Common Cents: Making AC Filters Last Longer

Saving money in hard times sometimes means getting the cheapest item you can find. While AC filters may not be at the top of your list of expensive items it is an item that needs to be replaced every month. A monthly expense. The cheapest filters usually only cost about $2.00, but replacing them every month is preventative maintanance for your air conditioning unit. Why is that important? Simple, you can either replace your filter once a month or pay a $100.00 service charge to have an AC Tech do it for you. In any case this lil' bit of money adds up over time. AC Techs usually have to clean the wall unit because you didn't replace filters causing a lot of dirt, hair and other things to get into your sytem. So let's calculate! $2.00 per filter, per 12 months is $24. Nice and it keeps your air clean and healthy.

Now making them last longer! We get compliments from our AC Tech every year when we have the system recharged, it's an old system. He claims, "It's the cleanest AC I've ever seen." WOW! But we do it for less than $24.00 a year! We only buy three or four filters instead of twelve. Before installing the new filter we cover it with dryer sheets...cheap ones. The dryer sheets act as a heppa filter, but still allow the air to flow easily through it. According to our AC Tech most heppa filters are energy busters. They're so thick they cause the system to run longer costing you more at the end of the month. By covering your cheap filter with dryer sheets you can make it last up to three months or longer. Now, each month you change out the dryer sheets, believe me you'll see why, and every three or four months we change out the filter itself, because our dryer sheets don't cover all of the filter, it's leaves about a one inch gap on one side and the bottom. We say it's for air flow! hehehe!