A dirty furnace air filter can cause potential problems in your home – from making your furnace work harder, to letting allergens, pet dander, and dust mites into the air inside your home. With many options out there, choosing the right furnace filter can seem difficult. Here are a few helpful tips for choosing the right one.

MERV Rating

The MERV Rating measures how effectively an air filter will stop dust and other contaminants from passing through the filter and enter your home. Filters with higher MERV ratings trap small particles more effectively than filters with lower MERV ratings.

Comparing Filters

Spun fiberglass filters are the least expensive filters, but don’t do much for filtering the air. Fiberglass filters will filter out large particles, but won’t do much for improving indoor air quality.

Pleated filters, which are a bit more expensive (but not much) do a much better job of filtering the air than spun fiberglass filters. However, with still a quite low MERV rating, they do not offer solid filtration.

Electrostatic and high-efficiency filters cost a bit more, but in the long run, can do a much better job of filtering out everything from dust mites, bacteria, virus carriers, odors, smog, and more.

 Stop in to talk to an Employee-Owner on what air furnace filter is right for your home.