You Probably Didn't Know The Air Conditioner In Your Home Can Do This

Can you imagine surviving the heat of the summer months without an air conditioner? But just over a century ago this was the norm. The first air conditioner wasn't invented until 1902, according to Mountain Air. Before that, it was common for people to use blocks of ice to cool their homes. Nowadays, air conditioners work by sucking out hot air from a room and then blowing the air back into the space while passing it over cooling pipes (known as an evaporator coil), as per Sovereign Planned Services. The air gets colder as it comes into contact with the coolant-filled pipes.

Air conditioners aren't just beneficial for keeping your home cool. They are also crucial to a number of functions that are intrinsic to modern-day life, such as keeping medications stable in laboratories and cooling the server farms that power the internet. On an individual level, air conditioning improves our quality of life — and even our health. Filters in air-conditioning units keep bugs and parasites out of our homes while cooler air prevents hundreds of deaths from heatstroke, according to Brennan Heating & Air Conditioning. We are also less likely to suffer from dehydration when our homes and indoor environments are kept cool. Finally, we sleep, work, and exercise better when the heat is kept at bay. There is one more thing that you probably didn't know your air conditioner could do. Read on to find out.

Air conditioners have been found to alleviate the symptoms of those with respiratory conditions, namely asthma, as per Asthma.net. They do this by reducing the number of airborne triggers that can worsen symptoms — such as pet dander, pollen, and mold — through their built-in filtration system. Additionally, since people shut their doors and windows to ensure their air conditioner's effectiveness, the systems prevent certain outdoor allergens from making their way inside. Through the simple act of cooling the air and eliminating humidity, air conditioners also prevent the growth of mold spores and dust mites, which both contribute to respiratory distress. 

The key to making sure that your cooling system can efficiently remove pollutants from the air is to keep the filter up-to-date through regular maintenance. Blanton's Air, Plumbing, & Electric emphasizes the importance of choosing the right filter for your air-conditioning system if you or someone in your family has a respiratory condition. Out of the various options available on the market today, you'll want to purchase a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter, which outperforms its competitors in terms of the quantity of pollutants it removes from the air. A pleated filter is another superb option for reducing air contaminants. You will also need to change your filter more frequently than normal to ensure your air quality is optimal. For this reason, a reusable filter that can be cleaned in your washing machine is a smart choice.