“It’s a useful strategy to observe the stress drop throughout the filter—this can be a good option to know when it is the precise time to vary the filter as a result of in any other case, there’s loads of guessing work,” Li says. She says the standard three-month substitute suggestion is predicated on the belief of a 20 p.c runtime of your HVAC system (about 5 hours a day). A lot of this is dependent upon your local weather, however Li says a recent study discovered the median HVAC runtime of 20 houses over a 12 months in Toronto was 10 p.c, which means these people would be capable of exchange their filters much less typically.
As for the decision on the MERV 13, Li says {that a} larger stream resistance will make the HVAC fan work tougher. Relying in your system, the fan may cease working as laborious, reducing airflow and doubtlessly damaging the cooling coils. Nevertheless, the next MERV ranking doesn’t equal the next stream resistance. It is dependent upon the filter high quality, as Li says she has seen MERV 13 filters with decrease stream resistance than a MERV 8. Finally, Li says the principle issue is the age of your HVAC system.
“If this can be a comparatively new system in good situation, and you’ve got been utilizing MERV 8 filters with no downside, then I do not assume there can be any hassle utilizing MERV 11, MERV 13, and even MERV 14 filters simply because even when there’s a distinction within the stream resistance, it is comparatively small,” she says. “I believe most techniques will be capable of deal with that, particularly in the event you do not change your filter for your entire 12 months.”
People with older techniques needs to be cautious, as they might not be capable of deal with high-efficiency filters in any respect. She suggests listening to the sound and feeling the stream coming from the cooling and heating vents in your house.
The excellent news is that Woosh’s sensible filter can detect issues together with your HVAC system. The corporate says it will possibly establish early indicators of coil freezing, which if left unaddressed could cause irreparable injury. It manages this by checking stress drop and stream charge together with the temperature and humidity ranges.
Fortunately, utilizing a MERV 13 filter does not appear to trigger any hostile results on my system and I have never acquired any notifications about issues with my HVAC. My solely concern is that, in line with the app, I nonetheless needn’t change my filter though it has been 9 months since I put in it. My pockets is completely satisfied, however every little thing I’ve heard and examine filters suggests I ought to have modified it by now.
