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[pattypeep]

To those of you (like us) who were subjected to the smoke from forest fires this summer, please change or wash your furnace filters.

I needed to turn on the heat for the first time this morning and the furnace wouldn't kick on, so I knew immediately what was wrong. The filter has never, ever been so clogged with gunk and you could tell a lot of it was ash.

[AuntG]

You have proven to me that filters are useful. When we change ours, it is barely a light gray because so little dirt has been trapped.

[SilleeMee]

I just bought some new pleated filters. I was using MERV 8 but after changing the last one, I decided to go up to MERV 11. The reason is because I noticed my dirty filters were sort of dark gray in color which could mean soot from car exhaust. I live near high-traffic areas and it would make sense to me that this would be the reason. The MERV 11 should capture more of the smaller smoke-sized particulates, where the MERV 8 will only capture pollen, dust and dander. 

[aubnwa01]

When I had my AC routined & checked last Spring before the cooling season, the tech that did it told me I shouldn't use such such good filters.  In 11 years of having it serviced, no one else has ever told me that.  I use 3M Filtrete 2200 Microparticle Filtration Elite Allergan filters, since I buy them in a 3-pack at Costco (usually $40, but I buy when they're on sale for $30 for the 3pack) & I change them every 3 months & write the date installed in Sharpie, so I can read the date while standing on the floor so I don't have to bring the ladder in until it's time to change the filter (the filter is in the air return up in the ceiling in my hall).   She said by using such a fine filter it makes the fan in the AC work harder trying to pull the air thru.  I asked her "Then what's the point of using a filter at all if all you're filtering out is the big chunks?".  She didn't have an answer & I'm continuing to use my good filters, as they keep it cleaner in here & less dusting to do.

[Financialgrl]

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@aubnwa01 wrote:

When I had my AC routined & checked last Spring before the cooling season, the tech that did it told me I shouldn't use such such good filters.  In 11 years of having it serviced, no one else has ever told me that.  I use 3M Filtrete 2200 Microparticle Filtration Elite Allergan filters, since I buy them in a 3-pack at Costco (usually $40, but I buy when they're on sale for $30 for the 3pack) & I change them every 3 months & write the date installed in Sharpie, so I can read the date while standing on the floor so I don't have to bring the ladder in until it's time to change the filter (the filter is in the air return up in the ceiling in my hall).   She said by using such a fine filter it makes the fan in the AC work harder trying to pull the air thru.  I asked her "Then what's the point of using a filter at all if all you're filtering out is the big chunks?".  She didn't have an answer & I'm continuing to use my good filters, as they keep it cleaner in here & less dusting to do.

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Told the same thing by the construction manager here - had a brand new one level home built in an over 55 community and talk about stupid - BOTH places you change filters are in the ceiling (and our ceilings are 9 ft in some places and 10 in others) - nothing like having old ppl climb ladders that high!! 

I had some pics and curtain rods hung and had them change both filters by 2 home improvement brothers and they went out and bought them for me and they came home with the better 3 month filters as well.  These guys have been in the business a long time and they told me they use the better ones in their own homes - and they reminded me that I'm still on a street where homes are still being built and construction trucks running up and down the street all the time.  They also commented about the filter replacement being in the ceiling was pretty stupid bc they said when building it would have been very easy to run the ducts down the side of the wall so they can be easily changed by all and they said the cost to do so is minimal.  

[Nataliesgramma]

 I was told the same thing. Those fiberglass filters don't seem to catch anything and I have to dust more often.

I went back to the allergy white filters and we all sneeze less too...

[RedTop]

I use cheap filters and change them monthly.  I also take the new filter outside, spray it well with a cheap hairspray, before I insert it, as this helps trap more dust.  

A friend from work built a new house in 2003, and is on their 3rd heat pump.   All of their heat pumps were quality units, but the motors and condenser units burned out due to a combination of things, including the use of thick filters and letting the unit keep running in the winter with icing on the outside unit.

My friend nor her husband knew to keep an eye on the outside unit in our extreme cold weather for frost/ice, and switch the heat pump over to air conditioning for a short time, to pull warm air from inside the house, to the outside, and thereby melt the ice.   They thought the heat pump was just having a hard time keeping up with the demand, and let the unit run nonstop until it burned out.