How Often Should a Furnace Filter Be Changed?

Heating and cooling a home costs a lot of money. In fact, around two-thirds of the average family's energy costs are for heating, cooling, and water heating.

As energy prices increase, you'll also see higher bills coming in the mail. But you can do a few things that might help you save money. One of these things is changing your furnace filter.

Most homeowners know they have a furnace filter. They also know they should change it but don't know how often to change it. Do you wonder about this, too?

Continue reading this guide if you want to learn when to change your furnace filter and why it's so vital.

Role of a Furnace Filter

You probably know your furnace has a filter, but do you know why? In other words, what role does your furnace filter play in your heating and cooling activities?

Your furnace filter is a device that all the air filters through when your furnace runs. First, your furnace takes the air from your home and heats it. Then, it sends it to your home, helping you stay warm in the winter.

The system pulls air from your house and passes it through the filter. The filter removes impurities from the air before sending it to the system.

Therefore, cleaning the air is the filter's primary role. As a result, your air is cleaner when you use and regularaly change your air filter. In addition, the best air filters remove more impurities, leaving your air cleaner and safer.

Choosing the best air filter is vital, but replacing a filter is also essential. After all, filters get dirty as they remove these impurities. So, you must replace your filter if you want to improve your indoor air quality.

Problems Caused by a Dirty Filter

Replacing your furnace filter helps your system filter more of the impurities out, but what other issues do dirty filters cause? Here are the top ones:

Poor Indoor Air Quality

Your air filter's ability to collect dust and debris decreases when it's dirty. As a result, it sends dirtier air to your furnace, and your furnace pushes dirtier air into your home.

The result is decreased indoor air quality. Your family might struggle more with summer allergies from a dirty air filter, and you might have to dust more frequently.

Increased Pressure on the System

Next, a dirty air filter causes your system to accumulate more dirt inside. The result is added pressure on your system. Your system must work harder to heat and cool your home.

One of the effects this might have is broken parts. In addition, the added stress might cause your system to wear out faster, leaving you with repair bills. It can even cause you to need to replace the system faster.

Higher Energy Bills

Additionally, you'll spend more money on heating and cooling your home. For example, a furnace doesn't operate as efficiently when it's dirty. Instead, it tends to run more and harder due to the dirt.

Your energy bills are higher when your furnace runs more.

When to Change Your Filter

So, when should you change your furnace filter? Some people replace theirs according to a predetermined schedule, while others wait until they see specific signs to replace it.

If you want to go according to a schedule, you might choose to replace your 1" air filter every 90 days. Every 90 days means you replace your filter four times a year.

You might choose to do this every January, April, July, and October, or you can choose other months. If you choose a schedule, you might need to write it down or put reminders on your phone, so you don't forget.

However, others prefer checking their furnace filters every month. You can do this on the first day of each month to see how dirty it is.

If it's dirty, you can replace it. However, you can wait another month if it's not dirty.

After doing this for about a year, you'll learn the schedule and frequency of how often you should replace your filter. In most cases, you will change your 1" filters every 30 - 90 days and larger box filters every 4 - 6 months.

How to Change It

The next question you might have is how to change the filter. The first step is determining what size and type of filter you have.

For example, you might have a 20x25x6 furnace filter. On the other hand, you could have a 16x25x5 furnace filter or a 20x25x5 furnace filter.

You'll need to know the size to order or purchase more. After all, you'll need a new one on hand before removing the old one.

Replacing the filter is simple. First, you locate it in the system. Most furnaces have a door you must remove to change the filter.

Once you find it, you can remove the old filter and put the new one in place. That's all you have to do.

How to Eliminate the Guesswork

As you can see, replacing your furnace filter regularly is vital for your system and energy bills. But many people still forget to do this or don't prioritize it.

However, there is an easy way to eliminate the guesswork. You can sign up for an air filter subscription.

When you sign up for a subscription, an air filter company sends you a new air filter on a scheduled basis. Then, you change the filter each time you receive a new one.

With a schedule, you'll never have to wonder when to change your filter.

Save Money on Energy Bills by Changing Your Furnace Filter

Do you want to reduce your energy bills and protect your furnace? Changing your furnace filter is one of the simplest ways to achieve these goals.

Contact us at FilterTime to learn more about our products and services. We provide furnace filters for all systems and can help you protect your system.