If you have pets at home, it is recommended that you change your air filter every 60 days or two months. For households with multiple pets or people with allergies or respiratory conditions, the filter should be changed every 20 to 45 days. Air filters and oven filters should be checked at least once a month and replaced if they are dirty. To determine if the filter needs to be changed, hold it close to a light source and if you can't see the light through the filter, it's time to replace it.
As a general rule, it's a good idea to replace your HVAC system's air filter every month. However, several factors can affect this time. For example, in Florida, during the warmer months of the year, you may use your cooling system more often than during mild winters. During these times, you may benefit from replacing your filters every few weeks instead of every month.
Fiberglass filters should be changed every 30 days while pleated filters can last three to six months. An HVAC filter will only last one to three months on average, so it is important to keep track of the date you installed them. If you wait too long to change the filter, indoor air quality will be affected. Thicker filters have more room to collect dirt and dust, so they don't need to be changed as often; Thomas & Galbraith Heating, Cooling and Plumbing of Ohio recommends replacing filters that are less than 2 inches thick every 30 to 90 days while three- or 4-inch filters can last 6 to 9 months and filters up to 6 inches thick can be replaced once a year.
Changing your air filter regularly is one of the most important things you can do on your own to take good care of your air conditioning system. The basic consensus among HVAC professionals is that you should replace your furnace filter every 90 days or every three months. The air quality where you live can also affect how often your oven filter needs to be changed; if yes, it should be changed every 6 weeks. When the air filter is clogged, the HVAC unit requires a lot of extra work to circulate fresh air throughout the house; additional work requires more electricity.
A collapsed air filter can get stuck in the fan or create a large gap, causing air to float around the filter without leaking out. To determine if your air filter has trapped more than enough dirt and requires a change, hold it close to a light source and if you can't see the light through the filter, it's time to replace it. In addition to filtering particles filtered by MERV 8 and 11, MERV 13 can filter kitchen smoke, smog and virus carriers. Larger homes have large volumes of air circulating everywhere, which means that the filter may need to be changed more frequently.
