How To Check Furnace Filter

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

Cincinnati homes require regular upkeep and maintenance throughout the year. Changing furnace filters is 1 critical task that is oft skipped – to the detriment of your comfort and the functioning of your abode'southward heating and cooling equipment! With a dirty filter in identify, you risk compromising your comfort, energy costs, and HVAC system

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

From heating and cooling system maintenance that ensures a make clean filter to HVAC repair that counteracts the problems acquired by a muddy one, we provide the services you need for a comfortable home yr-circular. 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 aye, it does do that, that's non exactly its job – despite what nigh people believe.

The primary 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 organization. Nonetheless, because the filter removes contaminants for the system's benefit, air quality as well benefits from their removal.

How Often Is Irresolute Furnace Filters Necessary?

Changing furnace filters is a job that's frequency varies from ane house to the next. How often this task needs to be performed is profoundly dependent on the blazon of furnace filter in place. If you have a top down the filter replacement aisle at your favorite hardware store, yous'll run into in that location are a lot of options to choose from – lots of different filter types to impact changing frequency.

Irresolute furnace filters needs to be completed every month to every twelvemonth – just similar there is a great range of filters, in that location's a pretty wide range to how oftentimes they need to be replaced. Luckily, irresolute furnace filters doesn't depend on a judge. The filter's manufacturer provides the recommended replacement frequency inside the production data that's included when you lot 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 have more media available to capture contaminants, so a 5-inch filter requires less frequent changes than a 1-inch filter. Filter efficiency also 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 exist done:

For ane- to two-inch filters, supervene upon them every 1 to 3 months
For 3- to 4-inch filters, replace them every 6 to nine months
For 5- to 6-inch filters, supercede them every 9 to 12 months

More than Factors that Touch on Frequency of Changing Furnace Filters

Equally nosotros mentioned, size and efficiency are two attributes that bear upon the frequency changing furnace filters is performed. In addition, at that place are various factors specific to your Cincinnati surface area household that accept a greater bear upon on how ofttimes 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 basis than homes with just one or ii occupants. People innovate many contaminants to the habitation environment, so the more people there are in your home, the more contaminants there 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 up past airflow and circulated throughout the abode by the HVAC system. For every furry 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 problems nowadays in the home, your furnace filter isn't going to last as long every bit it does in a habitation with good indoor air quality. Indoor air quality equipment like air purifiers and air cleaners reduce contaminant book and then there's fewer particles for your furnace filter to capture – in homes without this equipment, the furnace filter is the only line of defense against airborne contaminants, and then the filter fills upwardly faster.

Allergies

If members of your household suffer from allergies or asthma, irresolute furnace filters should be done on a more frequent basis. Doing so 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, so the filter has more opportunities to selection up contaminants and become chock-full. In the summer and wintertime, homeowners are typically changing furnace filters more oftentimes than they are in the fall and bound.

Dirty Furnace Filter Disasters

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

HVAC System Damage

Heating and cooling equipment like furnaces and air handlers are filled with many delicate components. Without filtration, airborne dust, dirt, and other droppings enters the various chambers of the unit and settles on its components. Contaminants accumulate and worsen the performance of the equipment, even causing damage to components.
When filters are clogged but the HVAC system continues to run, air doesn't motility through the organization properly. With the muddied filter blocking its path, heating and cooling equipment expends more than energy to push air along. This extra piece of work stresses the organization's components, using more energy and damaging equipment.
Airflow blockage caused by a dingy filter raises the temperature within the HVAC equipment, causing information technology to overheat. Later on information technology cools, information technology starts support again, but the problem persists – this is an upshot known equally short-cycling, and muddied filters are the most common cause. Short-cycling leads to HVAC system impairment that requires repair and early on total arrangement failures, in improver to excess energy consumption, higher utility bills, and diminished indoor comfort.
Every bit contaminants menstruation through the HVAC organisation due to a muddy filter, they collect within the condensate drainage components and clogs form. Clogs finish condensate from draining out of the dwelling house, and information technology 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. Information technology becomes hard to maintain comfort levels and homeowners oft notice hot and cold spots.
When the filter is covered in contaminants, there is no more surface area left to trap new contaminants passing through. Therefore, those contaminants remain in the air supply and move back into your dwelling house where they cause allergy symptoms, respiratory issues, bodily irritations, and dirtier surfaces no matter how frequently you clean!

Never Forget Some other Filter Change!

Changing furnace filters is so very important, non just for your HVAC system simply for your household. It'south all too like shooting fish in a barrel to skip a filter change when your HVAC equipment is tucked abroad out of sight, but this of import job must exist made a priority.

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

Because changing furnace filters is and then of import, here are a few strategies to assist ensure y'all call back to perform this essential dwelling maintenance task.

Marker monthly filter checks as well every bit changes at the appropriate interval on your wall calendar or within your day planner.

If you lot 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 of import tasks you complete each month. As the filter's condition tin impact how much energy the organisation consumes, check information technology when y'all pay your monthly utility beak! Practise not file that bill abroad until you bank check or modify your filter.

Thomas & Galbraith Delivers the Care Your HVAC System Needs

Changing furnace filters on a regular basis has great impacts on home comfort and indoor air quality, too every bit the performance, energy efficiency, and longevity of your HVAC system. Ensure your comfort system receives the professional person care information technology needs – maintenance tune ups remove droppings and takes care of filter changes. If the damage of a dirty filter has already been washed, our skilled technicians piece of work to counteract the issue to restore performance.

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