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How often should I need to change my furnace/central air filter?
QUESTION:How often should I need to change my furnace/central air filter?
My furnace and central air share the same ducts. How often should I change the filter? (I use the 3M Filtrete brand).
The home inspector said once every 3 months, the guy who installed the central air said once a month.
ANSWER: The installer was correct. You need to replace the filter every month.
Air conditioning systems are very low pressure systems. That is, the air flow through the various ductwork has a very low driving force. For comparison, when you talk about pressure in a balloon, you are measuring in pounds per square inch.
In a household airconditioning system, you are talking about ounce of water pressure per square inch. This is a very small pressure drop, so dust accumlation on your filter will quickly reduce the flowrate. Two things can happen when the air filter is plugged....
The airflow across the cooling coils will become very low and the air will get very cold, causing water to drop out into the drain system. This can cause your drain system to become overwhelmed and you will get leakage out of the attic AC unit and onto your cieling.
The other thing is, it can overload your AC system and cause premature failure.
Buy the cheap whispy air filters 3 per pack and replace them every month. I use my yahoo calender to send me an email reminder automatically every month.
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