air filters:the first line of defense

Air filters are the cleaning agents of any HVAC system. They are the first line of defense against bacteria, viruses, even smoke from outdoor fires. It is important to change your air filter at a minimum every 6 months. It would be even better, if done every 3 months to insure the cleanest possible air to your home. Time and time again, I’ve seen homeowners who don’t bother changing out there air filter, or only change it when they call a tech out for repair. In this article, I want to go over 3 major points to consider when we’re talking about air filters: the main reason we use air filters, the consequences of not maintaining your air filter, and how to pick an air filter.

What does an air filter do? Why do we even have them?

Air filters are located on the return of every system. They catch all the dirt, bacteria, and even viruses that get sucked up by your HVAC system. Instead of your system taking all that nasty air, and tossing it all over your home, it traps it all inside of itself to make sure that only the cleanest air possible can be distributed. Not only do they help with clean air, but they also help with the maintenance for your system. Every system has an evaporator inside that is what helps create cold air when you ask for air conditioning. If the filter has reached its max capacity of filtering, that dirt will start to seep through the filter, and begin collecting on your evaporator. If the evaporator gets clogged with all the dirt that your filter can no longer catch, then you won’t get any more cold air. The evaporator needs to be free, and clean of any dirt to be able to do its job, so does the heater part of your system. If the filter doesn’t get routinely changed, or washed, depending on what type of filter you buy, then your system will begin to stop working correctly when you need it. This would cost a lot of money to have someone come out, take a part your system, and clean everything when all you had to do was change your filter to help prevent the build up.

What’ll happen if I don’t change my filter often? What’s the worst that could happen?

Well as mentioned before, the system would stop working. Not immediately, but at some point in time there will be enough gunk built up on the unit, that it’ll stop doing its job of heating and cooling. Another problem you’ll encounter is that the unit will be trying, so hard to suck in air past a clogged filter, that it’ll collapse the entire filter, and break it. The system needs to be able to breathe; imagine trying to breathe through your mouth with a paper towel covering it. Your mouth would create so much suction force that the paper towel will want to get sucked in until you can manage to get a decent amount of air going past it. This also can lead to creating, so much negative pressure that your return duct can collapse in on itself, and pop off the unit. If that happens, then you’ll start pulling in air from your attic, closet, garage, or wherever your unit is located, instead of pulling in filtered air from your home.

The worst thing that could happen, that I’ve seen so far in my career, is someone who removes the filter entirely, and lets the system run without a filter. Talk about creating a serious biohazard for yourself. If you run your system without a filter because the filter was dirty, and causing you problems, you’re letting the system take all the dirty air, and spout it all over your home. This is most visible when you look at your registers, the little vents that flow the air into your rooms, and you’ll see dark streaks coming out from them. That’s your system picking up all the dirty air, and chucking it anywhere, and everywhere because there’s no filter in place to prevent that. You can even see this in restaurants, or stores; next time you’re in one, look up at the vents, and see if they have streaks coming from their vents. It’ll tell you how well maintained they keep their system.

How do I pick an air filter? There’s just so many options!

Air filters come in many different shapes, and sizes. The first thing you would want to do is pull your filter out to see if you have the correct size. Filters usually always have a designated size on them by width, height, and length. One of the most common sizes is 20x25x1, but if you don’t have a filter in place, you can take a measuring tape, and measure the size of the opening to be able to pick something that’ll fit relatively well. The next thing to decide is how much filtration you want. Filters are rated in MERVs, the scale goes from 6, 8, 11, and 13 usually for standard filtration. The higher the number, the better the filtration; there are much higher grades of MERV, but those are usually set for commercial applications such as surgical suites, and negative air isolation rooms. The highest grade MERV easily accessible to most is 13. This is what’s commonly known as a HEPA filter. MERV 13 filters stop mostly every particle you can think of: bacteria, viruses, dust mites, and mold spores just to name a few. While MERV 6 would cover just your standard dust that floats around in the air.

Picking the best option depends on what matters to you. If you take your health serious, a MERV 13 is a great option to protect yourself against contaminants in the air, of course that comes with a higher price than the regular standard filters like a MERV 6 or 8. It is more inexpensive to buy MERV 6s or 8s, but they don’t filter as well as a MERV 13 which means some dirt could get by that would clog your evaporator or heater faster than a MERV 13 would. 13s are more expensive up front, but they do prevent hefty maintenance calls later down the line a lot longer than a MERV 6 or 8. Not to mention, they protect your health far better than you think. Ultimately it comes down to picking whatever filter you feel comfortable paying for.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. I do offer a maintenance program where I come in twice a year to make sure your entire system is ready to go for summer and winter. Cleaning the evaporator, condenser, checking proper cooling/heating. That way you don’t have to deal with looking for someone to fix your system the moment something goes wrong, like a dirty filter that hasn’t been changed in a while. If you’re interested, please feel free to reach out to me, I’d be more than happy to help!

Text: (669) 696 - 7252

Email: info@nghdengs.com