Washable furnace filters

[Krazy4Real]

Such as these: Text

Anyone have any experience with them? I'm thinking about getting two and just alternating them every month (When you clean them, you have to let them air dry completely). I currently change the filter every two months with disposables. What do you guys think?

 

[Specop 007]

I was largely unimpressed with mine and have since switched back to the throw aways. I mean hell, a filter is 5 bucks and I replace it every 2 or 3 months....

But to get to the point. I found it difficult to wash out because of the hair and lint. It all balled up and I had to clean out each little freaking square with my fingers. Reach in and try to squeeze out a bit of hair, move on to the next little square. I got tired of that real fast.

 

[0roo0roo]

no way.
they are very coarse. washable is pointless if it filters almost nothing.
and yea the whole "washable" part is a bit dubious when you actually try to wash it. to make it so lint balls and dust balls make it through a flush the gaps have to be very large. if its a compromise random mesh lots isn't going to make it out....so it does nothing well

 

[sdifox]

I have a washable one. I wash it every month or so.

 

[pstylesss]

Not worth it. Just buy a years supply of disposable ones when they are one sale.

 

[Squisher]

This reminds me I have to get off my lazy ass in the fall and convert my filter to a large media filter that gets changed every 6 months. It'll cost $250-300 initially.

 

[Vette73]

We had them. They don't seem to work very well. I use the $2 pleated filter, cheapest I can find, and that works much better.

 

[slag]

I have one and love it. Mine is a mesh of small wires. As the air rushes past the metal, it creates an electrostatic field which attracts the particles of dust to the metal.

Why Use Electrostatic Furnace Filters?
When selecting an air conditioner filter or furnace filter it only makes sense to use the most efficient filter possible. An air conditioning or heating system operates best with no restriction to air flow. Adding a filter to an air conditioning or heating system restricts this air flow and therefore can reduce the operating efficiency of the equipment.

The best furnace filter is the one that has the least effect on air flow but removes the most dust from the air. This is where the electrostatic furnace filter shines. Electrostatic air filters remove a very high percentage of contaminants from the air but at the same time have little effect on air flow.

This allows the air conditioning or heating equipment to operate at maximum efficiency while at the same time removing a high percentage of contaminants from the air. So the best you can hope for is to strike a balance where you get the best air filtration but also don't restrict airflow to the point where it begins to have an impact on the operating efficiency of your furnace.

 

[QurazyQuisp]

Originally posted by: slag
I have one and love it. Mine is a mesh of small wires. As the air rushes past the metal, it creates an electrostatic field which attracts the particles of dust to the metal.

Why Use Electrostatic Furnace Filters?
When selecting an air conditioner filter or furnace filter it only makes sense to use the most efficient filter possible. An air conditioning or heating system operates best with no restriction to air flow. Adding a filter to an air conditioning or heating system restricts this air flow and therefore can reduce the operating efficiency of the equipment.

The best furnace filter is the one that has the least effect on air flow but removes the most dust from the air. This is where the electrostatic furnace filter shines. Electrostatic air filters remove a very high percentage of contaminants from the air but at the same time have little effect on air flow.

This allows the air conditioning or heating equipment to operate at maximum efficiency while at the same time removing a high percentage of contaminants from the air. So the best you can hope for is to strike a balance where you get the best air filtration but also don't restrict airflow to the point where it begins to have an impact on the operating efficiency of your furnace.

This reminds me of those stupid sharper image sonic breeze craps.

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: QurazyQuisp

Originally posted by: slag
I have one and love it. Mine is a mesh of small wires. As the air rushes past the metal, it creates an electrostatic field which attracts the particles of dust to the metal.

Why Use Electrostatic Furnace Filters?
When selecting an air conditioner filter or furnace filter it only makes sense to use the most efficient filter possible. An air conditioning or heating system operates best with no restriction to air flow. Adding a filter to an air conditioning or heating system restricts this air flow and therefore can reduce the operating efficiency of the equipment.

The best furnace filter is the one that has the least effect on air flow but removes the most dust from the air. This is where the electrostatic furnace filter shines. Electrostatic air filters remove a very high percentage of contaminants from the air but at the same time have little effect on air flow.

This allows the air conditioning or heating equipment to operate at maximum efficiency while at the same time removing a high percentage of contaminants from the air. So the best you can hope for is to strike a balance where you get the best air filtration but also don't restrict airflow to the point where it begins to have an impact on the operating efficiency of your furnace.

This reminds me of those stupid sharper image sonic breeze craps.

Except this actually works.

 

[FlashG]

Washable filters are too much work and mess. I replace my throw away filters every month. Got a years worth of filters from Lowes for less than $10 on sale.

 

[BillGates]

I have a washable K&N filter for my furnace - it added 18 horsepower.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: slag
I have one and love it. Mine is a mesh of small wires. As the air rushes past the metal, it creates an electrostatic field which attracts the particles of dust to the metal.

Why Use Electrostatic Furnace Filters?
When selecting an air conditioner filter or furnace filter it only makes sense to use the most efficient filter possible. An air conditioning or heating system operates best with no restriction to air flow. Adding a filter to an air conditioning or heating system restricts this air flow and therefore can reduce the operating efficiency of the equipment.

The best furnace filter is the one that has the least effect on air flow but removes the most dust from the air. This is where the electrostatic furnace filter shines. Electrostatic air filters remove a very high percentage of contaminants from the air but at the same time have little effect on air flow.

This allows the air conditioning or heating equipment to operate at maximum efficiency while at the same time removing a high percentage of contaminants from the air. So the best you can hope for is to strike a balance where you get the best air filtration but also don't restrict airflow to the point where it begins to have an impact on the operating efficiency of your furnace.

I glanced at a couple of sites that said "it makes sense to..." But, I think the people who designed the furnace sized the blower motor under the assumption that you have a particular type of filter. Just because you increase the airflow doesn't necessarily mean that your motor is working less - if it's a 750watt motor, it's going to use right around 750 watts, regardless of how much airflow you have. The controls in the furnace are generally set for the plenum to reach a certain temperature before the fan motor kicks on, and go off when the plenum is reduced to a certain temperature. At the back end of this, you may save a tiny amount of energy by the slightly increased airflow, but I'm skeptical as to this being very significant.

In fact, at the end of the cycle, due to thermal conductivity within the plenum, it might just be possible that the increased air flow causes the fan to turn off sooner than it should. i.e. cook something and blow on it before you take a bite. There are quite a few foods where the outside may be cooler, but the inside still contains a lot of heat. I'm not an expert on modern furnace design, but depending on where the temperature sensor is set for the low-limit cut off, (or whatever it's called), you may end up saving electrical energy while throwing out more energy up the chimney. Either way, I think the numbers are quite low - not enough to make a noticeable difference. And, of course, you can change the cut-off temperature on the furnace. I used to know my old Lennox furnace like the back of my hand, but I'm slightly bewildered at trying to understand the furnace I purchased for my rental property last year.

I think my point is sort of like the wind chill factor. here If you look at that table, you'll notice that at first, increasing the wind speed has a more significant affect on how fast the body is cooled down. However, as the wind speed gets higher and higher, the same change in wind speed doesn't have as significant affect on the cooling. What I'm saying is that I would guess that when your furnace is designed, the airflow was factored in for maximum efficiency. If it's so easy to retro-fit a furnace with an aftermarket electrostatic filter and get any noticeable increase in efficiency, don't you think the engineers would be smart enough to build in an electrostatic filter? Seriously - think about it. There's a huge difference in price between an 80% efficient furnace and a 90% efficient furnace. One should be skeptical to any claims that after market products make that significant of a difference. Unfortunately, advertisers appeal to our intuition "wouldn't more airflow be better?" And, it very well may be. I just don't think it's enough betterer to make a difference.

Thus, my conclusion is that the only reason to purchase an electrostatic filter is if it filters the air better. And, it very well may.

(I just wanted to use the word "betterer" in a post today.)

 

[0roo0roo]

plus i wouldn't worry much about the blower fan, its made to push through back pressure. it has to push air through ducts after all. i use 3m paper filters, might as well get decently clean air going through the ducts.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I'm gonna vote for the disposables as well. They work better when they're new, plus they can catch finer particles. Washables aren't as good when battling alergens.