How Often Do You Change Furnace Filters

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

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

Thomas & Galbraith's NATE-certified heating and cooling professionals share why irresolute furnace filters must be done. Learn the true purpose of this system component, how oftentimes changing furnace filters needs to be performed, and the issues that arise when you lot skip this task.

From heating and cooling arrangement maintenance that ensures a clean filter to HVAC repair that counteracts the problems acquired by a dirty one, we provide the services y'all need for a comfy home year-round. Phone call Thomas & Galbraith today to schedule service.

What Does a Furnace Filter Practice?

Your furnace filter traps airborne contaminants to clean your air, right? While aye, information technology does practice that, that's not exactly its job – despite what most people believe.

The primary role of a furnace filter is to trap airborne contaminants non for air quality purposes, merely to keep them out of your heating and cooling system. However, because the filter removes contaminants for the arrangement'due south benefit, air quality also benefits from their removal.

How Frequently Is Changing Furnace Filters Necessary?

Changing furnace filters is a task that'south frequency varies from 1 business firm to the side by side. How often this task needs to exist performed is greatly dependent on the type of furnace filter in identify. If you take a peak down the filter replacement aisle at your favorite hardware store, you'll see there are a lot of options to choose from – lots of different filter types to affect changing frequency.

Changing furnace filters needs to exist completed every month to every year – simply similar in that location is a great range of filters, there's a pretty broad range to how often they need to exist replaced. Luckily, changing furnace filters doesn't depend on a guess. The filter's manufacturer provides the recommended replacement frequency within the production data that's included when you purchase a new filter.

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

In general, this is how ofttimes irresolute furnace filters needs to exist done:

For ane- to two-inch filters, supersede them every 1 to 3 months
For iii- to 4-inch filters, supervene upon them every half-dozen to ix months
For v- to vi-inch filters, supervene upon them every 9 to 12 months

More than Factors that Touch Frequency of Irresolute Furnace Filters

As nosotros mentioned, size and efficiency are two attributes that bear on 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 often you really need a new filter.

Abode 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 basis than homes with just one or two occupants. People innovate many contaminants to the home environment, and so the more than people at that place are in your domicile, the more contaminants there are for the filter to take hold of.

Furry Family Members

Pets are another 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 system. For every hirsuite family member living in your home, a filter's useful service life is reduced by approximately thirty days, so you're irresolute furnace filters more than often.

Indoor Air Quality

If you have air quality issues present in the domicile, your furnace filter isn't going to last equally 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 and so in that location's fewer particles for your furnace filter to capture – in homes without this equipment, the furnace filter is the only line of defence against airborne contaminants, so the filter fills upward faster.

Allergies

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

Heating & Cooling Usage

When your home's heating and cooling equipment is heavily operated, filters have a shorter useful service life – air is circulated more frequently, and so the filter has more opportunities to selection upwardly contaminants and go clogged. In the summertime and winter, homeowners are typically changing furnace filters more than frequently than they are in the fall and jump.

Dirty Furnace Filter Disasters

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

HVAC System 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 of measurement and settles on its components. Contaminants accumulate and worsen the performance of the equipment, even causing harm to components.
When filters are clogged but the HVAC system continues to run, air doesn't move through the organization properly. With the muddied filter blocking its path, heating and cooling equipment expends more energy to push button air forth. This extra work stresses the system's components, using more energy and dissentious equipment.
Airflow blockage caused past a dirty filter raises the temperature within the HVAC equipment, causing it to overheat. Later on information technology cools, it starts support again, but the trouble persists – this is an issue known as short-cycling, and dirty filters are the nearly common cause. Short-cycling leads to HVAC system damage that requires repair and early full system failures, in addition to backlog energy consumption, higher utility bills, and macerated indoor condolement.
As contaminants catamenia through the HVAC system due to a dirty 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 harm to HVAC equipment and nearby areas. Plus, backlog condensation increases indoor humidity levels which disrupts condolement.

Poor Comfort & Air Quality

Because airflow is restricted when changing furnace filters is forgotten, living areas exercise not receive the proper amount of heating and cooling. It becomes difficult to maintain comfort levels and homeowners oftentimes notice hot and cold spots.
When the filter is covered in contaminants, at that place is no more surface surface area left to trap new contaminants passing through. Therefore, those contaminants remain in the air supply and move dorsum into your home where they cause allergy symptoms, respiratory issues, bodily irritations, and dirtier surfaces no matter how frequently y'all clean!

Never Forget Another Filter Alter!

Irresolute furnace filters is so very important, non just for your HVAC system but for your household. It'south all also easy to skip a filter alter when your HVAC equipment is tucked away out of sight, only this important task must exist fabricated a priority.

It's smart to bank check your filter monthly to assess its condition. Sometimes, your system may require changing furnace filters early, but it's difficult to tell if y'all never look for yourself! Take a peek at the filter once a month and replace it when you find its surface media is completely covered in contaminants.

Considering changing furnace filters is so of import, here are a few strategies to help ensure you recall to perform this essential home maintenance job.

Mark monthly filter checks as well as changes at the appropriate interval on your wall calendar or inside your mean solar day planner.

If you prefer your smartphone's agenda app, schedule reminders with an alarm that sounds to catch your attention.

Link checking and changing furnace filters with other important tasks you complete each month. As the filter'south condition can impact how much free energy the system consumes, check it when you pay your monthly utility bill! Do non file that beak away until you bank check or change your filter.

Thomas & Galbraith Delivers the Care Your HVAC Organization Needs

Irresolute furnace filters on a regular basis has great impacts on home comfort and indoor air quality, likewise every bit the performance, energy efficiency, and longevity of your HVAC arrangement. Ensure your condolement organization receives the professional intendance it needs – maintenance tune ups remove debris and takes care of filter changes. If the impairment of a muddy filter has already been washed, our skilled technicians work to counteract the issue to restore operation.

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