Heating > Heating Air Filters
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Heating Air Filters
Catching the dirt 24/7.
If you have a forced-air furnace or a heat pump, it is essential to regularly clean or replace your filters. A clean filter promotes your health by improving your home’s air quality. It also allows your furnace to run more efficiently, which can save money on energy bills and help avoid costly repair or replacement.
Depending upon where you live, you’ll want to replace your air filters or clean reusable filters at least four times a year or as often as every month. Remember, with filters you get what you pay for. So spring for the good ones. Keeping dust and dirt out your system is critical to a system’s well being.
Choosing the right filter. There are a number of common filter options available. The right one for you depends on your family’s sensitivity to airborne particles:
- Disposable fiberglass filters are the least expensive – and also the least effective, designed to block only large dust and dirt particles to protect your furnace. Smaller particles, like pollen and mold, pass right through.
- Washable "electrostatic" filters have a static charge that attracts dust, dirt and other matter. These filters are slightly more effective than disposable, but still block only 15 to 20% of airborne particles.
- Pleated "allergy" filters use a much denser mesh material to trap particles. The pleats increase the surface area, eliminating large allergens like pollen and mold – most are 35 to 50% efficient.
- Electronic air cleaners use electrodes to create an ionized electrical field that "magnetizes" pollutant particles and collects them on the filter material. An electronic unit can eliminate virtually all pollen and mold spores, up to 94% of smaller particles, and even up to 80% of airborne viruses.
- HEPA furnace filters, which stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air filters, are the "gold standard." These filters are used in commercial applications like hospitals, research facilities and electronics manufacturing where clean air is vital. HEPA filters not only block air particles, but also air flow, so they’re not recommended for residential use.
If allergies and respiratory problems aren’t a concern for your family, a disposable or washable filter can be enough to keep your furnace clean. But it’s important to change or clean the filter every month – remember that dust and dirt are the cause of half the repair calls to service technicians.
Contact your local ARS®/Rescue Rooter® heating and air conditioning specialist today to order the right filter for your HVAC system.
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