Central heating and air conditioning units have become extremely popular, almost to the point that people may take it for granted. 80% of new homes built in the United States are fitted with these systems.
With some simple maintenance, you can enjoy your HVAC system for many years, and can avoid costly repair costs in the future. Among the most important of these preventative steps you can do is to routinely change the air filter.
The air filter in your home’s A/C system is located at the intake points of the ventilation. There are many different types, the most common being disposable and pleated. These filters serve two main purposes. The first is to remove contaminates from the home’s air, and the second is to keep the system working smoothly.
Air Quality
As the air circulates throughout your home, the air filter will remove harmful contaminates, dust particles, pet dander, etc. from the air. In one study, air inside a home was shown to be up to 5 times more deleterious to one’s health than the air outside, when not properly filtered. This is because modern homes are built so airtight that these harmful irritants cannot escape the building.
Air filters are rated on their ability to remove these contaminants by their assigned MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value). The higher the value, the better the filter is at removing dust particles and contaminants from the air.
System Performance
The second function your air filter serves is to keep you’re A/C running smoothly. A clean air filter is vital to have your air conditioner working efficiently as possible. By trapping and removing the dust particles from the airflow, it prevents these particles from schmutzing up the other elements of the A/C system.
Dirty air filters may cause problems in several areas of the system. Ice may build up on the evaporator coils if there is not sufficient airflow. This will cause decreased performance, and may damage the coils.
Clogged air filters can also cause problems with the compressor, which is very expensive to repair. Clogged airflow causes the compressor to have to work harder, causing it to fail sooner. Also, decreased airflow due to unclean filters can cause energy costs to rise as much as 20%.
Replacement
It is recommended to inspect your home’s air filter every month. If the filter is dirty, then it should be discarded and replaced immediately. Replaceable filters are available that only need to be cleaned when they get dirty. In any case, filters should not be left more than three months without replacement or cleaning.
By: Budda Oliver
Air filters are generally used to remove dust particles and other minute unseen particles like pollens and bacteria from the air. They are mainly used in devices where the purity of air is the major factor of operation, such as, ventilation systems, combustion engines, compressors, turbines and the air conditioners.
The air is required to be pure and without dust in places like research laboratories where even a dust of 1ppm or 1 part per million could contaminate the environment and would cause a lot of effect in the research recordings.
House air filters are very necessary in hospitals where patients suffering from wheezing and asthma have to be in a very pure environment free of dust, else their problem could aggravate.
Even in a house where there are babies or old people, care should be taken that they breathe air free of dust to the maximum extent. House air filters and air purifiers can help in this regard.
Things like foam, ruffled paper, fiber glasses are used as air filters. Even fibers and elements that have static electric charge are used as air filters. The internal combustion engine uses filters like paper or cotton.
There are four major types of air filtering medias – they are the paper, foam, synthetic and cotton fabrics. These filters should be serviced regularly and the dirt should be removed regularly so that they work better in the long run.
There are also HVAC (Heating, ventilating and air conditioning) filters available and are manufactured using the fiber glass technology. They are very cost effective and also disposable. There are Universal Air Filters also known as the UAF that are used for filtering the air.
The UAF has an assembly unit that has a filter, fan guard and air flow enclosure. They are used mainly in air conditioners. They have additional protective layer for protecting against flames, UV rays and fungus.
By: Ricky Lim