Well the first yucky weather of the season got me back in to the train room today. I like to get things cleaned up before diving in for another winter of model railroading. There wasn’t much cleaning to be done. I have not been in there since April and it was vitually dust free. Other than vacuuming up a few dead flies in the windowsill it was ready to go.
Four years ago it was a no brainer to get a high efficiancy furnace in to replace the old one just because of the savings we would make on the natural gas. While they were at it we had them put in an Accuclean filter system. The reason being, we have a small herd of Golden Retrievers running around the house. It was a great decision as I have never had a dust issue since. I really appreciate it when I think of trying to dust and clean while trying not to vacuum up everything on the layout in the “good ol day’s”.
It Is worth every penny it cost and I would recommend one just for layouts sake.
I also have an Animal house. Black Lab’s, now German Boxer’s. Ten yrs ago, had a new furnace and central air installed, along with the Electronic furnace filter. I could not agree with You more on that investment. [Y] [Y] It will also eliminate any Dog oder.
Frank I clean mine about 3 times a year by taking the four parts outside and use the compressor to blow them clean, just as the installer showed me. It is amazing the amount of dirt that comes out of those things.
I am not quite so keen on those high-falutin’ cleaners. I like the idea and the technology, but I can’t say I can rave about their results. Not in my house, anyway. While they may indeed keep the moving air clean when the fan is moving the air (during heating or just when keeping air circulating), it doesn’t preclude the settling of dust on any surfaces in the house. My wife and I still have to dust regularly. The reason is that, when the fan is not running, and that means the circuit running the air filter is also not ‘on’, your walking, the pet’s shaking and scratching, you punching your skin-cell infested pillow at night and turning in your dusty mattress (and dont’ tell my you don’t know what you have to vacuum up under the bed every month!), what comes in on your shoes, flour dust, insect bits, etc…it all has to settle somewhere. I find it on my rails, on book shelves, on books, on knickknacks, on the floor, on the top of the curved headboard, on the top of the toilet tank…need I go on?
I clean our filters about once a year. My furnace gets about half the use of a normal furnace in our neck of the woods because I use a lot of wood heat. I can actually get by with cleaning them every two years. The manufacturer says to be very careful with those thin wires, and to just place them inside a hot dishwasher on a normal cycle. They then have to air dry outdoors for several hours, or they could short.
Here is another vote for the electronic air cleaner. Our’s is a Trane (no pun intended) attached to the central air conditioning system. We have hot water baseboard heat. During the A/C season the house is mostly dust free but after that there is a noticible inrease in the dust. The seasonal use virtually proves its bnefits.
There are a lot of variables that affect the amount of dust in a house, many out of control of the home owner.
In the Midwest, the dust just comes in with the air in the spring and fall if the weather is dry. The farmers get out and stir it up, then it blows through town. Not the Great Dust Bowl (yet!) but still a significant contributor here locally.
Then we have cats…dust and fuzz production from them is down by a third, because the oldest of the current three went to kitty heaven recently after a long, productive (of hairballs and barf) life. I miss her, but not her tendency to create a mess at a moment’s notice.
So what’s a ball park price for a electronic air cleaner? I presume pushing, if not actually into 4 figures…the suspended ceiling in the train room catches most, but could still improve.
My employer uses several of these in the labs to keep dust out of critical test samples.
At least you could run it independently of the whole house system and focus it primarily in the train room. Like Selector, we heat primarily with wood and (backup) electric baseboard so the only time there is any air moving is when the A/C is on during the summer months and even then, none of that air is ducted into the basement.
One other caveat, even with my seven cats I find that one of the biggest sources of dust is the clothes dryer! Make sure your duct work is very tight AND CLEAN! My laundry facility is smack in the middle of the layout room and it is an unavoidable source of lint…
I also would strongly reccomment a Central vacuum cleaning system. I installed a Nutone system years ago and besides a nice, big dust bag, the exhaust is vented outside so any dust that makes it past the filter gets blown outside.
Mike, I think ours was around $1250.00 in addition to the new furnace. It is the American Standard Accuclean and I believe the Trane one is identical with just a different name. The furnace has a variable fan in it and is alway’s running to circulate the air. We do not need A/C here, however on the few hot days we do get, the constant circulation keeps the house much cooler. The fan runs so slow you cannot even hear it. It is enough to keep the dust down. We have a large kitchen/familyroom and with six Golden Retrievers it gets dirty. That dirt does not show up anywhere else though as the dogs mostly stay in that room. The trainroom is just a trainroom and I do not wear shoes in there as it has nice carpeting in it. The movement in and out is limited as there is no other reason to go in there other than to play! I am amazed at how clean it stays.
When they put the new system in they put an outside thermometer up under the eves and sensors in every cold air return. The difference in the comfort level was huge as all these sensors work to maintain even heat throughout the house, even in rooms that are the farthest from the furnace are now alway’s toasty warm. The outside thermometer lets the system predict the future and do the temperature changes slowly inside thus saving even more energy.
Thanks, useful info. It’s actually affordable. Our HVAC is the next step down from superefficient, so doesn’t have a blower running all the time or the trick sensors (that’s a great idea) but could stand an upgrade like this. I suspect the wife would have her own reasons for getting one, so might have to see about this come tax refund time.