A Basic Guide To Understanding AC Air Filters
What Do You Risk By Installing The Wrong AC Air Filter?
Professional HVAC technicians recommend replacing air filters every three months at a bare minimum. Changing filters on a monthly basis is ideal for maintaining optimum air quality in your home. There are other benefits to frequent filter changes, though – one’s technicians care about even more than indoor air quality. A clean filter does a better job of protecting your air conditioner. That is, in fact, the filter’s primary purpose. If you installed the wrong filter, you may be putting your air conditioner at significant risk.
How Your AC Air Filter Really Works
While modern filters do an effective job of filtering allergens and other unwanted contaminants out of the air in your home, their point and purpose remain to safeguard the equipment in your AC system. Without a filter, your air conditioner could easily suck in particles large enough to damage its working parts. A filter needs to defend against this possibility without unduly restricting the amount of air flowing through the system. As a filter accumulates more particles, it also starts restricting more airflow. This is why your filter needs to be changed regularly to keep the system running smoothly.
Considering An Air Filter Upgrade?
An increasing number of homeowners are interested in improving the quality of the air in their homes. This leads many people to consider installing more potent filters in their air conditioning systems. The problem here is that a densely-woven filter that traps very small particles may also reduce airflow so significantly that your HVAC system cannot work efficiently. Fortunately, both air conditioners and the ac filter are rated to protect against this situation. Every filter has a Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value or MERV. Standard residential air conditioners usually operate with filters in the 1-4 MERV range. Depending on your specific equipment, though, your system may accommodate a filter as strong as MERV 8. AC air filters that is too strong for your air conditioner might inadvertently cause damage.
A Better Option: A Whole-House Air Purifier
If the quality of the air in your home is unsatisfactory, there are many possible causes. Some potential contaminants are easy to diagnose, like dust, dirt, and the presence of pets or smokers. There are other sources that are harder to detect and which might be impossible for you to solve on your own. Examples include automotive contaminants from nearby roads or construction particles from nearby work sites. If you are looking for repair solutions for your home ac, check out AMH.
How Mechanical Air Filters Work
The range of purifiers and air cleaners currently being sold today operate on
a number of different principles in order to improve your home’s air quality. In many situations, the most effective solution is also the most straightforward one. A “mechanical” air filter, for example, is simply one that attaches directly to your home’s air ducts. It uses no electricity or moving components, relying strictly on their material construction to filter the air moving through your ducts. Because the pollutants being filtered out of your air are trapped in the filter, it needs to be changed regularly to maintain both air quality and heating/cooling efficiency. Consult with professional service technicians to confirm that you’re using the right air filters for your air conditioning system.
Electronic Air Purification
An electronic air purifier or cleaner is an option worth considering if you want to take more active steps to improve your home’s air quality. Electronic air purifiers rely on a range of different techniques – often in combination – to remove pollutants from the indoor air you breathe. In an electrostatic precipitator, for example, pollutants are given an electrical charge so that they will be attracted to and trapped on a collector plate. All the pollutants thus collected can be easily disposed of by removing the plate and cleaning it.
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