Have I ever steered you wrong? Okay, there was that time I thought Starkist tuna was really chicken from the sea – oh no, that was Jessica Simpson. Sorry, I get myself mixed up with her all the time! Anyhow, I feel I have been pretty straight up with you. This entry is no exception. (Let’s just say, I haven’t made a whole lot of “inside-the-industry friends” from this blog.)
Expensive pleated filters aren’t worth the money. Why? Because if your house is like most homes in Gwinnett, you have significant duct leakage; the average is about 30% lost to unconditioned areas. If that’s true, then when your hvac kicks on, it’s creating a negative pressure inside your home and your furnace is working overtime to keep up. Stuffing a nice, plump, pleated filter in it is like stuffing a blanket over your mouth when you’re trying to run uphill. Make sense?
If you will not be sealing your ducts any time soon, be smart and buy the $1 filters and change them every 30 days. Now I didn’t say that these cheap filters would actually help filter your air, just that they won’t cut off your system’s circulation and thus cause premature failure and high utility bills.
The long term solution? Let us test your house for duct leakage. Seal the ducts, increase your airflow, extend your system’s life and then buy those nice plump, fat filters. Just don’t tell anyone you heard it from me. I am beginning to notice people following me in the parking lot at Kroger lately. (They must be mistaking me for Jessica.)
Call us for a free EnergyStar duct sealing brochure (770-271-7511) or download it here. (The document size is 1.3 MB.)
