How To Tell If Furnace Filter Needs Changing

Home furnace air filter replacement - Thomas & Galbraith Heating, Cooling, & Plumbing

Cincinnati homes crave regular budget and maintenance throughout the year. Changing furnace filters is one disquisitional task that is often skipped – to the detriment of your comfort and the performance of your home's heating and cooling equipment! With a dingy filter in place, you lot risk compromising your comfort, energy costs, and HVAC system

Thomas & Galbraith'southward NATE-certified heating and cooling professionals share why changing furnace filters must be washed. Learn the true purpose of this arrangement component, how often changing furnace filters needs to be performed, and the problems that arise when yous skip this task.

From heating and cooling organisation maintenance that ensures a clean filter to HVAC repair that counteracts the problems caused by a dirty one, nosotros provide the services y'all need for a comfy home yr-circular. Telephone call Thomas & Galbraith today to schedule service.

What Does a Furnace Filter Do?

Your furnace filter traps airborne contaminants to clean your air, correct? While yes, it does practice that, that's not exactly its chore – despite what most people believe.

The main function of a furnace filter is to trap airborne contaminants not for air quality purposes, but to go on them out of your heating and cooling system. Withal, because the filter removes contaminants for the system's benefit, air quality also benefits from their removal.

How Often Is Changing Furnace Filters Necessary?

Changing furnace filters is a chore that's frequency varies from i house to the next. How frequently this chore needs to be performed is profoundly dependent on the type of furnace filter in place. If you lot have a meridian downwardly the filter replacement aisle at your favorite hardware store, you'll see there are a lot of options to cull from – lots of unlike filter types to bear on changing frequency.

Changing furnace filters needs to be completed every calendar month to every year – just like there is a great range of filters, there'south a pretty wide range to how often they need to be replaced. Luckily, irresolute furnace filters doesn't depend on a judge. The filter'south manufacturer provides the recommended replacement frequency within the product information that's included when yous purchase a new filter.

To give you a starting betoken for what frequency you're looking at for irresolute furnace filters, size matters. Thicker filters have more media available to capture contaminants, and so a 5-inch filter requires less frequent changes than a 1-inch filter. Filter efficiency too has an impact – this is expressed as MERV, which stands for minimum efficiency reporting value .

In general, this is how often changing furnace filters needs to be washed:

For 1- to 2-inch filters, replace them every 1 to 3 months
For 3- to 4-inch filters, replace them every 6 to 9 months
For 5- to 6-inch filters, supercede them every 9 to 12 months

More than Factors that Affect Frequency of Changing Furnace Filters

As we mentioned, size and efficiency are two attributes that affect the frequency irresolute furnace filters is performed. In improver, there are diverse factors specific to your Cincinnati surface area household that accept a greater impact on how often you really demand a new filter.

Home Occupancy

The number of people living in a home affects the useful service life of a furnace filter. In a large household, irresolute furnace filters is done on a more frequent basis than homes with merely one or two occupants. People introduce many contaminants to the domicile surround, so the more people there are in your home, the more contaminants in that location are for the filter to catch.

Furry Family Members

Pets are another major contributor of contaminants into the indoor air supply. Pets shed fur and dander, which are picked upwardly by airflow and circulated throughout the home by the HVAC system. For every furry family unit member living in your habitation, a filter's useful service life is reduced past approximately 30 days, then you lot're changing furnace filters more oftentimes.

Indoor Air Quality

If yous have air quality bug present in the home, your furnace filter isn't going to final as long as it does in a home with good indoor air quality. Indoor air quality equipment like air purifiers and air cleaners reduce contaminant volume so at that place'due south fewer particles for your furnace filter to capture – in homes without this equipment, the furnace filter is the but line of defense against airborne contaminants, so the filter fills upwards faster.

Allergies

If members of your household suffer from allergies or asthma, changing furnace filters should exist done on a more frequent basis. Doing so helps ensure contaminants that crusade symptoms are removed from your indoor air supply.

Heating & Cooling Usage

When your dwelling house's heating and cooling equipment is heavily operated, filters have a shorter useful service life – air is circulated more frequently, so the filter has more than opportunities to selection upwardly contaminants and become clogged. In the summer and winter, homeowners are typically changing furnace filters more ofttimes than they are in the autumn and spring.

Dirty Furnace Filter Disasters

When irresolute furnace filters is forgotten or skipped, various problems ascend in Cincinnati households. Muddy furnace filters spell disaster for heating and cooling equipment, abode comfort, and indoor air quality.

HVAC Arrangement Damage

Heating and cooling equipment similar furnaces and air handlers are filled with many delicate components. Without filtration, airborne grit, dirt, and other debris enters the diverse chambers of the unit and settles on its components. Contaminants accumulate and worsen the performance of the equipment, even causing harm to components.
When filters are clogged simply the HVAC organization continues to run, air doesn't move through the system properly. With the dirty filter blocking its path, heating and cooling equipment expends more energy to push air along. This extra work stresses the system'due south components, using more energy and damaging equipment.
Airflow blockage acquired by a dirty filter raises the temperature within the HVAC equipment, causing it to overheat. After it cools, it starts back up again, but the problem persists – this is an issue known as short-cycling, and dirty filters are the well-nigh mutual crusade. Short-cycling leads to HVAC system damage that requires repair and early on full system failures, in addition to excess energy consumption, college utility bills, and diminished indoor comfort.
As contaminants menses through the HVAC organisation due to a muddied filter, they collect within the condensate drainage components and clogs form. Clogs stop condensate from draining out of the home, and it may spill over which results in water damage to HVAC equipment and nearby areas. Plus, excess condensation increases indoor humidity levels which disrupts comfort.

Poor Comfort & Air Quality

Because airflow is restricted when changing furnace filters is forgotten, living areas do not receive the proper corporeality of heating and cooling. It becomes difficult to maintain condolement levels and homeowners oftentimes observe hot and cold spots.
When the filter is covered in contaminants, there is no more area left to trap new contaminants passing through. Therefore, those contaminants remain in the air supply and move back into your dwelling where they crusade allergy symptoms, respiratory problems, actual irritations, and dirtier surfaces no matter how frequently you clean!

Never Forget Some other Filter Change!

Changing furnace filters is so very important, not merely for your HVAC system merely for your household. It's all as well like shooting fish in a barrel to skip a filter change when your HVAC equipment is tucked away out of sight, but this of import task must exist made a priority.

It's smart to check your filter monthly to assess its condition. Sometimes, your organization may require irresolute furnace filters early, merely information technology's hard to tell if you never wait for yourself! Take a peek at the filter once a month and supplant it when yous notice its surface media is completely covered in contaminants.

Considering changing furnace filters is so important, here are a few strategies to help ensure you remember to perform this essential home maintenance task.

Mark monthly filter checks also as changes at the appropriate interval on your wall agenda or within your day planner.

If you prefer your smartphone's calendar app, schedule reminders with an alarm that sounds to take hold of your attention.

Link checking and irresolute furnace filters with other important tasks you complete each month. As the filter'southward condition tin impact how much energy the system consumes, check it when you pay your monthly utility bill! Practice not file that bill away until you bank check or change your filter.

Thomas & Galbraith Delivers the Care Your HVAC Organization Needs

Changing furnace filters on a regular basis has great impacts on home condolement and indoor air quality, as well as the functioning, energy efficiency, and longevity of your HVAC system. Ensure your comfort system receives the professional care it needs – maintenance tune ups remove debris and takes intendance of filter changes. If the damage of a dirty filter has already been washed, our skilled technicians work to counteract the consequence to restore performance.

Phone call Thomas & Galbraith today to schedule heating and cooling services, including HVAC repair and heating and cooling tune ups.