Welcome to Marvin's

Home Air Filtration

The Forgotten Filter-the filter on the left had not been changed for over 2 years.

Filters for your residential air conditioning and furnace systems are one of the most important items to maintain; yet because they’re not highly visible, many of us forget to change them out on a consistent basis. The information below is designed to give you a basic undertanding of air filter maintenance and which filter is right for your home.

3 Reasons to Change your Air Filter at appropriate intervals:

Air filters prolong the life of your air conditioning unit: They protect the blower motor from harmful particles that could cause the motor to burn out. However by not changing your filters every 30 days, you can do the same damage to your unit’s motor by restricting the airflow needed to prevent the motor from being overworked.The average replacement cost of a blower motor can run $200.00 minimum, which is a considerable cost compared to replacing a filter.
Cut down on your energy cost: A dirty air filter can increase your energy cost by as much as 30% by causing you’re a/c unit to work harder and run longer to maintain the desired temperature you want.
Promotes better air quality in your home: By regularly replacing your filter you will cut down on air borne particles that can aggravate allergies and carry viruses.


Fiberglass	Pleated	Electro Static

Types of Air Filters

Flat Panel Fiberglass filters

This is the lowest cost filter available at a $0.59 average retail each. This type of filter is strictly used for HVAC equiptment protection, and is also the least effective filter in terms of small particle filtration. Flat panel filters are designed to catch only larger particles, allowing smaller particles to pass through. Because of this fact, flat panel filters have the lowest average efficiency rating of a 2, where the higher the number the more efficient the filter. The recommendation is to replace flat panel filters every 30 days.
Even for customers who use a “trimable” filter for those harder to find sizes, it’s filter “media”, the woven product that is used to make the filter, is still the same basic fiberglass used in a flat panel filter. It’s not doing much to help indoor air quality.

WHAT IS MERV?
Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value

- A Higher MERV indicates better performance
- MERV was developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), an impartial, widely-recognized authority on air filtration.

This simple Illustration (left) shows how these filters were designed to catch large particles to protect the equipment. They fall short of catching anything small as the picture clearly reveals. Sugar passes right through these filters without a problem. So if you need something more effective you can step up tho the next filter.

Pleated Filters

Compared to flat panel filters, the pleated filter is 28 times more effective in catching airborne particles that flat panel filters allow to pass through. The average retail for pleated filters runs around $ 3 - $ 4. And because they catch smaller particles they are more efficient than fiberglass filters in reducing energy cost by keeping your unit cleaner, as well as keeping your air quality at a higher standard. Pleated filters, based on testing of residential systems would need to be replaced every 90 days, based on using your heating/cooling system an average of 8 hours per day. The industry rating on pleated filters average a 6, which puts pleated at a higher rating than the flat panels filters.

It is important to note that if your HVAC unit is running, on average more that 8 hours per day, or if you have a lot of people and/or pets in your home, you may have to change your filter more frequently than every 90 days. You should check your filter every 30 days to maximize filter efficiency.

Electrostatic pleated filter

This is still a pleated filter, but the Electrostatic filter media, or fibers, have a type of charge added during the manufacturing process, that allows the filter to attract smaller particles, much like your TV screen’s static attracts dust.

Electrostatic filters are 72 times more effective that flat panel fiberglass filters and consequently have the highest average industry rating of an 11. The average retail on this type of filter is around $ 8 - $ 9. Due to the additional surface area, electrostatic filters should be replace every 90 days depending on the frequency of use of you’re a/c or furnace system.

Other than filtering the most particles and being the most energy efficient, the electrostatic filters will be the most effective in filtering out harmful particles in your home, such as pollen and pet dander.