Cottonwoods: Fluff Can Kill Your HVAC Systems

Wisconsin is getting a snowstorm of another type this summer. Cottonwood fluff that floats in the air may look harmless, but it spreads for miles and covers everything, especially your building’s HVAC Systems. The bloom may last for only a few weeks, but the fluffy seeds can impact your air conditioning for an entire summer.

When cottonwood trees start their bloom, those fluffy white things are pulled into the condenser and start clogging it, which slows down the airflow and diminishes cooling capacity. It also makes your unit work harder, which causes wear and tear on the system.

“The condenser coils get caked in the cottonwood fluff,” says Dave Taylor, service manager for Hurckman Mechanical Industries. “The majority of our calls this summer have been due to cleaning condenser coils and this isn’t a job we’d call ‘do-it-yourself’,” he said.

Taylor also says the spring/early summer hatch of bugs also gets ingested into large HVAC units and spread throughout a facility.

The main way to avoid problems is to make sure you are scheduling regular maintenance for your systems, especially in late spring/early summer. Hurckman’s Peak Performance Maintenance plan covers more than 40 inspection and cleaning points, all designed to keep your system efficient.

“We clean the condenser coils, check the entire system and make sure it’s ready for summer,” Taylor said. For an estimate on the Peak Performance inspection, please contact Dave Taylor.