Have you been changing your filters?
Regularly changing air-conditioning filters is one of the most overlooked items I see with renters. Most don’t realize how important it is. It will keep your house cooler, lower your energy bills, help with indoor air quality, and keep your AC’s fan and cooling coil from breaking. This is the renter’s responsibility but also something that we at Sure Arrow Properties are happy to take care of free of charge if asked.
What, Why and How
Air filters are part of every air conditioning system. Each outdoor air-conditioner unit you have, or every window unit you have, will have its own air filter that needs to be replaced or maintained. All the filters can be found inside your house near the vents that suck in air, as opposed to the ones blowing out cold/hot air.
The primary function of a filter is to remove particulate matter from the air inside the house. This is mostly to benefit the air-conditioning unit itself. If dust and debris are allowed to enter the air-conditioning unit, it will clog the many tiny gaps in the cooling coil that the air is pushed through to chill the air. If the cooling coil is allowed to clog, it will no longer cool the air sufficiently and eventually cause the entire system to break. Many times this requires the system to be replaced. As you can probably tell, this filter is essential to your air-conditioner.
The filter should also be important to you. A clean filter keeps your house cooler, your electric bills down, and your breathing air cleaner. Air-conditioning filters work like any other filter you may use, such as coffee filters and many types of water filters. The filter allows air particles to move through while trapping and retaining larger particles on the filter. As time goes on, the trapped particles collected start to impede the airflow through the filter. Once less air is going through the filter, the air-conditioner needs to run longer to cool the house down. These extended run times use more energy and put more wear on the fan motors, often causing them to break earlier than expected.
Most renters will experience a dirty air filter via a warmer house and higher electricity costs, but this doesn’t have to happen with regular replacement or maintenance. Regular would mean every 1 to 3 months based on use. If you have multiple pets that shed a lot, regularly let in a lot of outdoor air, or run your AC more than usual, you will probably need to perform maintenance closer to once a month. Running your AC more than usual includes keeping your fan on. Most air conditioners have the option to run the fan even when the unit is not cooling. While keeping the fan on may sound like a good idea, it uses a lot of electricity and dramatically reduces the life of your filter. If you don’t have pets, generally keep a clean house, and find that your AC is not always on, you can perform maintenance closer to every three months. In Texas, you might find that summertime requires replacement every two months and, in the wintertime, every three months. In general, if you find that the AC is not blowing as hard, or your house is not cooling as quickly, then it’s probably a good time to change the filter.
If you have window units, this is the easiest to maintain. Every window unit has a large grate that contains a removable screen. This screen is your filter and only needs to be rinsed out in the sink and reinstalled. The filter is satisfying to clean as you can watch all the debris wash away, leaving a clean screen. Be sure to turn your window unit off while cleaning to keep the unit from sucking dirty air into the air coils.
Central air unit filters can be a little trickier to maintain. They need to be replaced and can be tricky to find. In general, these are paper/fiber filters located near the vents that are sucking in air. If your home has a closet with a large AC apparatus inside, known as an air handler, you replace the air filter near the unit’s bottom. Near the bottom, you will find a long skinny door; behind that, you will have access to the filter and be able to pull it out. If your air handler is located in the attic, as is the case in many of our homes, you will most likely find the air filter on the ceiling directly behind the larger vents sucking in air.
For homes with central air that require replacement filters, you will need to go to the hardware store to buy a replacement filter. The size must be the same; however, the filtering power is up to you. There will be more on filter efficiency later. Once you have the correct size filter, it’s time to replace it. Turn off your AC, remove the old filter, and insert the new filter. When inserting the new filter, look on the side of the filter for an arrow indicating airflow direction. This is the direction to insert the filter. If you are inserting it in a closet air handler, these almost always need to point up. If you are inserting it in a ceiling, these need to point towards the wall or ceiling, away from you and into the opening.
When it comes to selecting the power or efficiency of your filter, that is up to you. The more expensive the filter is, typically, the more filtering power it has. This means it will remove more from the air. Any filter will do as long as it has some metal reinforcement, but the more filtering power it has will allow the filter to remove smaller and smaller particles like pollen, pet dander, and even viruses. These more powerful filters come with a tradeoff because they require more power and electricity to pull the air though, and this leads to higher electric bills and the need to replace more often. Unless you have a specific issue with a certain particulate, we recommend buying the cheapest filter with metal reinforcement mesh. The metal reinforcement keeps the filter from collapsing and being sucked into the unit. If this happens, it’s like not having a filter and offers no protection to you or the AC equipment.
In Conclusion
This may be a lot of information to take in, but the vital thing to take away is that it is essential to replace or maintain your AC filters regularly. It keeps you happy, it keeps your pocketbook happy, and it keeps the AC unit happy. Once you have done it once, it will seem like a tiny detail in your life..