Used to swear by those cheap no-name air filters from the dollar store

Tbh I thought filters were all the same until my HVAC guy showed me the crusty buildup on my coils after just 8 months using them. Cost me $450 to get the system cleaned out, has anyone else gotten burned by cutting corners on home maintenance stuff like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_max26d ago

Honestly I was in the same boat with the cheap fiberglass ones until my cooling bill shot up. Switched to MERV 8 pleated filters like you said and my unit runs way cleaner now. That case of 6 from a supply house tip is gold, I save like $3 per filter doing that.

alicemurphy27d ago

Started paying $12 for those fiberglass ones and figured that was the middle ground. Then my neighbor whos a commercial HVAC tech told me those are basically just bug screens, they catch the big stuff but let all the fine dust right through to your blower motor. Switched to MERV 8 pleated filters from the hardware store, they cost maybe $8 each and last 3 months easy. Had to bump my electric bill up about $5 a month because the furnace fan works a tiny bit harder, but that beats dropping hundreds on coil cleanings every year. Local supply house actually sells them cheaper than the big box stores if you buy a case of 6, works out to like $5.50 each. Still cheaper than dollar store filters when you factor in the long term damage.

thomas_sanchez27d ago

Yeah man, I had the exact same wakeup call. Was using those cheap blue fiberglass filters for years, thought I was saving money. Then my AC started acting up, called a guy out, and he pulled this disgusting brown paste off my condenser coil. Told me it was years of fine dust that just blew right through the junk filters. Switched to MERV 8 pleated ones too and honestly my electric bill barely went up. I actually went a step further and bought the MERV 11 ones for a while but those choked my airflow too much in the summer, had to swap them out monthly which got expensive. So MERV 8 is the sweet spot for my unit. The case of 6 trick from a supply house is solid advice, I do the same and it feels good not paying retail markup every time.