Do You Need to Change Your Furnace Filter During the Summer?

At first glance, it may seem like changing your furnace filter over the hot summer months is pointless. After all, the furnace isn’t running, so why should the furnace filter need to be changed? The easy answer: because it’s not quite that simple.

Your furnace is connected to every part of your home through a complex network of ducting. This ducting is responsible for the air exchange throughout the building. Like a person, houses breathe. Air is drawn in from outdoors and is exchanged with air from inside. Regardless of the season or how hot or cold it is outside, this air exchange continues. The air flows through the ducts, down to your furnace, passes through the furnace filter, and then is pushed out into your home. The only thing that changes during the winter is that the furnace will heat the air as it passes through. Everything else remains the same.

How Often To Change Furnace Filter During the Summer?

Something that surprises many Calgary homeowners is learning that not only should they change their furnace filter during summer, but they may want to consider changing it even more often than during the winter. During the warm months, Canadians enjoy having their windows open and inviting in the breeze from outdoors. But with that breeze comes pollen, dust, dirt, allergens, and everything else the wind has caught. If you live on a busy street, that may even include car exhaust and cigarette smoke. Your furnace filter will have to work hard to remove all these contaminants as the “fresh” air from the window moves through your ducting.

Most furnaces and furnace filters will have a manufacturer’s recommendation for changing the filter every 1-3 months. Consider that recommendation the longest you should go between changes. If you own a big, shedding dog (or parent several shedding teens), you may need to change the filter more often to keep up with all the hair and dandruff. Similarly, if allergens and pollutants are finding their way into your house all summer through open windows, you may breathe easier if you change the filter more regularly.

Whether your furnace is running full blast, your A/C is fighting to keep the house cool, or air is just flowing through your ducts as your house breathes, your furnace filter plays an important role in ensuring the air you and your family breathes is clean and free of contaminants. Changing your furnace filter regularly — even though it’s hot out — will help.

The friendly professionals at Plumbing Paramedics are also your expert Calgary furnace technicians. Our team strives to help Calgarians stay comfortable, secure, and breathing easy in their homes. If your furnace doesn’t seem to be filtering your indoor air as well as it used to, give our Calgary furnace experts a call. We’d be happy to get everything running optimally again.