What a Palatka spring costs in filters, and the three questions to ask before buying a better one
Between the oaks in February, the pines in March and the dust off the mill and the potato fields, a one-inch filter in a Palatka return is finished in about three weeks. Here is what that costs and what fixes it.
What bad filtration costs over a season
Add it up for a 1960s block house in Newtown over one spring. A one-inch filter every three weeks from February to May is six filters, and most people skip two of them. Behind the skipped ones, pollen and dust ride through to the evaporator coil and mat the fins. A coated coil moves less air and less heat, so the system runs longer for the same cooling, which shows up on the FPL or Clay Electric bill by June. Left two or three seasons, the coil needs a professional cleaning, which is a service call, and the blower motor has been working against the restriction the whole time.
None of those costs is large by itself. Together, over the eight-month cooling season this county runs, they add up to a real number every year, and that is before counting the sneezing. A media filter cabinet costs more than a season of one-inch filters and less than the coil cleaning it prevents.
The three questions
Will a bigger filter make the system louder?
The opposite, usually. The whistle people hear at a return grille is air being forced through a restrictive one-inch filter or around it through gaps. A deep media filter has several times the surface area, drops the pressure across the return, and quiets the grille. Where a filtration upgrade does add sound is when a return was undersized to begin with, which is common in 1950s-70s houses with a single hall return. We check that and will say when the return needs enlarging.
Does filtration change humidity?
Indirectly, and in the right direction. Restricted airflow across the coil is one of the ways an air conditioner loses its ability to dry the air, and in bad cases it is how the coil freezes. Restoring proper airflow with a less restrictive, higher-capacity filter lets the system run the way it was designed, which in Palatka’s summer means better moisture removal. A filter is not a dehumidifier, but a choked filter makes humidity worse.
What will it actually take out of the air?
A four- or five-inch pleated media filter captures the bulk of pollen, mold spores, pet dander and the fine grit that drifts off the Georgia-Pacific mill and the farm fields around East Palatka. A whole-house electronic air cleaner captures finer particles still and suits households with asthma. Neither removes odors or smoke smell; that calls for a carbon stage. Neither works on dust that bypasses the filter through a leaky return, which is why we seal the return as part of the install.
Ask about a media filter cabinet
Which to buy
For most Palatka houses, the media cabinet is the answer: better air, easier breathing for the blower, four changes a year instead of twelve. The electronic cleaner is the step up for allergy households. On a system with a history of frozen coils, the filter upgrade is often the first and cheapest fix. Cook’s installs Lennox filtration on any brand of air handler from the Palm Coast headquarters, about 35 miles east.
Filtration questions from Putnam County
If I buy the highest-rated one-inch filter at the hardware store, is that the same as a media cabinet?
No, and it can be worse. A dense one-inch filter chokes airflow across the coil, which in this humidity invites freezing and raises the bill. A four- or five-inch media filter has far more surface area, so it filters finer and breathes easier at the same time.
How much of the dust on our sills is really coming through the air conditioner?
Less than most people think, and more than they would like. Gaps in the return duct and around the filter slot pull unfiltered air in from the attic or crawlspace, and that air carries the mill grit and field dust straight to the coil and the registers. Sealing the return is part of every filtration install we do.
Will an electronic air cleaner help with the smoke that drifts in during a dry spring?
It helps with the particulate and does nothing for the smell. For smoke events, a media filter plus a carbon stage and running the fan continuously is the practical setup.
Do you handle the filter changes or is that on us?
Either. Media filters change a few times a year and most owners do it themselves. On a maintenance agreement, filter changes are part of the seasonal visit; specifics of what the agreement covers are something to confirm with Jerry. [[CONFIRM WITH JERRY]]
Tired of the three-week filter?
Call for a free estimate on whole-house filtration fitted to your air handler.