What A Dirty Air Purifier Filter Can Do To Your Home

If you are new to the world of high-performing air purifiers, you may not fully understand the ramifications of ignoring common air filter maintenance tasks. What happens when an air filter is too dirty? Keep reading to find out.

How Can You Tell if an Air Filter is Dirty?

There are a couple of ways you can tell if an air filter is dirty. If the “change filter” light has become illuminated, that is usually a pretty clear indication that the filter is dirty. Another way is to open up the housing and look at the filter itself. Does it look clogged and spotted with dirt and grime? If so, it is most definitely dirty. If you know what a carbon air filter does then you know that they get dirty quickly as they are very effective when purifying the air from VOCs.

What Happens When a Filter is Too Dirty?

There are a number of ill effects that can occur if you allow your air filter to become too dirty. Here are just a few.

Air Purifier Will Not Work

First and foremost, a dirty air filter will disallow the air purifier to work properly. Sure, it will technically function, but to what end? The purifier will be pulling in air, running it through a dirty filter, and then pumping that air directly into your home. At best, there will be no difference in the air purification level of your home before and after using the purifier. At worst, your air will actually be worse after it has been run through the dirty filter. While there are differences when you compare an air purifier filter vs car filters, they both need to be clean to perform optimally. If you don’t like the idea of constantly replacing filters and would rather have a reusable one, check out our IFD filter vs HEPA comparison to see if a machine that uses that filter is right for you.

Increased Allergens

With the air purifier hobbled by a dirty filter, allergens will be given plenty of room to disseminate throughout your home. Family members and friends who suffer from allergy-related symptoms will likely experience flare-ups, and you will have some unhappy people on your hands. This will hold to be especially true if you have pets or if you regularly experience allergic symptoms related to pollen, mold, mildew, and related materials.

Increased Odors

As with allergies, odor-causing particles will be given free rein to roam throughout your home if you continue using a dirty air filter. HEPA filters are especially effective when it comes to reducing foul odors, as odor-causing particles can easily be trapped by these filters. Be sure to replace your true HEPA filters every six months to one year for optimal efficiency and efficacy. On the other hand, if you have a washable filter, you’ll want to wash a HEPA filter correctly before reusing it.

In addition, always check the red light on an air purifier. Many people wonder what a red light means on an air purifier. It may mean that it needs to be replaced, cleaned, or struggling to handle the level of air pollution in your immediate surroundings.

For additional air purifier help, read our info guides on what kind of air purifier is best for emphysema, can air purifiers prevent coughing, and are air purifiers harmful after all?

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