Question:
The air conditioning in my apartment is aggravating my allergy,sinus and
asthma symptoms. A year ago I discovered the cooling coil in the furnace was
covered with old brown insulation that you could pull off with your hands. I
had this cleaned but there is still dust and insulation in the air ducts that
blows out. When I run my air conditioning I sneeze,get sinus pressure and my
eyes itch and burn.The allegra,flonase,flovent,singulair and sinus irrigations
can't control all the symptoms-I know I need to move. Now I just don't run the
a/c and keep the windows open. If I moved to a condo with a window unit would
my symptoms improve?. I figured I could buy a new wall unit if the old one
aggravates my symptoms
Answer:
Have you considered a portable unit? They are expensive (about
$600-900) but can be moved from room to room and should be a lot
simpler to clean. I was at Fry's earlier today and they had three
different makes. You can get a review of one type at:
http://www.allergybuyersclubshopping.com/ac-td-8k.html#features
My only hesitation is the overkill in terms of btu. I currently use a
27 year old Emerson window unit in my home office and the 5000 btu is
just right for this small room, but I worry about how much longer the
unit will run
You could just have your ducts cleaned. I suspect that'd be a lot cheaper
than moving or a new air conditioner. Central air conditioning is MUCH
better at getting allergens out of the air than window units (if you have a
decent filter). As you note, however, if your ducts are dirty, the clean
air from the AC picks up whatever's in the vents. This would be a
year-round problem because likely your heat goes through the same ducts.
Where I live I get direct mail ads for whole-house duct cleaning starting at
like $99. Perhaps you could convince your landlord to do it or have it done
as a part of maintenance
