What Happens When You Don't Change Your Furnace's Air Filter

One of the most routine problems that we hear about at Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning in West Palm Beach is dirty air filters. They may seem like a very tiny piece of the whole home comfort puzzle, but the role they play in helping us create comfort is a lot bigger than most homeowners realize. Regardless if it is cooling season or heating season, having a clogged air filter can cause a number of concerns for your heating and AC system.

So what exactly happens when you don’t remember to change your air filter? Here are a just a couple of the side effects you may encounter:

• Decreased airflow. This is easily the biggest problem you’ll notice when your home’s air filter is badly clogged. The longer the air filter goes without being swapped out, the more dirt, dust and other particles build up. Of course, this inhibits air from passing through the filter as it should, meaning your system is working quite a bit harder to give you the same amount of air.
• Frozen coil. If your system is working harder as a result of a filthy air filter, you also run the risk of having the cooling coil freeze inside of the system, because it’s running overtime to give you cool air.
• Total loss of cooling or heating. This is also a possibility if your air filter goes unchanged for months and months on end. In essence, you will have worked your system so hard that something quits working or wears out and needs to be replaced or serviced.
• Short cycling. Short cycling means the heating and cooling system turns on and off excessively. When your system short cycles, it may overheat or break down from the added work, which could end up causing damage to your system.

In addition to these, you can also expect:

• A diminished equipment lifecycle
• Lower energy efficiency
• Diminished air quality
• Increase in dust and debris
• Lack of comfort