Any change in season is an excellent opportunity to replace your home’s HVAC air filter. Depending upon the amount of dust and pollution in your air — such as pet hair or tobacco smoke — you should change your air filter every one to three months.
It’s always the ideal time to consider HVAC repair and maintenance for your home in Champaign, IL. Before switching to heat during the colder months, make sure your unit is in good operating order and that you’re enjoying great indoor air quality. There are numerous advantages to replacing your air filter regularly.
Stay ahead of home maintenance problems with fresh and well-operating air filters to help keep your home from falling into disorder. In this article, you’ll learn about why it’s important to focus on filter replacement, duct cleaning, and general HVAC services.
Improved Temperature Control
The important to properly maintain your HVAC filters to help improve the temperature control throughout your home. When you change your air filters regularly, your HVAC system operates more efficiently while providing the proper amount of heated or cooled air.
When the air filters are fresh, and air flows freely through your unit, it can better manage your home’s internal temperature. When you pair high-quality air filtration with a smart thermostat, you can achieve your preferred temperature while saving money on energy. Together they provide a clever way to manage your household expenses.
Less Need for Repairs
You can avoid unwanted harm to your HVAC system by performing routine maintenance and cleaning your air filters. Preventing damage also means avoiding expensive repairs.
Some of the most typical repair issues we encounter that stem from expired filters include the system not sustaining the correct temperature, excessive power bills, strange noises in the system, and foul odors.
A filthy or old air filter can amplify all of these issues. Any HVAC professional can install, change, and replace air cleaners to help get rid of all of these issues and can further protect your system with complete air duct cleaning.
Better Indoor Air Quality
The air quality in your Champaign, IL, home is directly influenced by the condition of your HVAC air filter. The air filter’s primary function is to clean the air that flows through your HVAC system.
An air filter is made up of fibers, most of which are composed of fiberglass, that capture the contaminants in your home’s air. Pollen, dirt, dust, mold spores, dog hair, germs, bacteria, and other contaminants are all common pollutants that get trapped in air cleaners.
Keeping Your Family Healthier
Not only do dirty air filters not do a good job of cleaning the air in your home, but they let all of those unpleasant particles end up in your HVAC system. Regularly changing your air filter removes the filth and bacteria trapped in the old filter, permitting the air to be cleaned more effectively as it moves through the new filter.
Furthermore, studies suggest that indoor air quality is worse than outdoor air quality, even though most people spend the vast majority of their time inside. All of that polluted air can cause health problems such as asthma, allergies, migraines, and even chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease.
Change your air filters and focus on regular air duct cleaning to keep your family healthy.
Greater Energy-Efficiency
Clean air filters not only enhance the quality of the air in your house but also help you save money on electricity.
Your HVAC system will have to work harder to pump air throughout the system if your air filters are clogged or unclean. As a result, more energy is consumed, resulting in higher energy costs. Replacing your air filters can pay for itself in terms of energy savings.
You benefit the environment and your wallet when you integrate an energy-efficient HVAC system with high-quality air filters that are changed regularly. Replace your air filters as needed instead of throwing money away.
What Happens if I Don’t Change the HVAC Filter?
The last thing you want is for your furnace filter to become seriously clogged. Depending on the type of filter you have, whether you have pets in the house, and how frequently your furnace runs, you should replace the filter every 4 to 12 weeks.
What happens if you don’t change your furnace filter, and why is it necessary?
Poor Air Quality
The air filter’s job is to trap dust, pet hair, and other pollutants in your house and limit their dispersion throughout your ductwork. Having air pass through a dirty filter will increase these allergens rather than diminish them, causing undesirable effects for those who live in your house.
As mentioned earlier, the air outside your home is frequently cleaner than the air inside. This consideration is especially alarming for those in Champaign, IL, who currently live in places with poor air quality or who suffer from allergies or breathing problems.
Costly Malfunctions
If the air filter isn’t changed frequently enough, it will become congested, and air will be unable to pass smoothly through it.
When the furnace is turned on, the lack of circulation causes the heat to be trapped in the system. The limit switch will trigger and shut down the furnace if the heat inside the unit keeps going up as part of an automated safeguard to prevent it from overheating.
This shutdown will temporarily alleviate the situation, but it will not solve the underlying issue. The furnace will overheat each time it starts up again if it doesn’t have a new air filter installed. In the industry, this is something we call “short cycling.”
With this reduction in airflow, dirty furnace filters make your furnace work much harder than it should. The more you use your furnace, the faster its parts will deteriorate over time and need to be replaced.
Using a dirty filter will reduce the life of your HVAC equipment in the long run. It’s essential to change filters and pair them with duct cleaning services to prevent this from happening in the first place.
How Often Should I Change My Air Filter?
The type of filter you use has the greatest impact on how often you should change it. Fiberglass air filters and pleated air filters are the two main types of filters available. Although both varieties are disposable, there are a few key differences between them.
Fiberglass air filters are less expensive than metal air filters, but they are less likely to catch dust and airborne particles. They should be replaced every 30 days or fewer in most cases.
Pleated air filters are more costly at first, but they are more effective at catching pollutants and can last for up to 90 days, based on usage.
The size of your home plays an important role in determining how often you should change your filters. Larger homes, for example, have larger furnaces and air conditioners that circulate more air.
As a result, the filter may become dirtier faster, necessitating more frequent replacement. Because the HVAC system has to move less air in smaller homes, air filter replacements are required less frequently.
Many people enjoy having pets in their homes, but our four-legged family members do have an effect on indoor air quality. They bring in dirt, pollen, mildew, and other pollutants from outside, releasing pet hair and allergens into the air. Check your air filter once a month if you have one or more animals, and replace it when it gets clogged.
HVAC Services and Repairs
Castle Home Comfort Heating & Cooling is here to help when anything goes wrong with your HVAC system. Our trusted team of knowledgeable professionals can keep your home systems running smoothly and prevent issues from arising in the first place. Give us a call if you have questions or require our top-notch services!