Long-haired pets usually end up shedding all over the place. Not only can that hair get caught in your clothes, your vacuum cleaner, and in your food, it can also cause problems when it comes to your HVAC system, too. In fact, your pet's hair can cause one big problem with your furnace or air conditioner. 

Filters

There are a series of filters in your furnace and air conditioner, at the air return vent as well as by the outgoing air ducts. The filters are there to catch dust, allergens, pet dander, and pet hair, among other things. The problem with filters is that they can get clogged over time. Clogged filters can cause all kinds of problems. 

Problems With Clogged Filters

The range of things that can happen to your furnace or air conditioner when their filters get clogged up range from a small problem all the way from mildly annoying to very serious. One the milder end of the scale, one thing that a clogged filter can do is to make your HVAC system work less efficiently. That means your house won't be as warm or cool as you would like. Another consequence of that issue is that your heating and cooling bills are going to start to rise. The harder your HVAC system works, the more energy it takes. 

On the more severe side of things, if your filters get clogged with pet hair and then hair keeps building up on the filters and works its way into the motor of your heater or air conditioner, you can end up with a burned-out motor. In order to fix that, you may end up having to replace your whole heater or air conditioner. 

Solutions to Clogged Filters

Luckily, the solutions to your pet hair and filter problems are pretty easy. There are a couple of things that you can do in order to make sure that your beloved pet's hair doesn't clog up your HVAC system. One is to check and change your filters more frequently. Depending on how many pets you have or how much your pet sheds, you may want to check your filters weekly. If you are going to check that frequently, you may want to look into getting a reusable filter so all you have to do is wash it off and put it back in its place. You can also look for filters that are made for households with pets. Those filters can also catch more pet dander. 

Your pets make your life better. You just want to make sure that they don't make your HVAC system worse. Contact a company like River City Heating & Cooling for more information.