Choosing A Filter For Your Furnace

Staying up on changing your filter is important. A severely clogged filter can reduce your furnace efficiency by up to 15%. By reducing the air that flows into your furnace, a dirty filter will make your furnace take longer than it should to heat your house. This, in turn, will make your furnace use more gas than it should have to in order to heat your house. Furthermore, the more your furnace runs, the more wear and tear your furnace incurs. As important as changing your filter is, the type of filter can be just as important for furnace service. 

A Hypoallergenic Furnace

If you have allergies, you might consider installing a hypoallergenic filter. Such a filter will come with a tighter mesh. This mesh will allow fewer particulates through, which can reduce the number of allergens in the air in your home. While this can help you to breathe easier in your home, the tighter mesh will clog more quickly than a regular mesh. This means, you will have to change your filter more frequently in order to avoid the decreased efficiency that comes with a clogged furnace. Hypoallergenic filters cost more initially and will cost you more in terms of filter replacement, so you should consider carefully before you install one in your furnace. 

The Recommended Filter

Your furnace manufacturer will recommend a type of filter for your furnace. Not only will they have guidelines for the size of the filter you use in your furnace, but also for the type. Typically, furnace manufacturers will not recommend hypoallergenic filters for the reasons listed above. However, if you use the recommended filter, you will have to deal with increased allergens. In order to preserve efficiency, you should consider using an air cleaner inside your home, which will keep the air cleaner than a hypoallergenic filter would. 

Staying up on filter maintenance can have a big effect on the overall performance of your system. If you don't change out your filter on time, you will have increased heating bills due to the loss in efficiency, but you will also likely have increased repair costs, due to the wear and tear on your system. While allergies are a big concern, using a hypoallergenic filter comes with increased costs. Your first thought when choosing a filter should be maintaining the proper functioning of your system. Choosing a filter is an important part of taking care of your furnace.