Furnace Filter Friday: The Dirt On Expensive Furnace Filters
It's the first Friday in August so that means it's Furnace Filter Friday on this site.
Thanks to Reuben Saltzman in Minnealpolis Minnesota for allowing his post, "The Dirt on Expensive Furnace Filters" to be Re-Blogged.
I could be wrong but I believe the first Furnace Friday post was a year ago, I did not realize it was Furnace Filter Friday yet, at some point I realized unless I did a post every Friday about furnaces I would be writing the post reminding home owners to change their furnace filter about Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week. Every Friday is Furnace Friday on this site, the first Friday of the month is Furnace Filter Friday, a reminder to change your furnace filter monthly. Every Friday is Furnace Friday or HVAC Friday anyway... sometimes I've done air conditioning. Your AC needs the furnace filter clean to operate efficiently.
Furnace Filter Friday: a baker's dozen with today's post....
- Furnace Filter Friday - July 2011
- How to use air conditioning efficiently - June 2011
- The origins of the modern furnace - May 2011
- Furnace Filter Friday - April 2011
- Seasonal Maintenance - March 2011
- Just a Reminder - February 2011
- I Almost Forgot - January 2011
- Furnace Maintenance is year round - December 2010
- Duct Cleaning - November 2010
- A Poll - October 2010
- A Reminder- September 2010
- A Mystery - August 2010
Should you buy an expensive furnace filter? See what Reuben a home inspector says about it.
Are super expensive furnace filters really worth the extra money?
The main job of a furnace filter is to keep big stuff from getting in to the furnace's heat exchanger or the air conditioner's air coil and clogging things up with dust, pet hair, and other big stuff. They're not intended to purify the air you breathe. Furnace filters protect equipment; not people.
Manufacturers of furnace filters would have you believe otherwise (big surprise). The most expensive disposable filters that I commonly see are the Best 1" Air Filters made by 3M. These filters are marketed as being able to
"help attract and capture allergens from the air passing through the filter including mold spores, pollen, pet dander, dust, smoke, smog particles and particles that carry bacteria and viruses."
Sure. I'll buy that. I'm sure these filters do a great job of preventing all those things from passing through the filter. There is no claim made, even by 3M, to improve indoor air quality. Up until recently, these filters were sold as "Ultra Allergen" filters, but they've recently changed their wording. I don't know when this change happened, but I'm sure it was quite recent - you can still purchase "Ultra Allergen" filters on Amazon.
If you want to improve indoor air quality, try something else. Expensive furnace filters have been proven to have a very small effect on indoor air quality. There is plenty of anecdotalevidence out there that says expensive filters will solve all of your indoor air quality problems, but I haven't been able to find a single study backing these claims.
The problem with expensive furnace filters is the amount of air flow that gets restricted when they get dirty. As I mentioned in my blog about the importance of changing your furnace filter, reduced air flow can actually lead to premature failure of your furnace, besides costing you more in heating bills. This can also lead to service calls on your furnace. Furnaces come equipped with heat sensors that will shut the furnace down if the heat exchanger gets too hot, and the main cause of this is insufficient air flow.
At my own house, I use a cheap pleated filter. It's reinforced with steel wire on one side and will last for up to 90 days. I have a German Shepherd (Stanley) who sheds like crazy, so I change my filter a little more often - about once every 60 days. I don't like the super-cheap fiberglass filters because they seem to let too much stuff through, and I'm concerned that the air coil would get gunked up with all that dust that would still come through.
My recommendation is to skip those super-expensive furnace filters. I think they're a waste of money.
Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Maple Grove Home Inspections
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