ponytug
Super Member
They are.
I guess I am talking about the cold air return register.
In a previous house, we did that, too. The dog liked to snooze near the cold air return, and nobody thought much of it. Then one day, I was checking the furnace over for a pre-winter check up, and noticed a pile of dog hair at the bottom of a return duct. Vacuumed it out. Traced the duct, and the hair, back to the dog's favorite vent and discovered pound and pounds of dog hair that had basically closed a 10x18" duct. Vacuumed everything out and put an extra filter on that one vent. I am sure that the extra filter distorted the return air flow, but as long as we had that dog, it was going to be an issue.
I would point out there is a difference between a standalone ionizer, which tends to stick things on the adjacent surfaces, many of which are also significant ozone generators, and the whole house electrostatic precipitators. The latter are much more effective because of the whole house fans. Running the whole house fan will help reduce the dust, if you have issues. Usually, the added power cost is minimal, but in our current house, the net effect is cold drafts, so we tend not to run the fan during the winter. In the summertime, we do it whenever the air quality drops.
I have had good luck with the 3M filtrete electrostatic air filters in other houses. Pricey, but I found them effective.
+1 on checking the pressure drop before you go changing the air filters. You can throw a lot of things out of whack, with fans working harder, furnaces overheating, etc.
I use the coil cleaners all the time on my cars, and trucks. I can't say that I have noticed a difference in the brands either. Spray the can into the coils, wait, repeat, check the drain water to see if it is clean, and if not repeat. (Why does Ford refuse to put a cabin filter on a work truck?!! Do they think that nobody drives a pickup on a dirt road? Knock, knock, anyone home? It's a three thousand dollar repair on my truck if the condenser clogs, oh, and there is no great way to get to the coils, either. End of rant.)
All the best,
Peter