You’ve been reminded to change your furnace filters, told to do it each month. You’ve even bought extra filters to change them yourself in between maintenance visits by your technician. Did you change them though? Maybe you don’t have a technician that comes out twice a year to change your filters as part of their maintenance checks. At least you know the filters are changed twice a year. What if you just thought to change your filter for the first time since 2009? We came across this situation last week and as you can see, the filter was very close to being 100% blocked.
So what does this mean for your heating and cooling system? Lots!
- The indoor air quality is signficantly reduced when a filter is dirty. If you have allergies or asthma the effects will be very apparent.
- Energy consumption will rise due to the amount of additional work your system has to do. The fan motor will work overtime and the lifespan of the motor will decrease.
- Airflow is signficantly reduced. You will literally feel the lack of air coming out of your registers with a filter this clogged.
- Reduced airflow may also cause your coil to freeze up when the air conditioning is running which will leave you without cooling!
The bottom line is the overall lifespan of the system is greatly reduced when furnace filters are not changed on a regular basis. Filters should be checked on a monthly basis and if filled with dirt or debris changed immediately. Your lungs will thank you, your family will thank you, and your pocketbook will definitely thank you because you have easily maintained a system that your home revolves around on a daily basis!
