How Often Do You Change An Air Filter

Existence a homeowner comes with many responsibilities that you must acquit out at the advisable time to maintain your property. One such responsibility is replacing your HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system). Chances are high that your air filter is overdue for a change.

Air filters are not designed to last forever, meaning you have to proceed track of the date when you lot installed them, so y'all can know when it is time for a replacement. If you take besides long to replace your filter, information technology tin can get overloaded and plummet, causing more than problems for your HVAC equipment and your condolement.

A complanate air filter can get lodged in your fan or make a big gap, causing air to bladder around the filter without it getting filtered. If your filter is non filtering the air, information technology can have adverse issues on your health and cause breathing problems, especially for people with pre-existing weather.

How Ofttimes Should Y'all Change Your Air Filter?

Now that you know one air filter isn't going to last you for life, you need to ask the critical question, how often should you lot change your air filter?

Determining when to modify your air filter can be a lilliputian tricky for a couple of reasons. Every home'due south pattern is slightly different, automatically resulting in a unlike answer each time the question of air filters is raised.

The blazon of filter you purchase can as well cistron in how often you replace this essential equipment. Typically, it is recommended that you change your filter every 30 days for cheaper fiberglass filters and anywhere from 6 months for higher-finish pleated fibers. However, these recommendations may non exist the best idea if y'all have allergies, asthma, or live with pets.

When you purchase a new filter, the packaging will indicate how long it is expected to final. Still, the filter's expiry date should be the maximum date to which yous continue that detail filter in. you should modify your filter earlier than the packaging suggests.

Fifty-fifty though the answer varies from dwelling house to abode, you must get to know what works for your family unit to keep your filter functioning properly.

A lot of factors are to exist considered when determining how often your filter needs to be changed. Some of them include:

Asthma or Allergies

Y'all should change your home filter more often if you suffer from allergies or asthma. Respiratory issues make you much more than sensitive to airborne particles, and then you should change your air filter every six weeks to ensure your indoor air quality remains at its best.

If you let excess dander, dust, and other contaminants to accumulate in your filter and detect their way into your home, it tin affect you negatively. Symptoms like terrible coughs, runny noses, sneezing, and others you would instead exercise without clogged air filters tin result.

Seasonal Changes

During influenza and allergy seasons, you should upgrade your filters to loftier-efficiency filters. When you begin to observe an increase in air particles or pollutants, your air filter should get changed more frequently.

As well, during renovations, there is a probable chance that the amount of dirt and dust circulating in the firm volition increment and block up your filter. In such a state of affairs, your home will require a more than frequent filter change.

Tip- If y'all notice that yous need to vacuum your firm more oft than usual, it might exist a sign that you lot need to check your filter a lot more than than yous commonly would.

Pets

Having pets can influence how oft you lot change your air filter. Pets crusade an increase in dander, fur, and dust floating through the air in your habitation. These pollutants come together and terminate up blocking the flow of air in your filter.

If yous have multiple pets, information technology can go fifty-fifty worse, and the build-up of fur, dust, and dander tin can impede the running of your HVAC.

Yous should consider replacing your air filter every four to half-dozen weeks if you lot are a pet owner.

House Occupancy

When your house is a vacation home where you lot only spend a modest corporeality of time yearly, the rules are dissimilar. Due to the absence of human activeness during certain, fewer contaminants get trapped in your air filter.

The fewer the contaminants, the less ofttimes you need to alter the air filter. You tin can prolong the periods between a filter replacement to a pregnant extent. Most times, holiday homes become a change in air filters every six months.

You can as well pull off changing your air filter less oftentimes if you live alone and take no pets. The fewer people in a house, the less fourth dimension it takes to clog your air filter.

Why Should You Change Your Air Filter?

Your business firm's heating and cooling system have an essential role to play in the overall comfort of your home. Yous do not want to experience the sweltering heat of summer without the convenience of air-conditioning.

However, you might still be tempted to ask, what divergence does information technology make if I change my filter regularly or not. If you withal are not convinced that regularly your air filter is a great idea, here are some reasons yous should supervene upon it regularly.

Cutting Repair Costs

Over time, your air filter accumulates dirt, grit, fur, and other contaminants that may be constitute effectually your home. Your once new, white, and clean air filter will turn dusty and grayness every bit it begins to spend months fin the return. This deterioration tin take negative impacts on your HVAC system.

Changing your air filter is beneficial to the polish working of your HVAC system. A muddy air conditioner can lead to the HVAC system undergoing extra work.

As time goes on, the strain on your unit volition issue in essential repairs or, even worse, cut short the lifespan of said unit of measurement. Irresolute your air filter volition help continue the parts of your air conditioner clean, preventing information technology from wear and tear. You tin can save yourself money by but changing your air filter routinely.

Conserve Electricity

During the summer, your electricity nib tin get up in astronomical proportions. Changing your air filter can aid you cut down your neb.

When your air filter is clogged, the HVAC unit requires a lot of actress work to circulate fresh air throughout your home; the extra work calls for more than electricity. More electricity means more bills.

Replacing your filter will help you reduce the amount you pay for electricity. Investing in a relatively inexpensive air filter and replacing the filter at the correct time can save you lot a lot of money in repairs.

Better Air Quality

Studies have shown that the air in your home can be as much every bit 2 to five times more polluted than the air outdoors. This can lead to many symptoms that you may never even trace to your HVAC system's overall working.

If you lot get headaches frequently when y'all are cooped up inside for long or endure from severe allergies when you lot encounter low indoor air quality, it could outcome from muddy air filters.

When your air filter is clean, you practise not have to exhale in particles and other unlike contaminants. This will ultimately result in a healthier, higher quality life.

How Exercise Yous Know It'southward Time to Change Your Air Filter?

An air filter's chore is to trap dirt, so any use of the filter will lead to its accumulating dirt. The big question is, how do you lot decide your filter has trapped more than enough dirt and requires a modify?

At that place is no specific guideline, but if your filter has but a small layer of clay and the filter fabric is all the same visible beneath information technology, your filter is fine. The moment it gets more than that, information technology is fourth dimension to change out the filter. If you cannot see the filter textile due to dirt becoming thick enough to cover most of the filter's surface, it is a sign that your HVAC has housed the filter for too long.

You should inspect your air filter every week. If you notice a musty scent or that the filter is covered in grit alter information technology. Filters are relatively inexpensive, so if you lot doubt, it is always better to replace information technology earlier than let it wait as well long.

How to Change Your Air Filter

Replacing an air filter is a lot easier than y'all might call back. It is a very straightforward process if you follow the following steps:

Ensure that you turn off your HVAC system before you begin; this is very important.
Find where your air filter is – you will almost likely find your air filter where the air is sucked dorsum from your home into your system (this is known as the render), which is either on your ceiling or wall with a grille covering it. If you practise not find it there, it will exist where your air handling unit is located, typically in your attic, basement, or closet. You will notice a small box that takes air into the unit.
Take out the grille or open the box – if you lot own a grille, you lot will most probable find tabs that y'all can pull up, and so you lot can take out the filter without needing a screwdriver.
Locate the filter – the filter should carry the size or a model number printed on information technology to help you identify information technology and buy the correct one. Ensure that you buy the correct size of the filter.
Take out the dingy filter – find the old filter when you take information technology out. If it is more contaminated than usual, this means you should change your filter more often than y'all already do. Please take note of gaps in the filter every bit these are a sign that your filter is likewise small, and you demand to supplant it with a bigger ane.
Put in your new filter, close the box, or put dorsum the grill – this is the final footstep. Make sure y'all annotation the date when you change your filter to keep runway and know when next to modify the filter.

How to Purchase a New HVAC Filter

You probably know that you tin can observe important information such as size printed on your current filter. However, y'all might even so be unsure about what type of filter to purchase. Here are a few tips that can be of help:

Avoid buying the cheapest filter y'all can find
You should buy a pleated filter with a sturdy wire mesh supporting it and preventing it from collapsing.
Ideally, your filter should not take a very loftier MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) rating. A quality filter should have a MERV rating above viii or ix. This type of filter will have out most of the modest particles that tin can trigger allergies and other respiratory issues.

If you still feel unsure well-nigh picking a filter yourself, you can ever seek professional aid.

The MERV Scale; How to Rate an Air Filter

For nigh people, the near challenging part of changing your air filter is figuring out what kind of replacement you should get. This is why most companies refer to a particular scale while measuring the efficiency of their air filters. This is chosen the MERV scale.

The Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value calibration gives professionals a compatible standard to use when rating their air filters' quality. The MERV is measured by exposing a clean air filter to different sizes of particles. Each size of the particle is and then forced through the air filter six times using a sprayer. Virtually twelve other particles are used to determine which filters are best at trapping different air pollutants.

Based on this scale, at that place are sixteen different categories your air filter can belong to, these are:

MERV 1-four

These are the lowest ratings on the scare, and they trap the least number of contaminants from the air in your home. MERV i-4 filters can trap common particles such every bit carpet fibers, dust mites, pollen, etc. from the air.

Similar their cost point, their efficiency is extremely depression. This filter form is excellent for homes on a upkeep where there are no occupants with respiratory problems.

MERV5-eight

MERV five-8 filters are a chip more effective than those in the MERV 1-four category. They can work effectively in mold, finer grit such every bit cement, and even aerosol spray particles. Such filters are of higher quality and cost more than the primary category.

Withal, y'all should know that these filters are unable to trap particles smaller than one micron.

According to experts, you lot should get an air filter with a MERV score from vi to 8 for the all-time performance. These filters are affordable and permit your HVAC system to role conveniently without whatever strain. When your unit operates smoothly, information technology keeps your bill as low as possible while keeping excellent air quality.

MERV 9-12

This class of filter is considered very high efficiency. It can trap tiny particles from the air, equally piffling equally auto emissions. If yous apply filters in this category, your HVAC organisation has to do some actress work to circulate cooled air in your abode. The weave of the air filters that fall in this class makes it a lot more than difficult for the HVAC system to function seamlessly.

MERV 9-12 filters are perfect for people who have allergies; the downside is that it may negatively reverberate your electricity neb.

MERV xiii-16

A filter of this rating is classed maximum efficiency. They are more suited for commercial buildings than a home heating and cooling system.

The filters in this grouping can filter particles equally small as 0.3 microns, such every bit tobacco smoke and leaner.

Other Considerations

Hither are a few other things y'all might want to consider when buying an air filter:

Size

The return sizes differ from dwelling to home so ensure you check the size of your current filter and then you buy the correct fit.

Reusability

If you do not particularly fancy the thought of having to throw out your air filter after every few weeks or months, y'all might want to invest in a washable air filter. Although this may be extra work for you, information technology is environmentally friendly.

Using a washable filter is too beneficial because you tin can alter it as regularly as you like while still saving money on air filters. Washing your filter on a more regular basis volition increase the quality of air inside your home.

Pleats

The more pleats an air filter has, the higher the chances of removing air pollutants from your indoor air. In situations where yous cannot find the MERV rating on the air filter packaging, you can lookout for a filter with a lot of pleats per foot.

Pleats are a great manner to gauge the overall efficiency of an air filter.

Conclusion

You must know what to expect when it comes to changing your air filter. Each dwelling has different needs when it comes to HVAC so remember to consider your lifestyle and the rate of occupancy in your home when replacing your air filter.

Your HVAC'south lifespan and health will be grateful to y'all if you adhere to the proper guidelines regarding how often you should alter your air filter. Bank check your air filter today, replace it if it is overdue and bask fresh, make clean air in your home.