AC filter

[thestinker]

Hola compadres-

How often do ya'll cahnge your filter on your central AC units / forced air furnaces. I use the pleated filters that are suposed to be good for like 3 months...but they look pretty grimey after 1 month. Whats ya'lls take on change out time.

[bhornberger]

I change mine once a month. Esp when I'm working on the house. I tend to just buy a few cases of the 75 cent filters.

[Pappy]

I change mine monthly and use filters that I get from an air filtration company that used to be on my route. Not sure what they are called but they are white on one side and green on the other, with the green side being treated. A piece of hardware cloth is fitted to the return vent frames so the filter just sits in place. Just bought 24 filters (1 year supply) for $45.

My vents are 18" x 20" which is an odd size and hard to find.

[maxparot]

I use a permenant electrostatic filter for the AC and clean it every other month. It just takes a quick hosing and then let it dry. To really filter the air I use 2 Ionic Pro filters and a large Honeywell Hepa filter.

[thestinker]

Do those Ionic filters help eliminate dust in the house? We are pretty thoruogh with our cleaning, but It just seems like the house is getting dusty faster than it use to.

[Russianwolf]

We bought an Ionic Breeze. They work. I'm constantly amazed at how much STUFF that thing collects. (you see the accumulation everytime you wipe the grid clean).

We will be buying more of these. No filter to change.


The AC unit's filter gets changed about once per month, but only during the cooling season as we have baseboard heat. I use the inexpensive pleated filters since they seem to do better than the spun fiberglass. I am thinking of switching to the Filtrete filters since they collect down to 3 microns, but they are more expensive.

[bfrikken]

I try to change mine at least twice a year. Last year I thought I was a good boy and did it four times. But seeing some change it every month has me calling my wife to remind me what size i need.

I tend to just buy the cheapest furnace filter i can get. However, i also will buy one if i see a good sale on a pricey one.

[maxparot]

Do those Ionic filters help eliminate dust in the house? We are pretty thoruogh with our cleaning, but It just seems like the house is getting dusty faster than it use to.

Ionic filters work in 2 ways:
first the air traveling through the filter is cleaned that is the stuff you clean off the grid once every 4-7 days.
Next because of the ionic charge put into the air particles in the air are made heavier and attracted to ground. This mades all your furniture and floors look dirty but your air is much cleaner and healthier.

Because of the drop out of particles it is necessary to dust and vacuum regularly. I use a hepa vacuum after a few weeks your home should be a lot cleaner. What you'll notice after that is the dust is in direct relation to the amount of traffic and open windows/doors in your house. But I don't see floating dust in the air of my home anymore.

[Russianwolf]

Ionic filters work in 2 ways:
first the air traveling through the filter is cleaned that is the stuff you clean off the grid once every 4-7 days.
Next because of the ionic charge put into the air particles in the air are made heavier and attracted to ground. This mades all your furniture and floors look dirty but your air is much cleaner and healthier.

Because of the drop out of particles it is necessary to dust and vacuum regularly. I use a hepa vacuum after a few weeks your home should be a lot cleaner. What you'll notice after that is the dust is in direct relation to the amount of traffic and open windows/doors in your house. But I don't see floating dust in the air of my home anymore.

And the one we got has a UV light that kills germs as they float thruogh also. so 3 ways clean

[Tom Slick]

if you are using cheapy fiberglass filters you need to change them every month. if you don't then you are allowing your system to get dirty, which costs more then it's lifetime of expensive filters. if you use high effeciency pleated filters you can go 3 months no problem, I go 6 but my area isn't dusty and the filters stay clean a long time.
do you have/use a fireplace? the soot from the fireplace will make the filters dirty looking very quickly but doesn't affect filtering.

[thestinker]

No, we don't have a fire place so thats gone. It has been real dry here, I don't know if that has anythig to do with it or not. Now the only descisiont to make is which ionic filter to get. We have a hepa vacume so with any kind of luck this will help some.

[Russianwolf]

I did some looking last night and found out that Sharper Image sells their refurb units on Ebay at a pretty hefty discount. $165-$220 for the top of the line models as opposed to $550 new.

Another thing, you say it's pretty dry in your house. A humidifier could help also. They aren't as effective in making the dust fall out of the air as the Ionics I don't think but they help, and they also help with heating and cooling bills.