When to Change Your Air Filters

Air conditioner filters are a great way to, well, filter out contaminates from swirling around your home along with your cool air. They ensure your family is breathing the cleanest and healthiest air possible. With all the work these filters do on a daily basis, they need changing on a regular basis. It’s a detail homeowners often forget, but shouldn’t.  

It’s been said that homeowners should change their dirty air filters out for fresh ones every 3-6 months. However, there are a lot of factors both inside and outside your home that can demand a change even sooner than that.

The most obvious way to determine how often you should change your filter is by paying attention to what goes on in your home on a daily basis. Do you have pets? Pet hair is one of the most common filter clogs when it comes to your air conditioning unit. Dogs and cats have a tendency to shed, and if you have more than one pet, you can bet that your filters will be working overtime to clean the air of the fur.

Also keep your family’s allergies in mind. Sensitivities to dust, pet hair or any other household allergens can be another important reason to change your air filters more often, perhaps every 2-3 months. 

Sometimes you can't tell how dirty your filter is until you hold it up next to a clean one, yikes!

When it comes to what’s outside your house, keep in mind the area in which you live. Do you reside in a densely populated area, like a city? Is there pollution due to cars or factories nearby? This air gets brought into your house through open windows and doors, and your air conditioner filters out all these contaminates on a daily basis as well. 

These tips to determine when you should change your filter also work at the other end of the spectrum as well. If you have no pets and live in an area with fresh air and little pollution, you may not have to change your filters as often; sometimes 6 months to even once a year can be sufficient. 

If you wait too long to replace your air filters, they’ll become incredibly dirty and will need a lot more energy to work as efficiently, which will surely drive up your energy bills. While they work overtime, they’ll become weaker and can actually end up pushing dirt and debris back into your home. 

If you can’t remember the last time you replaced your filters, it’s been too long. Once you do replace your air filters with fresh, new ones, mark your calendar so you don’t forget when it’s time for the next change. This is a simple way to remind yourself to help keep your air as fresh and healthy for you and your family as possible.

Prevent Dryer Fire

 The (USFA) U.S. Fire Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reports there are approximately 15,600 house fires, 400 injuries and 15 deaths each year due to clothes dryer fires.  Failure to clean lint is a leading cause of fires as is improper installation and maintenance.  Clothes dryers force hot air through a revolving drum to dry clothes.  The lint that accumulates during this drying process is mostly caught in a filter known as a lint trap, but this only stops about 75% of the lint with the remainder accumulating in the dryer and dryer vent system.  This accumulation of debris reduces airflow through the clothes dryer, raises temperature levels, and provides a highly flammable source of fuel for a residential or commercial fire.  Read some nationwide articles of recent clothes dryer fires.

Dryer Fire Warning Signs

1. Your clothes are taking longer to dry (a properly functioning vent system with proper airflow will reduce energy costs by $10 to $25 monthly).
2. There is excessive moisture in your laundry room or a musty smell.
3. You notice dryer lint on the ground or sticking out of your dryer vent exhaust outside.
4. You notice lint around your dryer in the laundry room.
5. Very little lint is in your dryer lint trap.
6. Your dryers' vent system hasn't been cleaned in over a year.
7. You notice your dryer vent flap outside not moving when the dryer is on.
8. Your clothes dryer is vented with plastic or vinyl exhaust materials. 

A dryer vent before and after it's been cleaned to prevent dryer fire

Always Check Before Use

1. Lint filter is in place, clean, and has no rips in it.
2. Area around your clothes dryer is free of combustible material.
3. No synthetic material such as rubber, plastic, foam, or pieces of cloth used to sponge up flammable liquids (previously washed or not), are placed in the dryer.
4. Lint buildup on floor around clothes dryer.

Never

1. Service the dryer yourself, including cleaning of the chassis.  Always call a professional.
2. Put synthetic material such as rubber, plastic, foam, or pieces of cloth used to sponge up flammable liquids (previously washed or not), in the dryer.
3. Try to clean the dryer vents yourself without first verifying the material it is made out of - cleaning the wrong type of vent could make the problem worse.

Additional Considerations and Safety Measures

1. Make sure your clothes dryer is plugged into an outlet suitable for its needs.
2. You have a smoke alarm installed in the laundry room.
3. Your dryer is turned off when you are sleeping or have left the house.