Air flow efficiency of an air conditioner filter is something that’s constantly changing. If it doesn’t, then you’re either not using a filter or your filter simply isn’t working. It will constantly change over any period of time. The efficiency changes because of one reason: it starts to get loaded down with particles (dust, pollen, mold spores, pet hair, your hair, bacteria, lint, and the list goes on) until basically all the openings that air was once flowing through become clogged. The end result is that you have better filtration but the negative impact of this is that the air flow through the filter is drastically reduced.

When a reduction in air flow occurs in your filtration system, it makes the air conditioning system actually work harder than it should have to, making the unit less energy efficient than it could be. It has to work harder because it has to pull more air through smaller openings to push through the system and into the rest of your home. This makes it harder for the system to keep your home cool.

Picture it like this; say your air filter is a marathon runner getting ready to start a big 26 mile marathon. When it first starts the race, it sets out on a nice even pace, very efficient, very fluid in form, working at the top of its game (this is when the air filter is first installed in your cooling system). Somewhere along the route it begins to break a sweat and starts to feel the burning in its legs around mile 5 (this is a few weeks into the filtration process and it’s started collecting all these disgusting little particles in its media making your cooling system work a little bit harder). Around mile 15 its arms begin to get tired from working trying to keep form and push it along a little further in the race (this would be around a month and that air flow is becoming even more constricted due to the amount of debris still piling up on its surface). Mile 20 becomes the breaking point. Do you stay the course and finish the race as its only six more miles and you’ve already ran 20, would be pointless to quit now. Your air filters saying the same thing. That little 1-inch filter has exhausted almost all air flow opportunities within it but it’s still working and the filtration is actually getting even better as there’s not a lot of places for the new stuff to flow through. But it’s definitely getting a lot less efficient and making that system use more resources and work harder to keep that cool air pushing through the system. You finally cross over the finish line and 26 miles of pure unadulterated exhaustion is over. Month 3 rolls around and your filter has finally thrown in the towel and your AC is on the brink of crying from all the work that “good” air filter has been making it do over the past 3 months.

The longer a filter sits in a system, the better filtration it will have, but the less air flow and reduced energy efficiency it will provide.

Now think of it in these terms, that’s only a 1-inch pleated air filter that’s manufacturer rated for 3 months (most need to be changed sooner but are not because it says every 3 months). What if you could increase your air flow by 40% and increase the life of the filter by 4 times up to 12 months. That air conditioning system would work less, be more energy efficient and receive much more air flow.

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Filed under: HVAC Filter Maintenance

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