Any heating professional will tell you to faithfully change your furnace’s air filter on a regular schedule, all year round. If you look up heating or furnace maintenance advice, changing your furnace filters often will inevitably be on the list. Why is this small task given such importance?
Many people have the mistaken impression that furnace filters are intended to filter the air coming from the furnace into the home. In actuality, the furnace filter’s primary purpose is to protect the furnace by filter the air that comes into the furnace. When you wait too long in between filter changes, the filters begin to get clogged with particles they have trapped from the air. The more particles that are trapped in your filter, the more difficult it is for air to flow through the filter. It is this obstruction of airflow that you want to avoid.
When airflow is restricted by a dirty furnace filter, your furnace has work harder. This means that the life of your furnace may be decreased and service calls may be more frequent, all because you didn’t change your inexpensive furnace filter as often as you should.
When choosing a furnace filter, you might assume that a more expensive furnace filter does not need to be changed as often as a less expensive one. In reality, the opposite can be true. Some furnace filters which advertise their ability to trap minute particles are more dense than the standard furnace filters. This means that these filters can also become clogged faster than your standard filters and should be changed more frequently, not less frequently.
Protect your furnace and lengthen its life by frequent changes of the furnace filter.
