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How Often Should You Change Your Furnace Filter

Changing the air filter in your furnace is the best way to not only improve the air quality in the home, but it will also help extend the life of your furnace as well. When a dirty filter is left in the furnace too long, air is more difficult to push through. This means the components of the furnace need to work much harder to maintain the desired interior temperature. Understanding how often should you change your furnace filter will reduce the strain on the system and keep the home air quality at safe levels.

Check the Filter Type
There are a variety of different style air filters that will adequately fit your specific furnace. The thinner the air filter, the more frequently that you are going to change it. So it might save you money today getting a thinner one, but you change it much more than the thicker style. Consider the following; a filter with one inch pleats should be changed once a month whereas a filter with three inch pleats should be changed every three months. This rule of thumb is good for all brand filters.

Understanding Your Environment
If you have animals living in your home, then you have pet dander as well. If anyone in the home smokes, you have more contaminated air in the home. If you live near a location where construction is taking place frequently, airborne contaminants are getting into your home easily each day. For these reasons and more you should consider changing your filter at least once a month regardless the brand or style of air filter. Those particles clog a filter very quickly, making it difficult for the furnace to run efficiently.

The Visual Inspection
It only takes a few minutes to turn off the furnace at the breaker box and inspect your air filter. Make it a habit no matter what the conditions in the home to inspect the air filter at least once a month and then replace no later than every three months. By removing a filter clogged with bacteria, family members with respiratory issues will breathe much easier each day. The new air filter ensures the furnace is running more efficiently and this will actually lessen your energy bills.

While many high-end air filters for the furnace are designed to remove all airborne contaminants and need only be replaced a few times a year, it is in your best interest to inspect it monthly. Exterior conditions could cause a rise in airborne contaminants making their way in the home, and each month your furnace is working twice as hard to maintain interior temperatures. Take the time to check the condition of the air filter at least once a month and your furnace will run more efficiently throughout the entire year.