I've got a standard 16x25x1 filter in my furnace and I'm not sure if I'm changing it too often or not often enough. My house gets pretty dusty in summer, and I have a dog. What's the actual recommended schedule?
Don't go by the "every 3 months" rule printed on the box - that's marketing nonsense for people with zero dust and no pets. With a dog and summer dustiness, you're looking at every 4-6 weeks, maybe 8 weeks max if the filter still looks pretty clean when you peek at it.
The "every 3 months" thing is just a baseline for clean homes with nobody shedding all over the place. With a dog in the house and dusty summers, you're probably looking at checking it every 3-4 weeks instead - hold it up to a light and if you can barely see through it, swap it out. Some people wait until 6-8 weeks and that works fine if your air's moving okay and the filter isn't visibly caked, but honestly with pet hair you'll likely find you need to change it sooner than that. Just grab a bulk pack and don't overthink it - changing it a bit more often won't hurt anything, and your HVAC will run more efficiently anyway.
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