Your air conditioner delivers important comfort during the cooling season, helping to keep your home temperature and humidity levels comfortable. If the prospect of living without your AC is more than you can handle, it’s a good idea to maintain your air conditioner regularly to make sure it keeps humming along.
Check out the Energy Star website for useful heating and cooling information that will help you maintain your appliances. You’re likely to notice reduced efficiency and higher cooling costs if you don’t check your cooling unit regularly.
You’ll quickly realize the importance of air conditioning filter use when your cooling bill rises or your family starts getting sick.
Factors.
There are specific factors that determine how often you should change air conditioner filters. If you have pets or if someone in your household smokes, your air conditioner filters will need more frequent changing. If you have family members that suffer from asthma or allergies, you’ll need to keep the filter impeccably clean to make sure you’re filtering out contaminants and allergens. In addition, the time your air conditioner spends running also affects how often you need to change the filter. If you run it 24/7 during the cooling season, you’ll probably need to change the filter every three weeks. If you run it less often, you may be able to get by with changing it every five to six weeks.
An air conditioner clogged with debris from a dirty air filter won’t operate efficiently. Your unit will need to work harder to produce less cooling, an unpleasant situation for your wallet. When you change the air filters on a regular basis, you’ll notice that your unit cools your home faster, which reduces the amount of time it has to run. Over time, an air conditioner that doesn’t have to work as hard will last longer with fewer repairs, too.
A clean air filter will help keep your indoor air cleaner and more healthy. The EPA considers indoor air pollution to be a significant environmental problem. At the same time, an inefficient air conditioner adds additional waste into the environment, which can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
If you make a habit out of running your air conditioner with a dirty air filter, you will eventually notice accelerated wear and tear on the unit. Dirt that escapes the dirty air filter will restrict airflow through the unit, which can fill the coils with debris and make the unit freeze up. Eventually you also may have to replace the compressor of your unit. This will involve hiring a technician, which won’t be cheap.
Air filters have efficiency values that will help you choose the best filter for your air conditioner. The minimum efficiency reporting value ranges between 1 and 12. The higher the value, the more filtration and cleaning you’ll have with the filter. Be careful, though – it will also take more power to pull air through higher-value filters. Find a middle ground in efficiency value to control energy costs.
When you know you can’t be without your air conditioner to get through the cooling season, maintaining it becomes a priority to control expenses and keep it running smoothly. Changing the air filter shouldn’t take more than a few minutes of your time and then you’ll have the peace of mind to run your air conditioner as you need it to keep your indoor areas cool, comfortable and healthy.
Homeowners must replace their AC filters, but the time between each filter replacement depends on several factors. If you have pets or live in an area with a high pollen count, like Houston, Texas, your filters may need to be replaced every three months. Consider other filters available like Once-A-Year air filters. These filters from Enviromax Services Inc last an entire year!
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