Energy Usage, Conservation and Weather Stripping - Dust

Not sure where I should post this question, but here goes. My house always has a lot of dust. I can completely dust it today and in two days it’s all dusty again. Does anyone have any idea how to minimize this dust problem? The home is 20 years old, has central air, single pane windows and is in the hot southwest part of Texas.

So many things could cause this. The big ones are old carpeting that could be breaking down and holding dust. Over twelve year old carpet should be replaced with new. Having carpet professionally cleaned with steam once a year will get rid of lots of dirt and dust. Replacing with Hardwood will be best for dirt and allergies. Make sure you use a HEPA vacuum. Have ductwork cleaned. This should take a company somewhere between 6 and 8 hours to be done right. If shorter than that find another company. Make sure you are using at least a pleated filter in your HVAC system. 6 to 7 dollars is fine stay away from 3M they don't let enough air in and can cause harm to your equipment. The next major contributor of dust is infiltration. Only way to stop this is to put your home into a positive pressure.

Dry air from the A/C or outside will help static attraction. You might need a humidifier to maintain 50% rh or so.

Dry air should not be a problem in cooling mode in Texas.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I will follow up on your suggestions. Have a nice weekend.

E

Dust is everywhere in the air. In areas where there are factories, power plants, trains, highways, busy streets, etc., you will have more dust. Older construction is more prone to air infiltration and dust, especially if windows are older. Anywhere dust can find a way in it will.

If you see a lot of dust on furniture, then the same amount of dust has settled into carpets, upholstery, and draperies. Frequent vacuuming of carpets, upholstery, and draperies with vacuum with HEPA filter is helpful.

More and more folks are ripping out carpet and going with hard surface floor coverings for health reasons. Carpet harbors dust mites and allergens.

SW Texas is subject to dust blowing in from the dry lakes of Mexico. Over the last 12 years, Texas has weathered five droughts, and another might be in the works. Some predict that the area is moving toward permanent drought and dust bowl conditions with the Mexico desert moving north. Dust storms are not unusual in SW Texas.

Are the a/c duct connections sealed with mastic or foil tape? After I went up in the attic and sealed every single connection seam with mastic including where the duct joined the air handler, the dust was reduced considerably.

I'm also planning on putting in an in-line vacuum system by the end of this year. It just doesn't make sense to vacuum up all the dust in the carpet and blow it back out through the back of the vacuum. A friend of mine put one in herself and it made a huge difference.

The ducts have foil tape but no mastic. The ductwork is around 20 years old. a few of the connections to the rooms are the flex duct. The main duct system is perma-duct. We did remove the carpet in the living room which was as old as the ducts. It looked like the beach down there. That helped a little, but the house is still dusty. Thanks for the reply.