified technician should thoroughly inspect the entire system to ensure that everything is working properly. With routine maintenance, your furnace will work more effectively. In addition, you will likely spend less money on furnace repair. The longer a problem with your furnace continues, the more likely it is to cause further damage. Proper maintenance allows HVAC technicians to diagnose any problems that you might be unaware of.
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Humidity is obviously a big issue in Florida. It can make a moderately warm day seem stiflingly hot, and a hot day pretty miserable. The reason for this is that the higher levels of moisture make it harder for the body to release heat through perspiration. More heat is trapped in the body, and this makes the temperature feel hotter. On our occasional colder days during the winter, humidity is often welcome—but it’s still not something you want inside your home, since it promotes mold and mildew growth and can cause building damage.
Although we experience some wet and cold days during the winters in North Central Florida, we also still have hot days. Air conditioners are expected to work throughout the year around here. That means you need to make sure your home’s AC is prepared to get through each season. The biggest concern is summer, which is why we stress having professional maintenance done in the spring, right before the period when the AC will run the most.
Summer never truly ends in Florida. We move through rainier, cooler periods, but the work of an air conditioning system in a Florida home is never fully done for the year.
Corrosion is a major enemy of most metal devices and appliances. With air conditioners, corrosion along the evaporator or condenser coils is responsible for 40% of system failures. Corrosion can happen quickly and may result from years of moisture exposure.