Understanding Air Handler Filters

How to keep your indoor air fresh: understanding air handler filters

We already discussed a couple of key components of an air handler. But, the component that we haven’t discussed yet is your filter. Before your conditioned or heated air enters your ductwork, it must pass through a filter to make sure it is the highest quality possible. Here are five things you should know about air handler filters:

1. Filters can be either permanent or disposable. With a permanent filter, you are going to have to remove it and take it outside to clean it. With a disposable filter, you will just buy the right size filter and substitute one for another when the old filter becomes too dirty.
2. Air filters heavily impact the quality of your indoor air. A dirty air filter will lower the quality of your indoor air – it can even lead to an increase of dust throughout your home.
3. The filter in your air handler must be changed regularly – at the very least once before the heating season and again before the cooling season. However, there are many factors that may necessitate the need for changes more frequently. For example, if you have pets, you’ll have to change your filter more frequently.
4. Filters come in different sizes and filtration powers. The greater the filtration power, the more particles the filter is going to be able to remove from your indoor air.
5. Some filters are going to be harder to change than others. For example, if your filter is actually located inside of your air handler, you may want to consider calling a contractor instead of changing/cleaning the filter yourself.

Have more questions about your air handler? Get in touch with your local HVAC contractor. So, have you been diligent about your filter changes? Have you ever encountered an issue with your HVAC system that was solved with a simple filter change?  

Like this post? Share it!