Filter Change Is Critical to System Performance

Remember how hard it is to breathe when you have a cold? Or your sinuses are blocked because of allergies?

It’s the same thing when you operate your air conditioner with a dirty or clogged air filter. When your AC can’t breathe, it can’t keep you cool.

Mast Heating & Cooling, your HVAC expert in Grand Rapids, Holland, Kentwood, and surrounding area, wants you to know filtering your air is especially critical as the calendar rolls over to summer. Grass & trees are growing and giving off pollen. There’s dust in the air from agricultural activity and summer storms.

It’s not just us telling you how important furnace filters are. Check out these tidbits from the Department of Energy Website:

• Replacing filters is the single most important maintenance task
• Will ensure efficiency of your air conditioner
• Dirty filters obstruct air flow
• Clean filters reduce energy consumption 5% to 15%

Shopping for filters can be confusing. There are many types and a wide range of prices. You will also see a number for a filter’s MERV rating. MERV stands for minimum efficiency reporting value. The scale goes from 1 to 16.

The traditional filters, fiberglass or pleated, will remove dust particles, but primarily just the larger ones. Mast Heating & Cooling recommends going a step further. Talk with our comfort consultants about the Trane CleanEffectsTM filtration system.

CleanEffects is really a series of filters. The pre-filter removes the larger particles. The remaining particles in the air then pass through a series of electrically charged fields and they are trapped in a second filter. The patented filter is the most efficient of any on the market since it doesn’t get clogged and reduce airflow to the air handler.

The performance of the Trane CleanEffects™ system even surpasses HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters that are used in many hospitals to prevent the spread of germs. Furnace filters should not be confused with an air purifier. While the two systems can often work together, they are separate processes. Filters remove particles from the air. A purifier uses a process, ultraviolet rays and negative ions are among the best, to sanitize the air. It can kill the germs & bacteria, not merely filter them.

Call Mast Heating & Cooling to make sure your air filtration is right for your house. And don’t let your air conditioner cough and wheeze its way through summer because you forgot to change a dirty filter. If it becomes a habit, you could soon be writing us a check for a new air conditioner. Let us help you take care of all your service, maintenance and replacement needs.