Filters! Every home's "dirty little secret"

The one thing that most homes have and the one thing most of us forget. Our air filter. What can you do to ensure your family and your home is safe.

The Good, the Bad, and the Dirty(ugly).

Air Filters (disposable or reusable) keep our homes cleaner, they help our homes to be healthier, they keep our heating and cooling equipment running properly. But they can also be responsible for making our home dirty, making our home unhealthy, it can negatively impact our utility expenses, and can destroy our furnaces and air conditioners. Our Heating and Cooling system air filter can have a massive impact on all four of these commonly seen issues in homes and commercial buildings.

Regardless of what type of filter you decide is best for you, the most important thing is don't forget about it. Otherwise, it plugs up, which can severely reduce airflow in your system. In the short term, the problems caused are: Your air quality will be compromised leading to an unhealthy air environment for you and your family, your system will struggle to keep up with heating and cooling the home and you'll see much higher utility bills. In the long term, much more serious issues develop. Plugged filters can cause excessive heat build up in furnaces, leading to internal damage of equipment and in the case of gas furnaces it can even cause the cracking of heat exchanger surfaces which leads to carbon monoxide release into living spaces. With AC units and Heat Pumps clogged filters can quickly cause compressor failures, which lead to extremely high repair bills for the building owner.

What to do: First of all know what type of filter you have in your system. Disposable or Reusable.

Most home and commercial buildings HVAC systems have a disposable pleated type filter. They vary from 1" thick up to 13" in thickness, as well as many different dimensional sizes(like 14"x25" or 20"x25") and are designed to be thrown away after a number of months. Typically the thinner they are the more often they need to be replaced. Some systems have reusable or washable type filters. They have benefits but usually require more maintenance than disposable type filters.

If you have disposable type filters the most common thickness is 1", it's what most installing contractors set the system up with and what many manufactures use as a standard in their built in filter racks(what holds the filter in place on the furnace). It also matters what type of material the filter is made of. There are mesh and pleated style filters on the market, with pleated being the better grade of material. The pleated material itself has a better filtration ability over mess style, but it's actually the pleat design that makes this style filter even better than mesh. The pleats give the filter much more surface area, which keeps the velocity of the air lower as it passes through the filter, thus giving it a much better chance of grabbing the dirt particles that are in the air flow. Here is where we get a bit techy about this type of filter...Disposable filters have a MERV rating. MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value. Its an engineering scale from 1 to 16 to measure how effective the filter is at capturing airborne particles. But a high number isn't always the best thing. While a MERV 13-16 filter will capture a super fine particles, they also plug up very quickly, and even when they are new and clean, the tend to cause a large restriction on the airflow of the system. So unless your system is designed for these high MERV rated filters it's usually best to avoid them. Most homes and commercial buildings do fine with MERV 8-11 rated filters. If you don't know what to do, see your heating and cooling service expert to help you decide which is best.

The other type of filter is a reusable/washable type filter, these can be just a stand alone filter or be part of an electronic air cleaner system.

The stand alone washable filters: They offer the benefit of little to no replacement cost over the life of your system, and many are rated in the middle of the MERV scale so they make a good option for homes, the drawback is they need regular washing(usually monthly) that is beyond just a spritz down with a garden hose. Usually getting the best cleaning of them requires at least a large tub of hot soapy water to soak them in or a chemical rinse to clean them properly. Even with regular cleaning they can lose their efficiency over the years and need to be replaced.

Electronic Air Cleaners: These can be among the highest efficiency filters on the market that don't restrict airflow in the system if installed correctly. You'll need to hire a contractor to put this type of filter system on your system, as it usually takes ductwork modification to match it up to your system, and they also require electricity to be run to them. These filter systems are good at dealing with cigarette smoke and can help to rid the home of odors, along with more difficult pollutants in the home. Most typically produce a small amount of ozone, which destroys many airborne pathogens and bad organic material that you don't want floating around in your home. The drawbacks to this air filter system is the upfront cost, and the regular maintenance that is more intensive to keep them clean and operating at peak efficiency.

Bottom line. No matter the air filter you use in your home or building, the number one thing, is don't forget about it. Your system will thank you, your family's health will thank you and your pocketbook with thank you.