My parents raised me in the south near a swamp. As a child growing up with mild to severe asthma, the humid and moldy state of the swamp environment was a constant source of woe and frustration. I hated always being the slowest kid during recess because my lungs just could not handle the abuse. There was a period of time when I wondered if I would keep getting asthma attacks daily, but that stopped when I moved out of my home state and started undergraduate school on the other side of the country. Instead of living in a swamp, I’m now living out in the desert. Where I was once suffering away in a hot and humid nightmare, now I’m in a hot and dry nightmare instead. Sometimes it gets as hot as 110 degrees in the middle of the summer.
Worst of all, we get so much dust and sand flying into our home through open windows and doors. I was never the type of person who enjoyed leaving windows wide open throughout the day and night. Right now I don’t have a choice even if I did, there are just too many airborne allergens that threaten my physical health. You also find layers of dust and sand on indoor surfaces, especially inside your air conditioner filter. If you’re not diligent about replacing your HVAC filter regularly, you run the risk of getting more dust and sand inside your air handler than necessary. After enough buildup on the coil, it will start to crack over long periods of time. Replacing an air conditioner coil is not cheap.