My old oil heater didn't really have an air filter so much as some fibrous material laid over a bit of chickenwire. I guess I was supposed to take it out and hose it down now and then. The house did not come with an instruction manual and I really had no clue air filters were a thing.
I got a clue when the DAV Chapter 23 airfilter went bad. The numbnuts who were running the thing before and during the club suspension never did any maintenance. Ultimately the air filter got coated with a coating of dust thick like felt, and the fan broke down. I was told this cost about $2000 to fix, which could have been avoided with regular filter changes.
Armed with this experience (which cost me nothing) I paid attention when I got my new heat pump. The installer warned me to change filters regularly and promised that WNE would set me up for a subscription, one new 4" filter a month for a year, after which I'd probably have to buy something to pay for a subscription.
I had to keep bugging them to keep that promise. First they sent nothing, then they sent the wrong filter, finally they sent one or two and I gave up. Perhaps the salesman had not communicated with the office.
I finally figured out that while the 4" thick filters were better, the 1" filters were perfectly good and both cheaper and more available at my local hardware stores. I was resigned to buying these on a regular basis, and throwing them away when done - because they did not look recyclable at all - when I decided to see if I could do better.
Researching permanent filters - which are cleaned with a water hose - gave several options. I chose the one above, which costs about what a year's supply of disposables does. This time next year I should start profitting from the change, basically trading my time for money. It is also great to be contributing less to the landfill.
When I posted this photo on facebook, some friends expressed concern about mold and stuff. I'll have to monitor this but I suspect that due to the constantly flowing air there won't be anything growing on it - it should stay pretty dry. We'll. see.
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