How Often Change Air Filter Furnace

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

Cincinnati homes require regular upkeep and maintenance throughout the year. Changing furnace filters is i critical job that is often skipped – to the detriment of your comfort and the functioning of your home's heating and cooling equipment! With a dirty filter in place, yous risk compromising your condolement, free energy costs, and HVAC system

Thomas & Galbraith's NATE-certified heating and cooling professionals share why irresolute furnace filters must be done. Learn the truthful purpose of this system component, how often changing furnace filters needs to be performed, and the issues that arise when y'all skip this job.

From heating and cooling arrangement maintenance that ensures a clean filter to HVAC repair that counteracts the issues caused by a dirty one, we provide the services you need for a comfortable home year-circular. Phone call Thomas & Galbraith today to schedule service.

What Does a Furnace Filter Exercise?

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

The chief function of a furnace filter is to trap airborne contaminants not for air quality purposes, but to keep them out of your heating and cooling arrangement. Yet, because the filter removes contaminants for the system's benefit, air quality likewise benefits from their removal.

How Often Is Changing Furnace Filters Necessary?

Irresolute furnace filters is a job that's frequency varies from one house to the next. How oft this task needs to be performed is greatly dependent on the blazon of furnace filter in identify. If you take a peak downwardly the filter replacement aisle at your favorite hardware store, you lot'll encounter there are a lot of options to choose from – lots of different filter types to impact changing frequency.

Changing furnace filters needs to be completed every month to every yr – just similar there is a great range of filters, in that location's a pretty wide range to how ofttimes they need to be replaced. Luckily, changing furnace filters doesn't depend on a judge. The filter's manufacturer provides the recommended replacement frequency within the product information that'due south included when you purchase a new filter.

To give you a starting point for what frequency yous're looking at for changing furnace filters, size matters. Thicker filters have more media available to capture contaminants, and then a five-inch filter requires less frequent changes than a 1-inch filter. Filter efficiency also has an touch on – this is expressed as MERV, which stands for minimum efficiency reporting value .

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

For i- to 2-inch filters, replace them every 1 to 3 months
For 3- to 4-inch filters, replace them every 6 to nine months
For 5- to six-inch filters, supplant them every ix to 12 months

More Factors that Affect Frequency of Irresolute Furnace Filters

As we mentioned, size and efficiency are two attributes that touch the frequency changing furnace filters is performed. In addition, there are various factors specific to your Cincinnati area household that have a greater impact on how oft you really need 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, changing furnace filters is done on a more frequent ground than homes with simply ane or two occupants. People introduce many contaminants to the abode environment, so the more than people at that place are in your home, the more contaminants there are for the filter to take hold of.

Furry Family Members

Pets are some other major contributor of contaminants into the indoor air supply. Pets shed fur and dander, which are picked up by airflow and circulated throughout the home by the HVAC organisation. For every furry family member living in your home, a filter's useful service life is reduced by approximately 30 days, so you're changing furnace filters more ofttimes.

Indoor Air Quality

If yous have air quality issues present in the dwelling house, your furnace filter isn't going to terminal every bit long every bit it does in a home with good indoor air quality. Indoor air quality equipment like air purifiers and air cleaners reduce contaminant book so there's fewer particles for your furnace filter to capture – in homes without this equipment, the furnace filter is the only line of defence force confronting 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 footing. Doing and so helps ensure contaminants that crusade symptoms are removed from your indoor air supply.

Heating & Cooling Usage

When your dwelling house'south heating and cooling equipment is heavily operated, filters have a shorter useful service life – air is circulated more ofttimes, then the filter has more opportunities to choice up contaminants and get clogged. In the summertime and wintertime, homeowners are typically irresolute furnace filters more often than they are in the fall and bound.

Dirty Furnace Filter Disasters

When changing furnace filters is forgotten or skipped, diverse problems arise in Cincinnati households. Dirty furnace filters spell disaster for heating and cooling equipment, home comfort, and indoor air quality.

HVAC Organization Damage

Heating and cooling equipment similar furnaces and air handlers are filled with many delicate components. Without filtration, airborne dust, dirt, and other debris enters the various chambers of the unit and settles on its components. Contaminants accumulate and worsen the functioning of the equipment, even causing damage to components.
When filters are clogged but the HVAC organization continues to run, air doesn't motion through the system properly. With the muddy filter blocking its path, heating and cooling equipment expends more energy to push air along. This extra piece of work stresses the organisation'south components, using more free energy and damaging equipment.
Airflow blockage acquired by a muddied filter raises the temperature within the HVAC equipment, causing information technology to overheat. Afterwards it cools, it starts back upwards once again, but the problem persists – this is an issue known as short-cycling, and dirty filters are the most mutual crusade. Curt-cycling leads to HVAC system damage that requires repair and early total system failures, in addition to excess energy consumption, higher utility bills, and macerated indoor comfort.
As contaminants flow through the HVAC arrangement due to a dirty filter, they collect within the condensate drainage components and clogs form. Clogs end condensate from draining out of the habitation, and information technology may spill over which results in water impairment 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 irresolute furnace filters is forgotten, living areas exercise not receive the proper amount of heating and cooling. It becomes hard to maintain comfort levels and homeowners often notice hot and cold spots.
When the filter is covered in contaminants, there is no more expanse left to trap new contaminants passing through. Therefore, those contaminants remain in the air supply and move back into your habitation where they cause allergy symptoms, respiratory issues, bodily irritations, and dirtier surfaces no matter how often yous clean!

Never Forget Another Filter Change!

Changing furnace filters is so very important, not but for your HVAC arrangement but for your household. Information technology'due south all too piece of cake to skip a filter change when your HVAC equipment is tucked away out of sight, simply this important task must exist made a priority.

Information technology's smart to check your filter monthly to appraise its status. Sometimes, your system may require changing furnace filters early, simply it's difficult to tell if you never look for yourself! Take a peek at the filter in one case a month and supplant information technology when y'all discover its surface media is completely covered in contaminants.

Considering irresolute furnace filters is so of import, hither are a few strategies to assist ensure you remember to perform this essential home maintenance task.

Marker monthly filter checks equally well as changes at the appropriate interval on your wall calendar or within your 24-hour interval planner.

If you prefer your smartphone's calendar app, schedule reminders with an alert that sounds to catch your attending.

Link checking and irresolute furnace filters with other of import tasks you consummate each month. As the filter's status can impact how much energy the system consumes, bank check information technology when you pay your monthly utility bill! Exercise not file that beak away until you check or change your filter.

Thomas & Galbraith Delivers the Care Your HVAC System Needs

Changing furnace filters on a regular basis has groovy impacts on home condolement and indoor air quality, equally well as the performance, energy efficiency, and longevity of your HVAC arrangement. Ensure your comfort system receives the professional intendance it needs – maintenance tune ups remove droppings and takes care of filter changes. If the damage of a dingy filter has already been done, 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.