The quality of the air inside the home is obviously determined by a lot of simple things. If you are running a central heating or air conditioning system, your home's air quality is going to depend greatly on the filtering within the system. Obviously, not all central HVAC systems are one in the same, but they generally have the same filter system set up. Some systems will have multiple filters throughout the building, while others will only have one inside the main furnace cabinet. Pretty much every central HVAC system is going to have at least one filter in the furnace.

This article explains best maintenance practice for a central HVAC furnace air filter in a residential building. Ultimately, if you do your part to maintain your filtering system, you will have higher quality air inside your home, and your furnace will run more efficiently — possibly saving you a fair amount of cash from month to month.

Find the Filter

The first step is to obviously find your actual filter. Filters are usually very accessible, and you don't need any special tools to access the filter and pull it out of the compartment. On most furnaces, you can simply pull the filter out of its compartment by hand.

When to Replace

When you buy a new filter, it will say the intended lifespan directly on the packaging, but it will not say it on the actual filter. So, once you unwrap the filter and put it in, it is up to you to remember when it needs to be replaced. Many people will set a reminder in their smartphone so that they don't forget. Generally, filters are only meant to last between three and six months. Of course, many people probably haven't change their air filter in over a year or two. The longer you go without replacing your filter, the greater the risk of damaging something in your HVAC system.

Cleaning vs. Replacing the Filter

The next thing you need to decide is whether you going to clean or simply replace your filters. When you buy filters in bulk, they usually end up costing less than $10 per filter. So, most people don't want to spend a half hour trying to clean the filter just to save a couple of bucks. You're always going to end up with better results if you actually install a new filter. On top of that, filters are very difficult to clean.

Contact a heating repair service for more help.