Everything You Need to Know About HVAC Air Filters

Did you know that some air filters can prevent carcinogens from entering your home? Are you sure that your HVAC air filters aren’t contributing to chronic health problems?

The answers to these questions could improve the quality of life for yourself and your family. If you haven’t taken the time to learn about star ratings or microns, your indoor air quality can deteriorate and cause suffering.

Every HVAC system requires critical maintenance tasks like cleaning a central air unit for summer use, and nothing is more important than your air filters. If you have questions about this element of your house, you need answers.

You can answer everything you need to know about purchasing air filters and protect your home today by reading this article, so let’s get started!

What Do They Do?

HVAC air filters remove impurities from your home that can cause health problems. Living in a home without proper filtration can exacerbate existing conditions or create new ones. If you or a loved one suffer from a respiratory complication or disease, this becomes especially critical for AC tune-ups.

How Do They Work?

HVAC air filters provide a barrier between harmful particulate matter and your home.

You might think of these as masks for your heating and air conditioning vents. Some have better filtration for higher air quality, but something is always more helpful than nothing.

What Is a MERV Rating?

Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values (MERVs) define the size of the particles an air filter can and cannot block. The higher the rating, the more the product can prevent from entering an environment. The highest ratings typically get used in settings like medical laboratories or computer chip manufacturing facilities.

What Types of HVAC Air Filters Can You Buy?

Start this process by understanding what type of air filter exists in your home currently. Depending on what exists, you might want to change to one of the following:

Flat-Panel

Fiberglass air filters like these tend to offer the lowest possible MERV rating, but as you might assume, they’re relatively inexpensive. This option will only catch larger particles like dust or sand.

Pleated Media

Pleated media filters can prevent pet dander or mold from entering your house. These tend to have a MERV rating of around 5 – 12, and they can even suppress fan noise.

Washable or Reusable

As the name suggests, these filters offer significant value because you can reuse them repeatedly. With that said, they only have MERV ratings of around 1 – 5 typically, so they don’t offer much protection for you and your loved ones.

HEPA Filter

HEPA filters usually offer the highest amount of protection from dust, mold, and even carcinogens. With a MERV rating of roughly 16 – 20, these can block bacteria or tobacco smoke from making its way into the house.

Need More Info?

No matter how much you learn about heating and air-conditioning systems, there’s always more to learn. Even the pros have to continue to educate themselves to do their jobs properly.

Do you need more information than what we covered in this post? If you want to ensure that you’re buying the best HVAC air filters for your home, contact us today!