Everybody needs to breathe. Most people would find it hard to do so if their lungs were choked with dirt, debris, and other pollutants. Your home heating and air conditioning system isn't any different. It needs a steady flow of clean air to do the job, and a dirty air filter makes that difficult. So, how often should you monitor and clean or replace your HVAC air filter?

Air Filter Monitoring

Making sure your air filter is not choking to death is really easy. All you have to do is take a look every now and then. If the filter mesh is white and light shines through, it's fine. If it is brown and solid as a brick, now might be a good time to change it out. So, how often should you check things out? Check your HVAC filter at least once a month. Put a reminder on the fridge or set up a repeating calendar event on your smartphone to make sure you don't forget. When it pops up, go check your filter. It only takes 5 minutes, and can save you a whole load of money in the long run.

Air Filter Replacement

When you check your filter, is it dirty? If it is dirty, change it. If it still sort of resembles a clean filter, you can let it go a little while longer. However, it is always better to err on the side of caution. A clean filter will never hurt your HVAC system, but leaving a dirty filter in place will. When you can't make up your mind, change the filter. At the end of the day, filters are cheap, and replacing your air conditioner will not be.

Air Filter Maintenance

Regular filter monitoring and replacement is just one maintenance task that will need to be performed on a typical residential HVAC system on a regular basis. It is also the easiest and most important task. Keeping the filter clean is the best way to improve system efficiency and increasing operating life. If you don't do it, you're basically wasting money.