I also have an Oreck XL air cleaner that seems to work well with cigar and cooking odors.
Should I really buy the most expensive filter and how often should it be changed?How Often Should I Change My Furnace Filter?Well that depends on what the environment is like in your home! Generally, I would recommend every 3 months- even perhaps sooner especially if you're using your system quite often. As for the type of filter to use, I like pleated with a Merv 7 - 11 rating. Supplementing with the Oreck XL is a good move too,....I have 3 in my home and they work great!!How Often Should I Change My Furnace Filter?It really depends on what you're expecting out of your filter. If you want it to filter out cigar and cooking odors as well as dust and airborne junk, then you're going to need the expensive pleated HEPA type stuff, to do that, and you're going to need to change them frequently. If you're looking for, as we are, something to keep the majority of dust and particles out of the air so we don't have to breathe them in, then you can do with a much less expensive filter, probably made of fiberglass with a cardboard outer shell and change them once a month through the heating season. That means, 4 or 5 filters for the winter here, at a cost of about $1.25 - $1.40 each means maybe $7.00 for the season.How Often Should I Change My Furnace Filter?Its a good idea to check your filter once a month and change as needed. 1%26quot; thick pleated filters last UP TO 3 months. During extreme weather or if you run your fan a lot, you will need to change it more often. I generally advise people against using the expensive 3M filters. Brand new and right out of the package, they are restrictive to air flow which could cause problems to your equipment. You are much better off purchasing the cheaper pleated filters and changing them more often.
