Do you want to know how to change the air filter in your home? It's not as difficult as it may seem. Central forced air heating and cooling systems rely on filter maintenance to help them perform optimally in the long term. Victor Belavus, an air conditioning specialist and owner of 212 HVAC, an air conditioning repair and installation company based in Brooklyn, New York, explains how to do it. Typically, the HVAC unit is located in a basement, attic, or sometimes in the back of a closet.
Once it's located, look for a slot that will fit an air filter. What you are looking for is a hinged or removable cover of 1 width. Before changing the household air filter in the HVAC unit, turn off the unit to prevent injury or damage to the machine. Before removing the existing air filter, notice the arrow on the filter frame that shows the correct direction of air flow.
Then replace it with a new one that is the right size to fit the opening, making sure to orient it so that the arrow of the airflow points towards the ductwork. Slide the new filter and make sure that the arrow points in the same direction as the arrow in the previous filter. MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Report Values and measures the efficiency with which the filter captures particles that act as contaminants that would otherwise run through your heating and air conditioning system. If it doesn't, partially remove the existing filter and look for its dimensions, usually printed on the cardboard filter frame.
This will help protect your HVAC system from loose debris or perhaps a loose filter attachment leaking into the duct. Air quality matters, and you want an oven filter and an air conditioning filter that eliminate allergens without being too expensive. Believe it or not, these errors with HVAC filters are quite common and can be avoided by following these steps. In addition to HVAC and AC units, Victor also specializes in repairing ovens and cleaning air ducts.
