Outdoor pollutants can cause issues with your HVAC system

A couple of years ago, my husband and I moved from a small apartment in the city into a big farmhouse in the country.  We were extremely excited to finally have a garage to park our cars, a big kitchen, plenty of closets, and a huge backyard.  Our home is surrounded by pastures and fields with a large pond in the backyard. We are located on a dirt road, nearly fifty miles from the nearest town.  We moved in during the fall, when the weather was already quite chilly. There was no opportunity to sit on the front porch, take advantage of the lawn, hang laundry on the clothesline or open the windows.  The furnace installed in the home is rather old and outdated, and it struggled to handle the severe winter temperatures. We hired an HVAC contractor to thoroughly clean and service the heating system, and got a free estimate for replacement.  We were hoping to upgrade to a more modern, energy efficient furnace within the next year. Because we are located in the northern part of the country, with long winters and short summers, we didn’t anticipate the need for air conditioning. However, once the weather warmed up and we opened our windows, we realized our mistake.  The dirt road is horribly dusty, and every time a car drives by, the dust wafts directly into the house. Sheep, cows and horses graze on the pastures surrounding our house, creating a terrible odor and drawing in an abundance of flies. We have no choice but to keep our windows closed, but then the house becomes overheated. Instead of spending our savings on a new furnace, we purchased a central cooling system.