How to Clean an Air Filter in Your Apartment

Keeping your air clean is essential for a healthy home, and one of the best ways to do this is by regularly cleaning your air filter. Before you start, it's important to turn off the HVAC unit to prevent unfiltered air from circulating around the house. For small appliances, it's best to unplug the machine to avoid any electric shock. Some air conditioning filters aren't designed to get wet, so you'll want to avoid causing any damage.

To help keep the air in your home clean, allow your air conditioning unit to operate more efficiently, and help filters last longer, here are some simple tips. When cleaning the filter, make sure that the HVAC system or appliance is turned off. While waiting for the filter to dry, clean the appliance or the ventilation opening where you removed the air filter to remove dust or cobwebs. Start on one side and go down the filter so that dirty water comes out of it and does not settle back into the filter.

An essential way to improve air quality in a home is to use devices such as Honeywell's InSight Series HEPA air purifier to capture VOC (volatile organic compounds). If the filter of the central air conditioner is not cleaned regularly, it can accumulate dust, dirt, bacteria, mold and mold. Your air conditioner filter can be pretty gross without regular cleanings, and a dirty filter doesn't do as well the job of keeping dust, dirt, and debris out of the air you breathe. But also, having a dirty filter will cause your energy costs to increase because your HVAC system has to work a lot harder to exhaust air.

Some dirty air filters can be easily cleaned and replaced in the appliance, others do not withstand cleaning and must be replaced with a new filter. Cleaning the window air conditioner filter does not require anything radically different than with other types of systems. If your air conditioner works as a heat pump, you should clean or replace the filter once every three months throughout the year. To keep your home's air clean and your HVAC system running efficiently, it's important to regularly clean or replace your air filter. Make sure that you turn off the HVAC unit before starting and unplug small appliances for safety.

Avoid getting wet filters and clean any dust or cobwebs from ventilation openings before replacing them. Finally, use devices such as HEPA air purifiers to capture VOCs and replace or clean your filters every three months.