Having said that, the obvious exception is when cigarette, pipe or cigar smoking occurs on a regular basis. Now the pollution can’t be missed, you can see it and you can smell it. The health concerns regarding smoking are well known and possibly beaten to death, so we won’t get in to that. Not so obvious is the health impact of dirty interior air when we don’t notice it. Medical experts have concluded that symptoms ranging from headaches, asthma, bronchitis, allergies and cancer among others, may likely be attributed to polluted interior air.

The next reason to use a furnace filter or air conditioning filter is to keep your heating and cooling system operating as it was designed and to prolong its life. For an air conditioning unit to operate at its peak efficiency it needs to be kept clean. The evaporator is the component in your system in which the air passes directly over and is cooled and returned to your living space. The surfaces of the evaporator are normally very cold and therefore wet with condensation. The moisture in the air condensates on the evaporator and subsequently drains to the exterior of the building. Imagine blowing dirty air across the cold wet surfaces of the evaporator. How long do you think it takes for the dirt to completely cover this wet surface? Once dirty, the evaporator loses efficiency and may begin to support mold and bacteria growth, after all it is a dark moist environment.

The last reason for using an air conditioning filter and furnace filter is to help keep your house clean. Look at it this way, every time your air conditioner or furnace runs it is like someone is vacuuming the air of dust, dirt or worse. All of this for only a couple bucks per month, seems like an obvious choice, your air must be filtered. What may not be obvious is which furnace filter and air conditioning filters should be used, we will try to help with that decision.

There are many different types of furnace air filters available today.  The two main types are throw away and the other are washable. Washable furnace air filters won’t last forever but most people could get several years of use from them with regular cleaning. Then again cleaning these filters is a pain and if it is cold outside it can be quite inconvenient. We feel most people will find using a disposal filter is both easier and quicker and in the long run a better option.

Selecting the correct filter will include looking at the MERV rating. If you would like more information about visit our page what is MERV  We have pointed out the health effects from breathing dust and dirty air. A little education here will pay off for you and your family, especially if any of you suffer from allergies.

The average person takes about 20 breaths per minute, which works out to almost 30,000 breaths per day. Clearly this is an activity which we spend considerable time, if not effort. Each one of those breaths contain dust, bacteria, germs, soot, fumes, pollen and many other harmful material. It is true that our bodies have some built in filtration functions but why overtax the body? Estimates vary widely but some suggest interior air can be 10 or more times as polluted as outside air. If the man made indoor pollution is that concentrated should we really believe our bodies were designed for that? Not likely.

We humans live in closer proximity to each other than ever before. That proximity intensifies the airborne particles from vehicles, other people, animals, manufacturing and other sources. Some well known airborne diseases are influenza, diphtheria, hay fever, tuberculosis, colds, viruses, pneumonia, scarlet fever, measles, etc.

When we think about dust its not just dust it is made up of a vast array of materials. Most of the materials are not good, such as; soot, dander, sand, smoke, fibers, insects, hair, not to mention chemical fumes. The US Weather Service estimates that one cubic inch of air could contain as much as 100,000 particles of dust. Worse yet, each piece of dust can contain thousands of germs.

A human living indoors is a relatively new phenomenon, at least with more or less sealed buildings. Only one hundred years ago our buildings had no air conditioning, central heat, weather-stripping, thermal pane windows, insulation or any of the modern products currently used to effectively seal the inside air from the outside.

Health statistics show that incidence of asthma which is known to be aggravated by air pollution is rising dramatically in the USA. The health risks are too great to ignore the regular use and replacement of a good air conditioning filter

Prior to choosing furnace air filters, you should know the size that your furnace requires.  There are several different models of furnace air filters that can be found.  They include those that throwaway filters and reusable filters.  Washable furnace air filters are not able to last a lifetime, but may last a year.  You can quite often cut back on spending if you select a washable air filter, but you will need to clean it on a monthly basis.

To maintain washable furnace air filters, you will need to hold them beneath running water to get rid of every bit of grit and grime that has gathered in your furnace.  This will make it possible for you to keep the filter clean so it will run your furnace more effectively.  The more you attend to cleaning and changing your filters, the more effectively the fan will run on your furnace.  When the filters wind up clogged, it not only spreads unhealthy air to each of your rooms, but it also ends up raising your furnace bills.

If you own a particular style of furnace, you might want to stick with furnace filters that are made by the manufacturer.  You  can either choose these over the web, where you can get them pretty cheap, or buy them from the distributor.  There are many varying sizes when you need furnace air filters, so take care that you get the right size for your furnace.  You may need to take a used filter along with you when you go to the store so that you can see the size for yourself.  If you are buying online, take the furnace filter out and then look at it so that you can easily view the dimensions.  Many people attempt to guess when they are buying furnace air filters and get an wrong size that will never fit the furnace.

Although your furnace may be operated sans furnace air filters, it is not a wise idea.  You will suffer from allergens and dirt being dispersed throughout the house.  If you are wanting a way to operate your furnace in the best way possible and also cut down on your gas bill while keeping your house dust-free, you should get the highest quality furnace air filters for your furnace and replace them regularly.

Consider a more versatile home air conditioner if you want to make a wise purchase. If your air conditioner includes a dehumidifier your rooms will be more comfortable and you won’t be breathing in recycled air all the time. An innovative product is an air conditioner that keeps you cool in the hot weather and produces heat in the colder seasons. A versatile unit like this is a good choice for areas where the winters are mild and you don’t have the need for a sophisticated home heating setup. If you have allergies then choosing a home air conditioning unit that has an air purifier may help you to overcome allergies. This is ideal in the summertime when the pollen levels are high. With an air purifier you won’t have to worry about stale air being recycled or circulated throughout the room.

Sometimes the focus of your search for the right home air conditioning unit might not be on what it does but on how it is installed. An easy to install home air conditioning system is often more attractive as it less disruptive to your home and there is no need for an external unit. The problem with an external air conditioning unit is that there isn’t always room for it on tiny properties.

Systems that don’t have an external unit can sometimes be more costly, but installation is usually easier and you might not require any rewiring. This way you can keep down the cost of installation as there is no need to call in a specialist for installation. Make sure you know the installation costs before you decide on a particular air conditioning unit.

If you’re looking for ease of use, a portable air conditioning unit is the way to go. There’s no need for installation with this type of unit, and you can move it around with ease. An installed system will do a better job of cooling you down that this type of unit, but it’s certainly much easier and cheaper.

Smoke will remain suspended in the air while the others will settle after a time. Specialized air cleaners are available and for some people these will provide a real benefit. For most people the filtration products available to work with your central air system are sufficient.

In order to clean the air effectively and allow the air conditioning system to operate efficiently and as it was designed, the following criteria should be considered:

- The air filter should be easy to change or clean or should be of a self cleaning type.
- The air filter should have the capacity to trap and hold a large amount of contaminant without adding too much resistance to the air flow.
- The air filter should be efficient in trapping and holding dust, fumes, pollen, bacteria and smoke which are present in most interior environments.
- The air filter should be able to operate effectively and efficiently with various equipment which may have varying air velocity characteristics.
- The air filter should leave the filtered air clean from contaminants including those which are added in the manufacturing process to improve performance.

This may seem to be an intimidating list of requirements but there are many products commonly available which will meet or exceed these requirements. Unfortunately, there are just as many or more which do not meet the requirements. A visit to your local retailer will likely provide a wide range of available products form those which are very suitable to those that are almost useless.

The information contained in this site should provide you with enough valuable information to make the selection of the right air conditioning filters much easier.

One factor to consider is air flow through the system. Air conditioning systems are designed to operate most efficiently with the airflow remaining within the designed range. More air flow is not good but is difficult to achieve but low air flow is not good either and is quite easy to achieve. Leaving a dirty air filter in place may result in low air flow and possibly cause the system to malfunction. In some cases, using an air conditioning filter that is too restrictive for your system may cause low air flow problems as well.

In the old days the filters were commonly the fiberglass variety which might equal a MERV 1 or 2. These provide very good flow but not much filtration beyond the sizable particles in the air. They will help to prevent the evaporator from getting too dirty too fast but they don’t do much to improve air quality. On the other end of the spectrum are the MERV 15 or 16 filters which do an excellent job cleaning the air but are too restrictive for most home systems.

If you are wondering what MERV to try keep these recommendations in mind;
 -ASHRAE recommends MERV 6 or higher
 -US Department of Energy recommends MERV 13
 -Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LEED recommends MERV 8 at a minimum

Keep the air flow issue in mind and if possible start with a MERV 6 and work up if no system  performance problems are noted. Most importantly, change you air conditioning filters regularly according to the manufacturer’s recommendation.

We pass through the grill and immediately encounter the dreaded Air Conditioner Filter. No worries for us though since we are pure and clean and pass through the filter unscathed. We are moving fast and it is almost completely dark inside the tube where we find ourselves traveling. We don’t travel too much further before we run into a series of cold, wet metal plates. It’s turbulent and noisy but we emerge from the turbulence quickly and we are now about 25 degrees colder and a little drier.

Our journey continues through a tube which has some quick turns and junctions, in the distance we notice a little light. With the increasing light, we see the inside of the tube is nice and clean, not a bad place to travel. Soon we pass through another grill but much smaller that the first one. We’ve been deposited in the kids room where all is quiet, a rare thing we’re told. We float around the room a bit and as we do we notice what sounds like light breathing. Sure enough the baby is taking her afternoon nap and we continue to drift above her. The room is pleasant and clean, some light music plays in the distance.

A little more drifting and we find ourselves gently pulled into the baby’s nose back into the darkness and into her lungs. We are warm and moist again and happy to be clean and healthy for her to breathe.

Good thing her dad uses a good air conditioning filter.

Like any other Ac unit they are rated by BTU which makes choosing the correct size fairly straight forward. The more BTUs the more cooling the unit will provide. If you are planning to use one to supplement the central AC in your home you may be able to go with one of the smallest units. This will be less expensive to purchase and less expensive to operate. In this case you may not need to  worry much about how well the unit filters the air since the central system is providing filtration as well.

The physical size of these portables is often around 25 inches and 35 inches high and they weigh between 40 to 80 lbs, depending ton the size. They will almost always come with casters which makes moving them around fairly easy to do. Movement is limited by the power supply and the vent hose location.