Heat pump filters

[Pete C.]

I have (had) fairly severe cat allergies and a cat. I found there was a very noticeable difference between the cheap filters and the 1700 Filtrete filters. Now that I've been doing allergy immunotherapy (allergy shots) my allergies are pretty much gone, but I still stick with the better Filtrete filters based on the previous experience of how much better they are. BTW, I highly recommend seeing an allergist about immunotherapy for anyone with severe allergies, it works really well for me, and they say for 90%+ of people.

[SteveB]

What do you consider the best of

1. Cheap filters
2. Filtrete type waffle filters
3. Cleanable filters

I tend to go with the Filtrete types, but now at around $5 per, I wonder. The cheapos are just that, and you can almost poke a finger through at some places. The washable, I wonder how hygienic and functional they are.

Comments welcome.

Steve

[Rudy]

A friend owns a HVAC company. Here is what he installs:

We have one here in our 5 year old home and had one in our AZ home for 5 years as well. Seemed to work well and cleans up nice under the faucet.

[The Daring Dufas]

I can't use those for my customers who own restaurants, especially if it's a pizza delivery place. I come by to check the equipment and the air filter is missing. When I ask where the filter is, "Uh, Benny threw it away, it was real dirty." I've used those filters in the past with good luck. The only problem is someone has to pull it out and clean it. It's great for conscientious home owners who know how to take care of even simple maintenance. I crawled under a house yesterday to replace a control board board in a Bryant horizontal furnace and the homeowner, a funny little old lady, was right there with me to see what I was doing. I showed her how to turn off the power and gas to the furnace while explaining how everything worked. She will change her filters on a regular basis so I don't have to worry about her.

TDD

[Ron]

Personally, I use these

But, Home Depot carries a pleated brand called NaturalAire. I picked up a 3 pack of these while my DP Max's were on order this yr and was very happy with them. I don't remember the price ($ 7.00 for 3?), but they are very cheap for a good pleated filter. (Merv 8 rating) BTW, washable filters suck! I had to have the coils cleaned on a 2 yr old Trane Air Handler because of all of the crap that got through the filter. And I washed the damn thing at least once a month, sometimes twice!