Pet hair is insidious. In the grooming environment, it gets everywhere, along with its companion, dander. The dastardly combination of the two can get into spaces you never imagined and clog up motors on the tools we use. This can make them work harder than necessary, overheat, and even burn out.
Filters are designed to provide vital separation. They allow some things to pass through while blocking others. Pet grooming tools work more efficiently when adequate filters protect them. With this thought in mind, here is a checklist of filters that need to be regularly checked, cleaned, and maintained:
• Clipper Vacuum systems. These vital tools suck in all the hair, dust, dirt, dander, and who knows what else. The filters must be vacuumed daily and replaced every few months (check the manufacturer's instructions and make a calendar note to perform this vital chore). It only takes a few minutes and can prevent expensive repairs.
• Pet dryers. Because pet dryers actively take in air from the environment to blow it out on the pet, it is up close and personal to the free-floating hair in the air and gets clogged more often than many filters. Depending on your work, you may need to clean the dryer filter multiple times during the day. Foam filters can be vacuumed, washed, and left to air dry at the end of the day or weekly, depending on your needs. More than one dryer repair person has told me horror stories of performing expensive repairs on dryers just because they were packed with dog fur that had not been cleaned up as necessary.
• Shop vacuum. The paper filters get clogged up quickly when exposed to the kinds of things we suck up in the grooming shop and are easily replaced. Keep a few on hand so you can tackle this job regularly and keep your vacuum running smoothly and smelling fresh.
• Room Air Filters. If you use an air filter in your grooming area, check to see if the filtering mechanism needs to be cleaned or replaced. Most do, and they require cleaning at least weekly, sometimes daily.
• Air conditioners. These hard-working, life-improving tools are magnets for dust, hair, and all the miscellaneous things floating in the air. Depending on the model you use, the filter will need daily attention, but you may also need to remove the filter and vacuum and clean the coils from time to time.
• Heaters. Heating filters are another tool that circulates room air and traps all the pollutants a grooming shop offers, and they need regular attention. In my grooming studio, we have a sealed heating unit. I clean the filter daily (sometimes multiple times if I blow out double-coated dogs). The thermostat was misbehaving, and the technician who came to fix it was shocked at how much dog hair he had to vacuum out of the unit when he opened it up. "This isn't supposed to be possible," he said, But dog hair has ways of working intoplaces it shouldn't.
• Last but absolutely not least is whatever filtration system you use to help keep your respiratory system free from pollutants. Cotton or fabric masks can and should be used when you are drying pets to help keep your most important "tool," your body healthy.
Make note of which tools and appliances in your workspace have filters, and get on a reasonable schedule to keep them properly maintained and working efficiently.