Filtrete

[Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]

It has a 1" lip that catches in the frame and the other 4" slides inside...

[Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]

Call me at Bolton and I'll mail you a brochure...

My name is Shaun.

[Triton46]

Will do! Thanks a bunch.

[dash]

Originally posted by Triton46

Originally posted by BoltonNC
Triton,
Look into the Honeywell FC40 series return air filter.
It's a 4" thick pleated and fits into your return grill...

Hi Bolton,

My system has a wall mounted metal frame with a 1" recess that the filter fits in. The grate is henged onto the metal frame. How would a 4" filter fit?

You can modify your current frame to fit 4" filters,as long as there is enough space behind it accept the 4" filter.Then a standard filter fits fine and likely costs less.

[bestexpert]

There's no point in using rock catchers ! What you need is a good quality filter with a high Merv rating and a whole lot of surface area !!! Something like a GeneralAire model AC-1 or a Spacegard filter... basically an extended surface media filter to keep the pressure drop in check. An AC-1 Filter for example has approximately 78 square feet of media in a 20x25 unit. How much area does a 20x25x1" filter have ?

[Triton46]

Hi bestexpert,

For right now, the one that is up 15' on a wall in our great room has a rock catcher. I spoke with Bolton the other day on the phone (great guy and very informative). He is sending me a brochure for one of the 4" filters.

[drumn91]

DO NOT BUY CHEAP FIBERGLASS FILTERS!!! The Federal Gov't should ban them!! All those gaps and spaces you can see through the fiberglass filters......that is the path that the dust will take right to your blower,heat exchangers, A/C a-coil, then the ducts. Buy the cheap grade of Natural Aire at Walmart or Home Depot and replace often. A 3 pack is on sale often for 5 or 6 bucks, thats $2 each. Even if you replace every 2 weeks think of the money youll save on wear and tear and service calls, equipment efficiency. BY the way they should ban those 3M $15-$30 filters.....way too restrictive. Pleats are spaced way too close together...nothing like tripping limits!!

[cem-bsee]

speaking of filters -- how about those being pushed by W-M & Kroger having baking powder for sweet smell?
powder being sucked into blower?
onto duct?
MERV rating?

[docholiday]

Originally posted by drumn91
DO NOT BUY CHEAP FIBERGLASS FILTERS!!! The Federal Gov't should ban them!! All those gaps and spaces you can see through the fiberglass filters......that is the path that the dust will take right to your blower,heat exchangers, A/C a-coil, then the ducts. Buy the cheap grade of Natural Aire at Walmart or Home Depot and replace often. A 3 pack is on sale often for 5 or 6 bucks, thats $2 each. Even if you replace every 2 weeks think of the money youll save on wear and tear and service calls, equipment efficiency. BY the way they should ban those 3M $15-$30 filters.....way too restrictive. Pleats are spaced way too close together...nothing like tripping limits!!

Severl points... First off the Federal goverment has too many fingers in our industry and out overall lives as it is. We dont need bigger governement and I damn sure am not going to have some government authority tell me how I am going to protect my equipment.

Now, you dont want fiberglass filters, you dont want 3M filters. Is there a legitimate reason? Both filters are fine assuming the system is designed with the proper airflow and face velocity in mind. Fiberglass filters when properly maintained will protect the equipment. Pleated high merv filters are fine too assuming you design the duct system properly. The problem with both is either misapplied or not maintained.

You know if your customer is plugging up any filter every 2 weeks, their problem is more a home or duct cleanliness issue that should be looked into and dealt with. It seems now people are expecting their HVAC system to clean their house for them too.

Yes, there are products avaialable for use with HVAC systems to imporve indoor air quality but the duct system and equipment selection may need to be modified in order to accomadate them.

No, the problem is the guy at Home Depot and the guy at Wal-Mart who has no clue to design criteria telling a homeowner which filter he should get.

[mrjayhawk]

Would the consensus be to avoid the replacement filters for an Aprilaire that are actually Filtretes?

[drumn91]

Always buy OEM Aprilaire water panels and filter media....they spent alot of time designing and refining their products and if you compare the "Best Air" products popular in the retail stores for replacement on Aprilaire air cleaners and compare just the thickness of the media out of the box to OEM Aprilaire.....nuf said. Yes, you are right about the Govt not having their hands in it....that was just an angry expression...did not really mean they should....All I am saying is that if you had a laser instrument to measure the dust particles inside the blower cabinet while having a fiberglass filter installed VERSUS having a cheap pleated filter I guarantee you would see the difference is evident.
You should only be able to see light through a filter....If you see objects through the filter(mainly fiberglass).....all those gaps you see the object through are all the gaps the dust and contaminants are going to take right to the blower,etc.......I just hope your system was designed correctly because in some situations you could hurt the static pressure and raise the temp rise....basically starve the furnace of return air.

[pstu]

I submit that those 3M filters are harmful if you try to pass too much air through a few square inches, which I am sure the professionals have seen time after time. However I submit that if you have lots of filter area for your amount of airflow, they might not be too bad. Measuring static pressure would be the key to telling which applies.

I did measure plenum vacuum with some MERV 11 filters from Arm & Hammer (that baking soda type somebody mentioned) and boy were they restrictive. Could see them bow in the frame and airflow test at the time measured a really inferior number. Then added a large return to improve static pressure, took about 0.3 inches w.c. off ESP. Essentially the filter area was doubled.

After that, tried the old MERV 11 filters once again to see what ESP would be like. To my surprise the ESP penalty was quite small with the added filter area. The key seems to be having a generous filter area for your system -- if you don't have it, then don't even think about high MERV filters.

So I would say you cannot apply one rule to all installations unless you measure ESP or something like that. Using free flowing filters is always the safe way to go, but I suggest there are some systems in which even 3M filters will not result in harmful static pressure, or a bad drop in airflow.

Hope this helps -- P.Student

[Triton46]

I just hope your system was designed correctly because in some situations you could hurt the static pressure and raise the temp rise....basically starve the furnace of return air.

I think we definately had the heat problem. Our bedroom and upstairs were almost unbearable with the furnace on. I partially closed two vents upstairs just so it wouldn't be so hot.

Since taking the Filtrete out, I have both the upstairs open and it feels as comfortable (maybe a degree higher) as downstairs.

[docholiday]

Closing the vents didnt help either, it just amplified the problem the filter was causing.

[Triton46]

Originally posted by docholiday
Closing the vents didnt help either, it just amplified the problem the filter was causing.

Yup, you hit the nail on the head. Won't be using those again. I got the brochure on the 4" Honeywell and believe I will be trying one of those when my three pack is done.

So, along the same lines as what was happening in my house (restrictive filter, heat rise, closed vents) would this cause an increase in gas usage?