Why you should change your furnace/AC filter?
Hi! I’m David Lupberger with servicemagic.com. Today, we’re going to talk about a simple home maintenance task that any homeowner can do but by and large, they don’t do because they forget about it. I’m speaking about changing your furnace filter.
So, we’re going to go through three or four steps on how you can do this easily and quickly. Number one, find out where your air handler is, that’s usually right next to your furnace. There’s some kind of access panel and honestly, you’ll see this is the air handler going into the furnace and as I reach in, the filter is right there.
And on every furnace, it’s something similar to like this. So you’ll see there’s an arrow because the airflow comes into the air handler through the furnace in the winter, and then in the summer if you have an air conditioner, once again, the air is being moved by the air handler through this same box and then moves through the compressor to cool the air. But I’m going to make a mark on the air handler.
Now, this arrow is just a simple reference reminding me of the airflow when I install the new filter, I install the filter correctly. Let me show you what I mean. We will remove the old filter and this is what it gets covered with a dust and dirt and this is why I want to replace this every three months because this is the part of the air quality in your house.
A good filter let me show you what I recommend, don’t buy the least expensive filter. There are three or four different brands. This is probably mid-ranged and you’ll see this particular filter will help capture pollen, dust, animal dander, lint, and even plant spores.
So let’s go ahead and install the actual filter. You’ll see the filter has two sides and I want to make sure I install it correctly so I’m going to look at this filter and look at that airflow. That was the arrow I talked about. I want to make sure that airflow arrow matches the airflow in the air handler.
I’m going to slide it back in the same way that I took the other one out. You’ll see the tow arrows match so the furnace filter is in place. I’m going to put back the access door and remind you to do this once every three months. If you do this, the fan in your furnace actually doesn’t work as hard because the filter is clean and this also affects the air in your house, less dust, less pollen, just a healthier place to live.
Now one more suggestion, make sure that you get your furnace serviced by a professional once a year because they could look at your furnace to make sure it’s running efficiently, that there are no leaks and by that simple service thing, you’re going extend the life of your furnace in general. This is how you can take care of one of the major systems in your house.
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