On Wed, 2 Nov 2016 13:56:09 -0400, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article .com,
m says...

replying to Ralph Mowery, Allie wrote:
No dirt floor..haha. Not. Non smoker, 3 dogs. Florida humidity..sand not dirt
outside.



With 3 dogs it could be lots of dog hair. If this is the case it would
probably be beter if you switched to a less expensive filter and changed
it once a month.

I guess that if Florida you run the unit most of the year. I am in the
middle of NC and have a heat pump so it runs much of the year. No
animals in the house and the 1 inch filter changed every two months
seems to filter it out very well. Not too dirty and the coils were
cleaned after several years by an AC repair man. He said they did not
really need it, but was part of the service.

The pleated paper filter is far more effective in taking out small
particles.
I ended up with both. My air handler is in a closet with a louvered
door. I used "cut to fit" media on the door to stop the big stuff and
a "space guard" on the intake for the rest of it.
I can take the door media out in the yard and wash it with a hose and
it seems to stop most of the stuff. The paper filters last at least a
year. I have a gauge on the air handler that tells me when it is
degraded.