How often should one change their air filter & why should they do it?
Why Do It?
Regular maintenance of your property’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system (HVAC) is critical to ensure its long life and efficient operation. Proper maintenance of this system can help keep your tenants safe from extreme temperatures —and may also help save you & your tenants some money. The HVAC system heats your property during the cold winter months and keeps your property cool in the sweltering summer. Regularly changing the HVAC air filter is critical for its long life.
Here are a list of reasons why your air filter should be changed:
- The air filter keeps pollution and debris out of your HVAC system, ensuring proper and efficient operation. A dirty filter will slow down the air flow, making both the furnace work harder to heat your property and your AC work harder to cool it. This wastes energy and can result in higher energy bills. If the tenant has to pay more money utility bills, that’s less money that they have to pay you.
- According to experts, changing the air filter regularly will increase the life of your HVAC units and decrease breakdowns which equates to happier tenants and less money that you have to spend on repairs.
How Often?
According to Energystar.gov, Check your filter every month, especially during heavy use months (winter and summer). If the filter looks dirty after a month, change it. At a minimum, change the filter every 3 months. A dirty filter will slow down air flow and make the system work harder to keep you warm or cool — wasting energy. A clean filter will also prevent dust and dirt from building up in the system — leading to expensive maintenance and/or early system failure.
Changing air filters is one of the regular services that REMA provides. Please let your property manager know if you want us to change your filters at your property when we visit.