Time for Spring: Clean Your Air and Your Dehumidifier

Breathe Easy This Spring: Cleaning Your Home’s Air for a Healthy Lifestyle

Spring has finally arrived, and it’s time to dust off those cleaning supplies and get to work. As the temperature rises, it’s only natural to want to open the windows and let in the fresh air.

One essential aspect of spring cleaning is ensuring that the air in your home is clean, dry and healthy.

Clearing the Air: Why Clean Air is Essential

Clean air is vital for our health, particularly in our homes, where we spend a significant amount of time indoors. This makes our indoor air quality, or IAQ, even more critical.

According to a study conducted by Harvard University, exposure to fine particulate matter in the air can lead to a shorter life expectancy. Fine particles, also known as PM2.5, are those less than 2.5 micrometers in size and are often found in common household items like cleaning products, burning candles wood, air fresheners and household paint. Even biological pollutants, particles that are or once were living organisms, including dust, pet dander, pollen, bacteria, and mold spores, can contribute to poor IAQ. If your home’s air is filled with particulates, high temperature and humidity levels can increase the concentrations of some pollutants.

Exposure to these airborne particulates can lead to trouble concentrating, fatigue and headaches, as well as irritation of the nose, eyes, throat and lungs. For some, it can result in more severe health concerns, such as respiratory ailments, allergies, and heart disease. There is even a direct correlation between specific indoor conditions and certain diseases, for example, high indoor humidity and asthma. And, although high relative humidity is not recognized in itself as a major indoor pollutant, it is among the most harmful, as left unchecked, high levels of moisture inside a home can also lead to mold growth.

Spring Clean Your Air, And Your Dehumidifier

Letting in fresh spring air will help circulate out some of the indoor pollutants, but it won’t help manage humidity levels. Using a supplemental dehumidification system is the only way to consistently control the level of relative humidity. But as just as your home needs to be cleaned, spring is also a good time to scrub your dehumidifier to ensure it cleans your air as much as possible.

Cleaning and Care of Your Dehumidifier

It’s essential to clean your dehumidifier filter regularly to sustain its longevity and effectiveness. To do their jobs most effectively, however, the dehumidifier’s interior system must be maintained as well to prevent mold and other contaminants from growing inside. A clean dehumidifier will more effectively improve your IAQ.

You can easily make a DIY cleaning solution using just water and vinegar, which is an all-natural way to clean and disinfect the coils, drain, flush drain lines, and if you have one, your condensate pump.

All-Natural Solution:

Mix 6 oz of Vinegar (white or apple cider) and 2 oz Water
Combine Vinegar and Water mixture into a spray bottle

Steps to Proper Cleaning for Dehumidifiers:

Wipe grill, humidity sensor, and coil fins
- Lightly wipe or vacuum the grill, humidity sensor, and coil fins to remove dust and debris with a damp cloth
Clean the Coils

Use self-rinsing, foaming coils, or water and vinegar solution
Spray the entire surface of the coils
No need to rinse. The dehumidification process will remove the cleaner

Clean Airways and Drain

Check airways and drain hose are unblocked and connected
Make sure the collected condensate

Maintenance For the IW25 Reusable Air Filter:

Remove the front diffuser plate to access the filter
Vacuum or lightly wash the air filter
Reset filter maintenance light if needed
Purchase air filter replacements (optional) – it’s good to have backups on hand

Spring cleaning is an essential part of maintaining a healthy home, and cleaning out your dehumidifier is a crucial step in improving IAQ. By removing dirt, dust, and other pollutants from your dehumidifier, you can help ensure that the air you and your family breathe is clean and healthy.

If you’re in the market for a new dehumidifier or need replacement filters, check out Innovative Dehumidifier Systems for high-quality, energy-efficient options.

The tankless In Wall or On Wall IW25 includes a bi-polar ion generator to help filter indoor pollutants while the unit runs, and our IW25 filters are washable, reusable filters. Our products will help you enjoy fresh, clean air this spring – and all year long.