A Serious Cleaning Goes a Long Way
You often think about cleaning your home and making it an allergen-free environment. This is your haven. When your allergies are bad, it's your place to retreat and recuperate. Your workplace probably keeps things clean enough to ensure allergies aren't too bad there – this is especially true if a boss or manager suffers from allergies. Yet we never think of how our car impacts our allergies and, let's face it – we rarely think about cleaning our cars seriously.
There are a few ways your car can make your allergies worse. The first and less intense way is by getting dirty and accumulating allergens. If you can't remember the last time you cleaned your car, then it's probably time to tackle this task!
Dust accumulates in cars just like it gathers anywhere else you spend time. If you have a pet who rides with you, they've left allergens in the car. Pollen gets trapped inside during the springtime and settles onto surfaces. Then it gets kicked back into the air every time someone sits on a seat or brushes a surface.
Steps to Cleaning Your Car
Give your car a good cleaning. Wash the outside, as these surfaces can attract a large amount of pollen. A hand wash or an automatic car wash are both effective.
When you clean the interior, keep in mind that your car is a relatively small, enclosed space. Try to avoid regular chemical household cleaners. These can trigger allergens and asthma attacks, often even worse than allergens themselves do. Instead, use green cleaning products. These are usually plant-based, so read the ingredients to make sure they're safe for you to use – they almost always will be. They're very effective, and they'll get the dust, dander, and pollen off of surfaces just as well as harsher chemical products.
Then vacuum your car. This may seem like a pain. Car vacuums aren't very powerful, so you may want to find an outdoor electrical outlet or haul out your extension cord so you can use a more powerful indoor vacuum on your car seats and floors. The extra bit of work will be worth it when you can breathe easier in your own car.
Of course, you can always get your car cleaned professionally. This is very effective and saves you the hassle. Let them know if you want them to use green cleaning products. Whether you clean your car yourself or get it professionally done is really just a matter of preference.
The Biggest Allergen Factor: Your Air Filter
The second and more intense way your car can trigger your allergies is when you need a new air filter. Your car is constantly bringing in air, and the cabin air filter is designed to remove allergens. This includes dust and pollen but also includes bacteria and exhaust gases from your own and other cars. It has a very direct effect on decreasing the allergens your body reacts to, as well as reducing fumes that directly impact your health.
Like any air filter, a cabin air filter will degrade, break down, and develop clogs as time goes on and it gets used over and over again. It's an overlooked part, and if you can't remember the last time you replaced it, it may be because you never have.
How Often Should You Replace Your Air Filter?
The cabin air filter isn't an expensive part, and it's worth it to have it replaced regularly. The filter also stops larger debris like leaves and bugs from entering and damaging the cooling and heating systems. An unclogged filter also helps the cooling and heating systems work more efficiently. This means when it isn't old or clogged, the air filter prevents much more expensive damage from occurring.
A cabin air filter should be replaced every 12,000 to 15,000 miles, according to the Car Care Council. You get a lot of work out of your heating system during the winter, and you're about to demand a lot more from your cooling in the summer, so the springtime is a perfect time to make sure your car's air filter is new. Combine this with its ability to seriously reduce allergens at the time of year when they're worst and this is the most important step to enjoying an allergen-free drive. Contact us, or come for an oil change and a new air filter.