Cut-to-Size

About a month ago Peter went to replace the air filter and found out that it measures  21.5”x 21.5”x1″.Can you imagine a more random size? To be honest, before this predicament, I’d never thought about filter sizes. The first time we thought to buy a replacement we thought all we needed to know was whether the vent was square or rectangular. We were that naive. We searched and searched for the right sized filter until finally, Peter talked to an air conditioning company. We learned that they could special order us twelve filters for $10 each. After seeing the prices of store bought filters, I was appalled. Who wants to spend $120 per year on air conditioning filters? I don’t.

That’s when our great friend, Clay, told us about cut-to-size filters. I looked for these at both Home Depot and Lowe’s but only managed to find them at the latter. This particular air filter was only $6. Here’s a picture of the packaging.

Unlike other filters, the Natural Aire does not need a frame. The fibers in the filter are so thick that you can just cut it and put it into your vent as is. This is really helpful if  the area around your vent is tight on space because you can bend the filter without worrying about breaking the frame.

We put our old filter on top of the new one and drew a line with a Sharpie to mark where we needed to cut.

Here’s a close up of that horribly dirty filter. We obviously waited longer than we were supposed to before we tackled this task. In fact, I’d be surprised if Peter has ever changed the air filter in the entire three or so years that he has lived here.

The excess filter can be discarded, unless of course you wanted to save it for a fun little craft.

Then you slip the filter in and you’re good to go. It only take a couple minutes.

Those of you who are really observant may have noticed that the filter is actually 1.5″ too short on one side. 20 x 30 x 1 was the largest size that I could find. Even though the filter is slightly smaller, it more than covered the opening when I put it in the vent.

The Natural Aire filter can also be washed, so instead of throwing away a filter every three months (or once a month like the custom ones from the air conditioning company required), you can remove this filter and clean it with a hose. If you opt to clean it, then the filter can last for an entire year. I dont know about you but I choose $6 over $120 any day. Plus, we feel great that we’re not tossing an extra eleven filters a year into the landfills.

Tell us about your air! What kind of filters do you buy? Are they standard sized or was finding a replacement a complete pain like it was for us?