LESLIE: Roy in North Carolina, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?
ROY: I’ve got what seems like a dust problem.
TOM: OK.
ROY: And I don’t know how I can tell whether it’s with a normal amount of dust or – I think it’s a whole lot more dust than one person would normally have. I put a new heating system in and I know the duct was supposedly sealed off. Is there any way I can measure the dust that I’m getting and determine if I’m getting maybe more than I should be getting normally?
TOM: Well, you can’t measure the dust but you could have a duct test done where you can actually measure the amount of loss through the duct system to determine if it’s leaking or not. What kind of a filter system do you have on it? Is it like a thin, fiberglass filter?
ROY: No. I’m using the white paper filter type.
TOM: How big is it? Is it …
ROY: It’s a 25x20x1.
TOM: By one? OK, that’s what we call a pebble stop, OK? (Leslie chuckles)
ROY: OK.
TOM: That’s not a good, efficient filter. What I would recommend is something called a whole-house electronic air cleaner. A whole-house air cleaner can take out dust particles almost the size of virus particles. It is just incredibly efficient compared to the thin, paper filters that you’re using right now.
Probably the best one – it was ranked tops by Consumer Reports for many, many years – is made by Aprilaire. Their website is April-A-I-R-E, Aprilaire.com. I think it’s called Model 5000. We have one of those in our house and I’m telling you, it made a huge difference.
ROY: Oh, OK. Great.
TOM: That’ll be much more effective. That’ll keep your house nice and clean.
ROY: Alright, great. Now, thanks for the information.
TOM: You’re welcome, Roy. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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