There are so many things on your mind when moving to a new house. You need to figure out everything from where to unpack your things, how to arrange your furniture, forwarding your mail, and so many other things.
One very important, but often overlooked, thing to remember to do when you move to a new home is to change your air filters.
There are lots of reasons why you should change your air filter when you move to a new home and things to consider when doing it.
Reasons to change your air filter
There are many reasons to change your home’s air filters regularly. Keeping up with this task will improve your home’s air quality, keep your HVAC system running more efficiently, and can save you money on costly repairs in the long run.
This goes for renters too. Check with your landlord to make sure they are changing your air filters regularly.
How often should you change your air filter in your house?
As a general rule, you should change the air filters in your home every three months.
After three months, your air filters become much less efficient because they are filled with everything that the filter has captured from your air.
Changing air filters regularly allows for the most allergens, dust and other micro-particles to be captured. This is important for your health as well as improving the efficiency of your air conditioning system.
What happens if you don’t change your air filter in your house?
If you don’t change your air filters, they will continue to get dirty until they are clogged. Dust and dander will block the passage of air through them.
This makes your HVAC system have to work much harder to push air through. Eventually, if you never changed the filter, the HVAC system might break from having to work at such a high level for a long period of time.
Why change your air filter when you move?
You don’t know its history
One important reason to change your air filter as soon as you move into a new house is simply because you have no idea when the last time the previous owner changed it.
Maybe the last owner wasn’t regular with changing their filters or neglected them entirely. Perhaps they quit caring once they signed the papers on the home.
When we changed our filters, we discovered that the previous owners had literally NEVER changed the filter on the third floor playroom. They didn’t use the room and never changed the filter. It was disgusting.
The previous owners might have had allergens
You also don’t know what types of allergens the previous owner was putting into the air that are now trapped in the air filter. This could include pets, plants, or even cleaning supplies or chemicals in the air. It’s best to clear all of this from the filter so your air flow isn’t moving through it.
You left the doors open
Another reason is that you probably had the doors open a lot when you were moving. All sorts of pollen, dirt and dust was coming through your door. That mess is now in your air filter and the air is circulating through it over and over again!
You stirred up dust
One more reason is that dust from all your boxes and unpacking things that have been in your attic is all released into the air now. Once it has settled, you want a clean slate.
Where should I get air filters?
As we said earlier, when you move, you have so much on your mind. The last thing you want to think about is remembering to change your air filters.
To solve that problem, we recommend choosing Filters Fast to automatically send you your air filters when you need them.
We’ve talked to you about Filters Fast plenty of times in the past and we have found they are a great option for your air filter needs.
We love that Filters Fast has a plethora of options for you depending on what filter you need and you can order them online and set it up for regular delivery every three months.
They have all the sizes you might need, plus numerous brands, depending on your preference.
We choose the Filters Fast brand filters because they are a quality product that we have grown to trust over the years.
For us, we found that we actually have 3 different filter sizes in our new house! All three floors have a filter because we have a zoned air conditioning system.
Setting up regular deliveries from Filters Fast is super simple on their website and allows you to get the filters you need, when you need them, without having to ever think about it.
What size air filter do I need?
Determining what size air filter you need is super simple. All you need to do to determine your home’s air filter size is to remove your old filter and look at the size on the side.
If for some reason your home doesn’t have an air filter in place, use a measuring tape to measure the inside of the filter housing.
Measure both the length and the width, as well as the thickness, which would be determined by the depth of the space.
For instance, a standard air filter size might be 20″x24″x1″.
What MERV rating air filter do I need?
After you know the size of air filter you need, you also need to determine the MERV rating of your air filter.
What is a MERV rating?
The MERV rating is the level of overall performance that your filter will give you. The performance you’ll need depends on the air condition of your home.
The air condition of your home depends on the types of allergens in your home, whether you smoke or have pets, activities you do in your home, and much more.
Filters Fast has a good article and video about helping you determine what MERV rating you will need for your home.
What direction should I install my air filter?
Always install your air filter using the “air flow” indicator on your air filter.
The “air flow” indicator will be an arrow on the side of the filter. You want to install your air filter with the arrow pointing up into the air duct.
When you install an air filter is where the air is pulled into your HVAC system from your home, so the air flow is flowing from inside your home into the duct.
Overall, remember that it’s super important to change your air filters every three months and change it immediately when you move into a new home.
Filters Fast is a great way to help you order filters on automatic reorder and never have to think about it again!
This post was sponsored by FiltersFast.com, an automated home delivery service for all your filter needs in your home. All opinions in this post are those of Charleston Crafted and we are actual users of the service. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Charleston Crafted possible!
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Hello, I’m Morgan, half of the creative force behind CharlestonCrafted.com! With a passion for DIY that dates back to 2012, I’ve transformed three homes and now I’m dedicated to helping others craft their dream spaces. Let’s turn your house into a home together!