When and How to Change Your Furnace Filter

Caring for your furnace can help more than you’d think in the period in between furnace service appointments. One of the easiest, and essential, ways to care for your furnace lies in switching out your furnace filter. Having a dirty air filter can contribute to a host of adverse issues for your heating and cooling system, its efficiency, and ultimately, how much your energy costs are every month.

So what goes in to consideration when you should replace your furnace filter?

• Type of filter: the two most common filter sizes are 1 inch and 3 inch filters. 1 inch filters usually need to be switched out every month and 3 inch filters ought to be swapped out every three months, based on the recommendations of the filter maker.
• Home habits: if you have pets in your home, it might make sense to change your filter more often due to pet dander. If you have someone in the house that has allergies or asthma, contemplate switching out your home’s air filter more regularly to help with their symptoms.

Now you’re probably wondering how to replace your furnace filter. Inevitably this will change depending on what furnace you have, but typically: 

• Open or remove the air filter panel close to the bottom of your furnace to expose an open compartment.
• On the top of that open compartment is where your furnace filter is resting on two metal lips.
• There will be a little space to move your filter back and forth that allows you to remove one end of the filter and pull it out of the compartment.
• When adding the new filter, check the perimeter of the filter for an arrow that specifies the air flow direction, to make sure you’re installing the filter in the proper direction. In the majority of cases, the arrow should point at the main part (or top) of the furnace.