The concern of air pollution is increasing day by day. It is an essential thing nowadays to protect yourself from dust outdoors and indoors as well. In fact, polluted air indoors is more dangerous as it gets trapped in your house and circulates in the same space than outdoors air. Every place has HVAC with an air filter to assure your protection against air pollution. The air filter does not last forever; cleaning and changing the air filter is as essential as having it in your home.
We usually come across a general question while talking about air filters. That is, how often should we change our air filter? In this article, we will guide you all about air filters in detail. We will discuss the air filters’ maintenance and the benefits of changing your Air filter on time.
How Often To Change Air Filter
The question is a bit complicated and has no exact answer. The time to change your air filter depends on multiple factors. It can be your house design, the place you live in, whether it is highly polluted or less polluted, your health conditions, and your air filter quality. Let’s look into them in detail.
Quality Of Air Filter
When you have to change your air filter, the best suggestion is to change it after 30 days if you have a cheap fiberglass air filter. You can prolong the air filter usage period to 6 months if it’s for highly qualified fiberglass. The cheap fiberglass air filter will get dirty quickly. That’s why keep a check on your air filter and when you feel dust around your house, that’s the sign to get up and change the air filter right away.
Health Issues
The other primary reason to change your air filter on time is your health condition. If you are an asthma patient or have allergies, you must be prone to dust irritation. The polluted air can worsen your condition. First of all, use a high-end fiberglass air filter and then try to change it as frequently as possible. You should change the air filter after every 3 to 4 weeks to have a stable health condition.
Pets
If you have pets at home, that means that you will have more fur and dust circulating your house, which can block the air filter easily. That means that if you don’t change your contaminated air filter on time, it will stop the airflow, and instead of purifying the air, it will make the situation worse. That is why you need to be extra careful and check the air filter on time and change it as frequently as possible. The recommended time to change it is after every 60 days and if you have more than 2 or 3 pets, then change it after 20 to 45 days.
House Condition
The air filter lifespan also depends on how much the house is occupied. If the home is being used regularly with many family members, there’s a lot of human activity that results in more contamination. And the more contamination means the death of Air filters, so you need to change it after six months casually.
However, if your house is primarily vacant across the year and you visit it for vacation, there is less contamination in the air due to the absence of human activities. The air filter can last longer; you do not have to change it that frequently.
When To Change Your Air Filter?
The next question that arises is how to know that it is time to change your air filter? The first thing you can do is check how much air is accommodated in the air filter. If there is a thin layer of dirt above the filter and you feel like the air will be able to pass through it, then it’s normal. But if the filter has a very thick layer of dust covering the filter’s surface and there isn’t even a single space left for the air to pass through. Then it is the right time that you change it and let the air get purified through it.
Benefits of Changing Air Filter
Saves You From Bigger Disasters
Changing the air filter on time obviously has some great benefits. When you use an air filter for a longer time, it accommodates a lot of dust, fur, and dirt. Which blocks the filter, which means the HVAC has to put extra work which can break down the system. So it’s better to change the air filter than to change the whole machine afterward.
Ensure Good Health
The second significant benefit of changing air filters frequently is good health. Dust is hazardous for our respiratory system. Having pure air around your house will ensure you better and perfect health. Especially if you already suffer from asthma and allergies then changing the air filter must be your priority.
Save Electricity
The other advantage you get by changing your air filter is a decrease in electricity use. As mentioned above, clogged HVAC air filters will put the machine under extra work, which will use excess electricity—that’s why a clean air filter is essential, which will filter the air with ease.
It’s one of the most important things you should know along with many others before buying an air purifier.
Related Guide: Air Purifiers for Dust
FAQs
What happens if you don’t change your air filter?
If you don’t change your air filter, all the dirt and dust trapped in it will affect the whole system, so why pay more for the system repair than changing an inexpensive air filter. It will also do no job of air-purifying; instead will cause more troubles. Also, the system will consume more electricity.
Can you clean and reuse an air filter?
It depends on the kind of filter you use; some filters are disposable, so they might get damaged after washing them. However, if you have a good quality filter, you can clean them and reuse them. Filters are generally very inexpensive, so it’s good to replace them.
Summarizing It Up
After reading the article, you must have realized how essential it is to change the air filter before it’s overdue. Keep track of the time and know when the best time to change your filter. I hope you must have understood that after this article. Change your Air filter on time and enjoy the best of it.