It’s no secret that we live in an extremely dusty environment. Even when we do experience normal precipitation, Anchorage and the Valley experiences a continuous barrage of dust from glacial silt from several prominent drainages coming out of the Talkeetna and Chugach mountains; we’re bounded on three sides by water with sandy shores that are continually being whipped up and into the airstream, and to top it all off, we experience almost unbelievable amounts of pollen and plant seeds & spores from our giant populations of Birch, Cottonwood, Willow, Spruce, Alder, Fireweed and a host of other trees and shrubs. Then, when you add in the dust resulting from a long winter of sanding the streets after snow storms, we really have the “Perfect Storm” of dusty conditions. All of this combined dust doesn’t simply go away over time … in fact, it naturally gets reduced into smaller and finer particulates where it finds its way into our homes and onto our computer screens! The best weapon you have to fight this invasion is a good quality air filter (ours are custom-made for us by an excellent company in Washington which you will NOT find in any local Box store) that is changed frequently throughout the year. Breathing that air outside is certainly bad, but when you breathe it inside your house or workplace, it’s definitely not healthy!
Some wise marketing guy many years ago created a mantra for automobile maintenance that literally became the norm for automobile oil changes. “3 months or 3000 miles – whichever comes first!” Minute-Lube’s advertising slogan was repetitiously hammered into our brains so that it became the absolute truth. While vehicles really don’t need to have maintenance done that frequently – we can draw an analogy between that illustration and our very real need to change the filters in the furnaces of our homes! Residential furnace filters are rarely changed often enough and that is where we live! Nowhere should it be more important to maintain our air quality than in our homes! The Minute-Lube mantra is totally appropriate here: EVERY 3 MONTHS your air filters should be changed – no exceptions – especially in Alaska! If you are fortunate enough to have an Electronic Air Cleaner, these too need to be cleaned every 3 months.
And this is not just for your indoor air quality. Your heating system will run smoother and will provide optimal service if there is unrestricted airflow and this only occurs when those filters are clean.
In addition to desiring the best health possible for our loved ones, optimum performance on the job and in our careers should begin with our personal health and nowhere is that easier to start than in our homes! The bottom line is that the one place where you spend the majority of your time, where you prepare food and eat and sleep, should be kept as dust-free as possible and it’s easy to do! It is our greatest desire to help you experience a healthy, cleaner lifestyle through improved air quality! It’s important to us because we care about our customers and clients, and it should be important to you!
