i moved into this house in 1996 (it was built in 1976). The air
conditioning unit is outside and the heating unit in attic. It has the
vents in attic that lead to my three bedrooms, two baths, living room,
kitchen, laundry room. Over the years I noticed no matter how many times
I changed the filter in the vent in the hallway the house was constantly
dusty. Over the years my bills were enormous but it was neither too cold
or too hot. I kept asking my sons if there was another filter or if the
vents needed to be cleaned. No responsible response. Truthfully I am
now, nor have been in the past, been financially able to have it looked at
professionally. That's why I'm trying to do this myself. My venting is
taped together with what looks like duct tape which is coming loose...and
I'm just stuck with what I've got. But the filter that MAYBE somewhere
close to the unit in the attic, if it exsist, must be deplorable...after
me living here for 17 years and not knowing. Can you help me locate the
filter so I can see what I can do about it? I do not know what type of
heating system it is or who installed it..

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On Thursday, November 14, 2013 4:44:02 PM UTC-5, Joan M. W. wrote:
i moved into this house in 1996 (it was built in 1976). The air

conditioning unit is outside and the heating unit in attic. It has the

vents in attic that lead to my three bedrooms, two baths, living room,

kitchen, laundry room. Over the years I noticed no matter how many times

I changed the filter in the vent in the hallway the house was constantly

dusty. Over the years my bills were enormous but it was neither too cold

or too hot. I kept asking my sons if there was another filter or if the

vents needed to be cleaned. No responsible response. Truthfully I am

now, nor have been in the past, been financially able to have it looked at

professionally. That's why I'm trying to do this myself. My venting is

taped together with what looks like duct tape which is coming loose...and

I'm just stuck with what I've got. But the filter that MAYBE somewhere

close to the unit in the attic, if it exsist, must be deplorable...after

me living here for 17 years and not knowing. Can you help me locate the

filter so I can see what I can do about it? I do not know what type of

heating system it is or who installed it..


The filter is normally in the blower compartment of the
furnace. Furnace typically has two cover you can remove.
One is to access the burner compartment. The other to access
the blower.

You don't say what kind of furnace it is, but if it's
a gas furnace, at 37 years, I for sure would have it looked
at by a pro. At that age, the heat exchanger could be
shot, setting you up for possible carbon monixide posioning,
etc. Too bad you couldn't get a home equity loan or similar.
Back in 2010, with up to $1500 in fed tax credits, plus
the typical state, utility, etc rebates, it was a great time
to get a new efficient system.

On 11/14/2013 3:44 PM, Joan M. W. wrote:
i moved into this house in 1996 (it was built in 1976). The air
conditioning unit is outside and the heating unit in attic. ...

There's at least a reasonable possibility there's a filter near the air
handling unit in the attic, but if so one would hope there was/is
provision to get there via a pulldown stairway or similar. It's
possible they did put the filter on the return in the house.

It would be good to find where combustion air is from if this isn't
all-electric. The upstairs old furnace here drew air thru a cutout into
the attic and I discovered when we moved back it was almost completely
blocked...

While things are tight, it really shouldn't be much actual cash to get a
fall safety checkover and might well be worth it in reducing bills over
the coming winter...

--

If I were in your shoes I'd be getting a can or two of mastic and head
up to the attic with a brush and putty knife. While you're up there
slopping the stuff in and on the ductwork joints write down the model of
the furnace and look it up on the internet to find if it might have a
filter in the attic unit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIG5xzoMSqk

Joan M. W. wrote:
i moved into this house in 1996 (it was built in 1976). The air
conditioning unit is outside and the heating unit in attic. It has
the vents in attic that lead to my three bedrooms, two baths, living
room, kitchen, laundry room. Over the years I noticed no matter how
many times I changed the filter in the vent in the hallway the house
was constantly dusty.

My house is constantly dusty even in the summer when I never use the furnace.

Dust happens.

"Bob F" wrote in message
...
Joan M. W. wrote:
i moved into this house in 1996 (it was built in 1976). The air
conditioning unit is outside and the heating unit in attic. It has
the vents in attic that lead to my three bedrooms, two baths, living
room, kitchen, laundry room. Over the years I noticed no matter how
many times I changed the filter in the vent in the hallway the house
was constantly dusty.

My house is constantly dusty even in the summer when I never use the
furnace.

Dust happens.


That sounds right. The filter is not to filter the dust out of the house.
It is to keep the dust from getting to the cooling or heating coils in the
duct work.

I lived in a house and it got very dusty and the filters needed changing
often as they were clogged with dust. Moved to another house and the
filters last a long time before they seem to need changing, but I do change
them every month anyway. They are cheep compaired to the problems a dirty
filter can cause with the heat and air.

"Bob F" wrote:
Joan M. W. wrote:
i moved into this house in 1996 (it was built in 1976). The air
conditioning unit is outside and the heating unit in attic. It has
the vents in attic that lead to my three bedrooms, two baths, living
room, kitchen, laundry room. Over the years I noticed no matter how
many times I changed the filter in the vent in the hallway the house
was constantly dusty.

My house is constantly dusty even in the summer when I never use the furnace.

Dust happens.

There's a company is my area advertising their duct cleaning service. They
state that if you have to constantly dust your house, your ducts must need
cleaning. "Run your finger along the baseboard. If it's dusty, have us come
out and clean your ducts."

I don't recall if they specifically say that the ducts are the cause of the
ducts, but they sure make it sound that way.

I feel like calling them and asking whoever answers to explain to me how
ducts create dust. I mean, who doesn't have dust on their baseboards?

On Thu, 14 Nov 2013 18:26:26 -0800, "Bob F"
wrote:

Joan M. W. wrote:
i moved into this house in 1996 (it was built in 1976). The air
conditioning unit is outside and the heating unit in attic. It has
the vents in attic that lead to my three bedrooms, two baths, living
room, kitchen, laundry room. Over the years I noticed no matter how
many times I changed the filter in the vent in the hallway the house
was constantly dusty.

My house is constantly dusty even in the summer when I never use the furnace.

Dust happens.

Much of household dust is shed skin, particularly in the Winter.

On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 03:36:26 +0000 (UTC), DerbyDad03
wrote:

"Bob F" wrote:
Joan M. W. wrote:
i moved into this house in 1996 (it was built in 1976). The air
conditioning unit is outside and the heating unit in attic. It has
the vents in attic that lead to my three bedrooms, two baths, living
room, kitchen, laundry room. Over the years I noticed no matter how
many times I changed the filter in the vent in the hallway the house
was constantly dusty.

My house is constantly dusty even in the summer when I never use the furnace.

Dust happens.

There's a company is my area advertising their duct cleaning service. They
state that if you have to constantly dust your house, your ducts must need
cleaning. "Run your finger along the baseboard. If it's dusty, have us come
out and clean your ducts."

If the dust is getting out of the ducts, to land on your furniture,
why do the ducts need cleaning? If the dust is stuck in the ducts,
then cleaning would clean them, but the dust that is stuck there is
not a problem anyhow. It just stays there.

If dust is coming out of the ducts, it must be coming, at some point,
from the furnace, maybe from the air intake to the furnace, in other
words, from your house. .


I don't recall if they specifically say that the ducts are the cause of the
ducts, but they sure make it sound that way.

I feel like calling them and asking whoever answers to explain to me how
ducts create dust. I mean, who doesn't have dust on their baseboards?

On Thursday, November 14, 2013 1:44:02 PM UTC-8, Joan M. W. wrote:
i moved into this house in 1996 (it was built in 1976). The air

conditioning unit is outside and the heating unit in attic. It has the

vents in attic that lead to my three bedrooms, two baths, living room,

kitchen, laundry room. Over the years I noticed no matter how many times

I changed the filter in the vent in the hallway the house was constantly

dusty. Over the years my bills were enormous but it was neither too cold

or too hot. I kept asking my sons if there was another filter or if the

vents needed to be cleaned. No responsible response. Truthfully I am

now, nor have been in the past, been financially able to have it looked at

professionally. That's why I'm trying to do this myself. My venting is

taped together with what looks like duct tape which is coming loose...and

I'm just stuck with what I've got. But the filter that MAYBE somewhere

close to the unit in the attic, if it exsist, must be deplorable...after

me living here for 17 years and not knowing. Can you help me locate the

filter so I can see what I can do about it? I do not know what type of

heating system it is or who installed it..



--

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Do you know if your evaporator might be dirty?
The evaporator is the part that looks like a car radiator and would be located next to your air handler or furnace.
Are you able to get a look at the surface of the evaporator that would be facing your heat exchanger or furnace?