People who don’t live in Clover SC tend to think of the city as being in a cold climate. They don’t tend to realize how hot it gets there in the summertime. Those two extremes in weather mean that residents run their heating and cooling systems most months of the year. It’s important to have an HVAC contractor do annual maintenance, cleaning and inspection on the appliance to prevent breakdowns. It’s also important to buy high-quality furnace filters and to check them every month. If the filter is dirty, it’s time to throw it out and put in a new one. That’s true in summer as well as in winter, even though many people never consider that this filter is used by the central air conditioner as well as by the furnace. An HVAC contractor recommends keeping spare filters on hand to make changing the devices convenient. It’s a good idea to start with three or four and buy another one every time a filter is replaced. Since this equipment is available at numerous types of stores, there’s no reason not to pick one up when walking through a home improvement shop, hardware store or a big-box store. If remembering the size is an issue, write the size on a piece of paper and keep the paper in the wallet. This essentially means the filters are better than nothing but don’t do a very good job. The next step up is the cheap pleated filter, which is better at blocking larger contaminants, but isn’t effective for many small allergens that can affect air quality. Electrostatic filters cost a bit more, but they are much better at blocking tiny particulates and they also last longer. Calling a company for system maintenance before the heating season...