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How Often Should You Be Replacing Your Filters?

How Often Should You Be Replacing Your Filters?

Did you know that your HVAC system filters your air? To keep the air quality high in your home, you’ll need to change that filter regularly. How often you need to change it may depend on your home and your circumstances.

Things to Consider

As a general rule, you should be changing your HVAC filter about every three months. However, there any many factors to consider that may change that time frame. For example, take into account the needs of your home’s occupants. Does anyone have asthma or allergies? Are there any young children in the house? How many people are living in your home?

If you have any sort of special needs or an excessive amount of people, you’ll want to keep the air quality in your home high. Meaning you’ll need to change your filter more often—perhaps every month.

Pets and Allergies

Pets are also a big factor. If you have a pet in the house, particularly hair pets like dogs or cats you may need to change your filter more regularly as your filter will get dirty faster. Homes with multiple pets or a combination of pets and people with allergies should be changing their filter every month.

Your Home’s Needs

There are other things to consider about your house as well. For example, the size of your home can affect your air. If you have a larger than the average house, you may need to change your filter more regularly as they are cleaning more air. You should also take remember the area you live in. What is your outdoor air quality like? If the pollution outside is bad, that air running through your filters may be clogging them up faster.

On the other hand, if your home is a vacation home and is not lived in year round, it may not need a filter change as often. A vacation home without pets or people with allergies could safely go up to a year without needing a filter change.

One last thing to consider—the quality of your filter. Cheap fiberglass filters will likely not last past a month. A more mid-range filter should last around three months. A higher-end pleated filter could last up to six months.

How to Tell When Your Filter Needs Changing

Not sure when you last changed your filter? It may be time for a change. If your filter has a visible coating of dirt covering most of its surface, it’s like obscuring air from getting through. When in doubt, just go ahead and change your filter. If, however, you check your filter and see only a thin layer of dirt and the filter’s material is still visible, your filter is likely okay for a while longer.

You should be checking your filter regularly. After a few months of checking and changing your filter, you will better know the needs of your house and how often you need to change your filter.