Furnace Filter Facts!

Now that that we have fired up the furnaces for the upcoming hibernation, I mean winter season, you may have noticed you are sneezing more, have to dust more often or have mysteriously dirty heat vents. Wait a second! When did you last change the furnace filter? If it has been longer than a month, you’d better head down to the basement or utility room to switch that old moldy filter our for a nice fresh one.

Replacing furnace filters on a regular basis (at least once a month) helps you clear allergens from the heating system instead of circulating them through the duct work and blowing them into the rooms. While the filters don’t catch all the dust and pet dander blowing around, they do get a lot of it, especially if you replace them frequently.

We prefer to look for quality before price when I buy filters. Some of them are really cheap to buy, but they’re also made more cheaply and don’t seem to filter as well. Before you run out and buy a whole case of the size that fits your furnace, buy a few different types and see which one seems to get your air cleaner. If you don’t want to do that, try buying a really good filter along with the cheaper ones you want to get in bulk. Run the furnace for a few days with a new cheap filter and then switch it out with the good filter and let the furnace run a few more weeks with the good filter on it. Hopefully, the better filter will catch some of the finer allergens in your heating system and help make your air cleaner than if you use the cheaper filters alone.