I see everything from "every month" to "every 3 months" to "every 6 months." We have two dogs and someone with mild allergies. What's the actual recommendation and does the expensive filter brand matter?
With two dogs and allergies, I'd change it every 30-45 days, no exceptions. Pet dander clogs filters fast. Use a MERV 11 filter — it catches most allergens without restricting airflow too much. MERV 13 is overkill for most residential systems and can actually reduce efficiency. Brand doesn't matter much — Filtrete and the generic ones with the same MERV rating perform similarly in independent testing.
We have 3 cats and I change ours monthly. The cheap ones from the hardware store work fine — I buy a 6-pack for $30. The expensive $25 each filters are not 5x better. The most important thing is just actually changing it regularly rather than buying the fancy one and forgetting about it for 4 months.
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