How Often Should I Change My AC Filter?

How often should you change your AC filter? If you’re Googling this topic, it’s a pretty safe bet that the answer is way more often than you do now. The filter in your HVAC system is there to limit the amount of dust and contaminants entering your home. Filtering pollutants and allergens out of the air you breathe also helps protect you from getting sick, so dirty AC filters mean more polluted air circulating in your home. A dirty air filter can also lead to breakdowns in your equipment due to dirt and grime build-up on important system components.

Whether you’re renting or you own your own home, changing your AC filter is easy to forget because AC filters are not part of your everyday view. You can’t see them, so you can’t see how dirty they are becoming. Additionally, we’re often busy worrying about much more “important” tasks around our home than changing out a filter. That’s completely understandable. However, regularly changing your AC filter should be a priority. Dirty AC filters can harm the overall health of you and your family, and reduce the efficiency and lifespan of your HVAC system.

Pro Tip: Change AC filters on the first of every month, or set a reminder in your calendar.

How Often Does an AC Filter Need to be Changed?

That depends. The number of people and pets in your home will determine how often you should replace your air filters. As a general rule, HVAC manufacturers recommend the following:

If you or anyone in your family has severe allergies, change your AC filters once a month.

If you have two or more pets in your home, have your AC filters replaced every month.

The average household should replace AC filters at least every 2 to 3 months or whenever the filter is dirty.

Regularly changing your AC filters will help prevent a spike in allergies, and help avoid anyone in the home from getting sick or a spread of germs. Your HVAC system will operate more efficiently, too.

Which AC Filter Should I Buy?

Before purchasing AC filters, always check what size you need as there are several different sizes for different homes. The type of AC filter you buy will depend on your particular needs and your budget.

Fiberglass Filters

Fiberglass filters are the most common air conditioning filter, and the least expensive. Fiberglass filters only remove large, damaging particles in the air, so they are not effective in improving air quality.

Polyester and Pleated Air Conditioning Filters

Polyester and pleated air conditioning filters remove about 45% of dust and other small particles from the air.

High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filters (HEPA)

HEPA filters remove the most harmful contaminants from the air, including dust and mold. HEPA filters in HVAC systems ore often used in industrial and medical facilities. However, it is not unheard of for homeowners with severe allergies or illnesses to use them.

Electrostatic Filters

Electrostatic filters remove unwanted particles in the air using static electricity. Unlike polyester and fiberglass filters, electrostatic filters are permanent, and only need to be washed every three months or so. They can be 2 to 6 times more expensive than a typical air conditioning filter. Since you won’t need to replace it, that cost quickly pays for itself.

How Do I Change My Air Filter?

Changing an air filter in your home is a straightforward and quick task that should take no longer than a few minutes. Unscrew the vent cover, remove the old filter, and replace it with a new one. It’s really that simple!

What to Do When the Toilet Keeps Clogging

From small kids trying to flush toys, shoes, or wads of toilet paper to adults flushing dental floss, all sorts of wipes, and sanitary products, our toilets tend to get a real workout year after year. But it’s important to remember that everything that goes down the drain is not necessarily safe or completely gone. 

If your toilet keeps clogging up, it’s important to figure out what’s happening and then fix it before it becomes an even bigger issue like fatberg. Ignore the warning signs and eventually, a fatberg will end up clogging your sewer system. That’s when things get scary. Basically, a fatberg is just as disgusting as it sounds. It’s made from all the kinds of stuff your parents always yelled at you not to flush down the loo. You did it anyway, and now all of it is coming back to haunt you like the clown from IT. 

Once a fatberg begins forming in your pipes, your plumbing problems will gradually become more frequent as it grows in size. Left unresolved, clogged drains and toilets due to fatberg can result in major plumbing emergencies, such as broken pipes or leaks that can cause significant damage to your home and threaten your health. With a bit of knowledge and preventive measures, you can avoid fatberg and the associated toilet and sewer line clogging.

What is Fatberg?

In 1912, an iceberg sank the Titanic. In 2013, a 15-ton fatberg nearly sank London. OK, that’s a bit hyperbolic, but when you picture a big congealed mass of grossness the size of a city bus blocking the sewer, you can see how it could cause some serious overflow problems. Fatberg forms from hair, grease, diapers, wipes and other non-biodegradable matter that collects over time, building into bigger and bigger blockages. In 2018, an 820-foot long fatberg was found blocking a Victorian stretch of sewer more than twice the length of two football fields. In 2019, a fatberg bigger than a jumbo jet wreaked havoc on a seaside town.

Of course, Americans aren’t far behind in the fatberg competition. In 2017, an enormous fatberg in Baltimore sewers caused many city sewage pipes to overflow, pushing 1.2 million gallons of raw sewage into a local watershed stream. In 2018, divers had to navigate through 90 feet of raw sewage inside of the sewers in Charleston, South Carolina, feeling for the blockage with their BARE HANDS. It took three days to clear the huge clog, and divers had to be bathed in bleach daily. New York City is regularly struggling with fatbergs. These examples are clear demonstrations of how fatbergs can become a public health hazard, and why we all need to be diligent about what we flush down our toilets. 

Warning Signs of Fatberg

Your main sewer line is the artery that moves all of your home’s wastewater (from toilets, sinks, dishwashers, etc.) away from the house and into the sewer. The main sewer line is connected to every plumbing fixture in your home, so you can understand why a clog in that line is such a big deal and can create such a big mess. 

Warning signs of a fatberg is plumbing that is continually acting up or a seemingly endless string of clogs. If you live in an older home with an older plumbing system, corrosion due to wear and tear and hard water mineral build-up have likely created jagged edges and ledges inside the pipes where debris can catch and build up. Instead of just one toilet clogging up, all of them might backup at once. The toilet might make weird noises every time you run the dishwasher. Another symptom of a clogged main sewer line due to fatberg is if you have more than one slow drain.

What Causes Fatberg?

It all starts with us. Fatberg forms from all the things that generally shouldn’t be flushed down the toilets, but gets flushed down the toilets rather than tossed into the trash. Don’t make this mistake. Pee, poo, and TP are the ONLY things you should be flushing. Use your trashcans for everything else. Ignore the warning at your own peril. Over time, a fatberg can form from human waste combined with the usual clog suspects such as:

1. Hair, Hair, Hair
2. Fats, Oils, and Grease
3. Dental Floss
4. Baby Wipes
5. Dirty Diapers
6. Sanitary Products
7. Wet Wipes/Cleaning Wipes
8. Paper Towels
9. Facial Tissues
10. Band-Aids
11. Discarded Medicine
12. Q-Tips, Cotton Balls, and Makeup Pads

How to Avoid Fatberg 

Sometimes plumbing clogs can be quickly cleared by snaking the drains. Regular cleaning of your sewer lines can help prevent fatberg. The question of how often to clean your sewer line depends on many factors including:

• The age and condition of your pipes
• Sewage demand (usage) at your home
• A history of flushing non-biodegradable materials

How to Sink a Fatberg

When you’re dealing with a fatberg, there a huge mass that needs to be broken down in order to clear the pipes, so it will require plumbing professionals who have the knowledge, specialized equipment, and experience to tackle the greasy beast. 

Indirect pressure drain cleaning, also known as hydro jetting, is a procedure used by plumbers when there is a substantial amount of blockage in pipes – hello, fatberg – this means you. Hydro jetting uses a hose to pump large amounts of pressurized water through a special nozzle The strength of the hydro jet blasts through blockages and can clear large quantities of corrosive buildup inside sewer pipes where debris can get caught up and begin building into fatberg. Hydro jetting is an alternative to plumbing snaking, which only breaks up waste debris and temporarily solves the problem. 

And here’s a tip that many people don’t know – with typical use, homeowners are advised to get their sewer line cleaned professionally about once every 18-24 months. 

So when is the last time you had your sewer line cleaned? If your answer is never, or you’re already experiencing fatberg symptoms like frequent toilet or sewer line clogs, it’s time to call the Comfort Heroes at Donley. Book your sewer line service today!

The Benefits and Advantages of Tankless Water Heaters

Like any other appliance in your home, a hot water heater will eventually break down and require repairs. In most cases, it will work out to be more cost effective to replace your water heater. When it does happen, you’ll have to decide what type of water heater to install, since the options have improved a lot in recent years. Switching to a tankless water heater may be a good investment simply because tankless water heaters offer many benefits and cost advantages over traditional hot water heaters.

First, when you’re considering a new hot water heater, it’s important to take a good look at your energy costs. A new hot water heater will pay for itself over time, simply by using less energy. But that’s not the only consideration. 

Water heater tanks are typically stored in garages, and these tanks contain a lot of water. Keeping these large storage tank water heaters in a centralized location means waiting. It takes time for hot water from the tanks to get to our faucets and showers from wherever they may be in our homes, which results in unnecessary water waste. It’s like pouring money down the drain! Since hot water is only used at certain times, keeping a large tank full waiting to be used 24/7/365 has higher associated energy costs. Those costs can be dramatically reduced by switching to a tankless water heater.

The Advantages of Switching to a Tankless Water Heater

Tankless hot water heaters have many advantages that are well worth considering. Tankless water heaters are an eco-friendly and more convenient option for many homeowners. Tankless water heaters also have a much smaller footprint and use less energy because they only heat water as it’s used. Tankless water heaters supply hot water on demand while reducing your overall electricity use and water waste. Smaller electric bills, environmentally friendly, and you still get piping hot water when you need it? That’s a pretty big list of great benefits coming down on the side of tankless water heating.

Of course, since you live in the Valley of the Sun, it’s also worth considering a solar hot water heater (Yes, they work on cloudy days, too). Whatever your choice, all newly manufactured water heaters, whether traditional, tankless, or solar, are designed to maximize efficiency. 

So the next time your water heater breaks down, give the Comfort Heroes at Donley a call. We’ll be able to go over the different options and benefits for the types of water heaters, then get your new water heater quickly and expertly installed, so you can get back to taking long, hot showers and warm, relaxing bubble baths. After all, comfort counts. Especially in your home.