How Often Should I Change My Air Conditioner Filter?

As a homeowner, you probably wonder how often you should change your air conditioner filter between service maintenance visits. In order to keep your HVAC running smoothly, ensuring that your air filter is clean is crucial. The inner air quality of your home can change dramatically if you change your filter regularly.

Common sense tells us to change it whenever it looks dirty, which is a good rule of thumb. But, sometimes we get busy with daily life and can easily forget to check the air filter. If you knew an approximate timeframe on when to change it, you can add it to your calendar to ensure that it gets changed. There are a few factors that will determine this timeframe.

• Do you have pets such as dogs, cats and birds? The dander, dirt and fur will clog your air filter. You will want to change the air filter every two months.

• How many people are living in your home? The more people that you have living there, the more often you will need to change the filter. Every month of two is sufficient for most families.

• Do you live in an area where the air quality is poor due to pollution? Keep an eye on your air filter for increased filth. You should change the filter every two months, more frequent if the air quality is very poor.

• Does anyone in your home suffer from allergies? If someone in your home has severe allergies, then you will want to change the filter at least every 45 days, in some cases 30 days.

• What kind of air conditioner unit do you have installed? The manufacturer of the unit will have a recommended time frame on when you should switch out the filter.

• Do you live in the home full time or is it a vacation home that you visit every now and then? If you only live in the home occasionally, then change the filter once every six months or year, depending on the air quality of your city.

If you do not monitor and change your air filter regularly, it will decrease your air conditioner’s overall performance. It will also affect the health of those living in the home.

If you would like to schedule a maintenance appointment with All Day Air Cooling and Heating, please call us at 239-357-0727 or contact us online at alldayaircooling.com.