How to Keep Your Furnace Air Filter Clean

Changing your furnace filter needn’t be a daunting and worrying prospect. It’s a simple task that only takes a few short minutes to accomplish. Your furnace filter is a vitally important piece of equipment that protects the health of your family, cleans the air and helps your furnace run at its optimum efficiency levels.

Make checking your furnace air filter a part of your monthly routine. Many people still utilise disposable filters despite the fact reusable ones have many benefits over the older variety. They’re far cheaper, are easy t replace and clean, can be reused, will save you a great deal of money over their lifetime, plus as an added benefit they’re far greener and have less impact on our environment.

Here’s a list of 3 simple and easy to follow steps to help change your filter.

1. Don’t ever work on an electrical appliance without unplugging the power source. The same applies with gas and gas appliances. Safety must come first.
2. Find the furnace service panel. Have a read through the service manual prior to conducting work to see which tools it suggests. Most furnace doors are opened by hand whereas others tend to be screwed or fixed in place.
3. Have a look around and find the spongy panel or other such object with a 1” or greater width. Pull this filter out and check to see if it requires cleaning in the case of reusable or replaced for disposable. Being able to see through a filter is an indication that it is still in working order. A filter that blocks light when held up to a window should be changed. If the case is the former, put it back in, reconnect the filter, lock up the furnace and switch the power back on. Otherwise, replace or clean followed by the same process. I cannot stress enough how important it is to check your furnace air filter on a regular basis.

Types of Filters

If your filter is a disposable one be sure to replace it with the exact same type. For reusable filters give it a good thorough rinse or hose down in the garden, clean out all the dirt and replace it. Make sure the filter is bone dry throughout before reinserting it into your furnace. This will improve its efficiency and 4stop it attracting dirt and reclogging virtually immediately. 4-inch Honeywell furnace filters are a very reliable type and brand of filters.

That's really all there is to it. It’s a simple and crucially important task which must be carried out.