Whenever you use your heater or your central air conditioning, the air in your home is being circulated through the furnace and the installed air filter. The furnace air filter holds onto possibly harmful particles like dust and allergens as air passes through, before pushing it into your home. The filter can not effectively clean the air if it gets too full. If this happens you will notice a dramatic drop in air quality in your home. Changing your air filter every one to three months will help keep a high air quality and even lower your electric bill.

How often you need to replace your furnace air filter is determined by a varying number of factors. If you run your air conditioning or heater daily, then more air is passing through the filter than if run it only on days that are very hot or very cold. The time of year will also have an effect on how frequently the air filter needs to be changed. The seasons of Spring and Autumn tend to be when pollen counts spike the most. This means there are more particles in the air that need to be filtered out. It also means that the filter will become clogged even more quickly than during the other times of the year. The filters you choose to use will also affect how often you need to change the filter. Some filters may be labeled as working for three months, but you should check them every once in a while to make sure.

There are many varying types of filters. Your user's manual should have recommendations on which kind of furnace air filter to buy. The majority of filters are disposable, they are simply thrown in the trash when they become too full to clean the air. There are reusable filters becoming more widely available. Reusable filters reduce landfill waste and can save the consumer money over time as new filters do not need to be purchased each month. The draw back is that the reusable filter needs to be cleaned about as often as a disposable filter needs to be changed. Cleaning a reusable filter usually means just rinsing it off with a hose. For people with allergies, cleaning the filter can be much of a problem as all some of the allergens that were trapped in the filter may be released back into the air of your house.

The more dirty a filter becomes, the harder the heater or air conditioner has to strain itself to properly circulate the air. This can lead to higher electric bills. Regular replacement of your furnace air filter is an easy, and cheap way of keeping your electric bills under control. The improvement in air quality in our home is another desirable result of regular filter maintenance.

Whether you want to use disposable filter or reusable filter, it will come down to your personal preference and furnace conditions.

Regular care of your air filtration system is something everyone needs to do in order to dust and allergen-free. Find a furnace air filter in order to breathe easy.

Posted under Allergies