How Often Should You Change Your Home Air Filter?

Find out how often an air filter should be changed depending on location, pets and other factors. Learn how often an HVAC filter will last and how to determine when it needs to be changed.

How Often Should You Change Your Home Air Filter?

A pleated air filter should be replaced every 30-60 days, while a 2-fold air filter should be changed every 3 months. A 3-fold air filter should be replaced every 120 days, and a 4-fold air filter should be changed every 6 months. In general, most air filter manufacturers and HVAC companies recommend changing your air filter every 90 days or 3 months. This may vary depending on the location of your home, if you have pets, and the age of your system and equipment.

If you have pets in your home, you should consider changing the filter every 60 days or 2 months. For households with multiple pets or people with allergies or respiratory conditions, we recommend changing the filter every 20 to 45 days. Vacation homes or vacant homes that don't have much use can expect to change filters every 9-12 months. The more you use your home, the more often you need to change the air filter. To keep air quality under control and your home clean, you'll want to replace the filter with a minimum interval of 2 to 3 months.

If you wait too long to change the filter, indoor air quality will suffer. Estimating how often an air filter should be changed can be difficult because of the many different variables at play. If there is an asthmatic or allergic person in your home, they are much more sensitive to airborne particles than those who don't.When your home is a vacation home where you spend a small amount of time each year, the rules are different. These are the lowest scare scores and trap the least amount of pollutants in your home's air.

However, if your HVAC system works almost constantly, change the filter every few weeks (especially if you use a cheaper fiberglass filter). These air filters act as barriers to prevent contaminants from entering the HVAC system or circulating in the air. If you have poor outdoor air quality or pets indoors, you'll need to replace your air filter more often. When the air cleaner is clogged, the HVAC unit requires a lot of extra work to circulate fresh air throughout the house; the extra work requires more electricity. For example, a family of four will need to change their air filters more often than a single person's home. One of the most important things you can do on your own to take good care of your HVAC system is to simply change your air filter on a regular basis.

You can afford it, electrostatic filters would help you save money in the long run, since they only need to be changed every 90 days.

Penelope Ruelle
Penelope Ruelle

Passionate zombie lover. Proud bacon ninja. Tea ninja. Avid social media junkie. Extreme internet evangelist. General travelaholic.