By Brian Perry
Many people don’t sweat their home’s heating and cooling system keeping them comfortable — until something goes wrong.
Fortunately, you can breathe easily by properly maintaining your system. This includes regularly replacing your furnace air filter, which can prevent your system from working harder than needed while minimizing energy waste.
As your furnace circulates the air through your home, it also picks up dust and dirt. An air filter is essentially a fine mesh screen; particles get caught in the filter as air passes through the screen. Without an air filter, all those particles would end up in the furnace and impede the air flow. That leads to an inefficient system, and those inefficiencies have a funny way of showing up on your energy bill.
You should check your furnace air filter at least once a month and replace it according to the manufacturer’s recommendation. During the winter or summer, your filter may need to be changed more frequently than in the spring or fall when the weather is milder, and the system is not working as often. A good rule of thumb is to replace them with the seasons.
Make sure you use the appropriately sized filter for your system. In the case of air filters, bigger isn’t necessarily better. It might seem logical that a 5-inch-thick air filter would need to be changed less often than a filter that’s only 1 inch thick. But unless your furnace is designed for a thicker filter, its blower motor may not be up to the job. The strain caused by an oversized filter can even cause your blower motor to burn out. That’s going to cost you a lot more money than just replacing the 1-inch filter on a regular basis.
If you’re unsure about when to change your air filters or what kind to use, we recommend you ask a professional. Make sure they’re North American Technician Excellence (NATE) certified, too — that way, you can rest assured you’re getting an expert opinion. You can also trust your local electric cooperative’s energy advisor to answer questions about your air filter, furnace, or any other system or device in your home.
BRIAN PERRY is energy advisor at Marshall County REMC in Plymouth.
