Anyone ever hear of Airteva? [www.filterfactory.com]

It’s a metal frame that allows you to use whatever filter media you like for your HVAC. Without going into too many details, which I’m prone to do, I recently found out that MERV 8 filters are too restrictive for my heat pump. Nobody in my home has any airborne sensitivities or other respiratory health issues, so I’m shooting for MERV 4 solely for the health of my heat pump. I looked up the manual for my air handler, and it came with a MERV 4 filter included, so I’m sticking with that.

I need an odd-sized filter of 16-3/8 x 21-1/2 x 1, actual (not nominal). There’s not a lot to choose from, so what there is ain’t cheap. I have a hard time with the idea of spending over $10 each for a chintzy low-end fiberglass filter.

After the initial purchase of one of these frames and some bulk fiberglass filter media I can get my cost per filter to $1.86. Anyone have any experience with these or something similar? If not, anyone have any opinions on this strategy (other than a debate about my low MERV choice, which is set)?

I've been using these for years: [www.nordicpure.com]

At some point in time they had some blowout sale on them and I have enough filters for probably 5 years.

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C(-)ris
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C(-)ris
I've been using these for years: [www.nordicpure.com]

At some point in time they had some blowout sale on them and I have enough filters for probably 5 years.

Lowest MERV they have is 7, $12.xx each. I don’t think anyone makes a pleated filter at MERV 4. I can find pleated filters. Looking for fiberglass and I’d prefer to pay fiberglass prices.

Ok, so here are all the deets I tried not to dive into before. Existing heat pump in the home we bought two years ago. Installed in 2018.

I think the previous owners used up/wore out the hog hair filter (rinse and reusable) that came with it, and went to “the store.” There, they found the closest size to 16-3/8x21-1/2x1 they could which was 16x20x1 and ran with it. When we moved in, I noticed that filter trying to make its rattly escape in pretty short time.

I found decent name brand filters for a while, at a high cost, but they soon dried up. I eventually resorted to Aerostar on Amazon. Cheap and flimsy. I usually had to tear them out in pieces when it was time to replace them. Over time I found out they were costing more than face value because they died due to getting sucked out of shape and got pulled up into the coils before it was time to change them.

I then happened onto a different brand, Filterbuy. They were much sturdier, but they were also larger than stated. I was able to get them in, though, but just barely. Due to their rigidity and tight fit (I’ll let all of your minds wander on that one) I knew they were filtering well. Too well. I set a reminder to check/change in one month. About 27 days later, though, my Ecobee sent me an alert that it was rebooting a lot due to freezing up. That’s when I found out a MERV 8 is a LOT more restrictive in a 1” filter than it is in a thicker one. FWIW, we’re rural, on gravel. It really was used up in that amount of time. After 27 days that filter was as grey as my soul. Before, there was so much air bypassing the filter the issue never came up.

Did a little more research and came to the conclusion, that since I don’t care about my family (honestly, we’re all healthy and there’s nothing slurping around in our air that isn’t already everywhere else anyway), I was just going to worry about the health and longevity of the heat pump. Turns out, all I needed for that all along was to click my ruby slippers together three times and buy crappy fiberglass filters.

So here I am now. I did also consider getting some more hog hair filters or even a fancy electrostatic washable one, but in the end, swapping out a disposable once a month seemed like the way to go. I had these in my cart for over $10 each [a.co], but I don’t know. I’ll do MERV 4, but MERV 3? That really seems like slummin’ it, and for the same price I was paying for pleated MERV 8 filters before. What else is there?

That’s when my continued searching led me to the solution I’m asking about now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2024 07:14PM by BernDog.

For more context, this is a demonstration of how the frame works:

[youtu.be]

And here’s the filter media I’m looking at:

[a.co]

I can get 22 filters out of that $40 roll.

If I only used the frame for that one roll, it comes out to $4-something a filter, which is comparable to what you can buy fiberglass filters in a cardboard frame for at “the store,” albeit not at a 16-3/8” width. The longer I use it after that, the cheaper it gets.

Oh, man. I just looked and fiberglass filters at “the store” are even cheaper than I realized. But, they’re also either MERV 1 or 2. I still feel ok with my strategy, but of course, those don’t come in my size anyway, so potato, tomato…or something like that.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2024 07:26PM by BernDog.

Go for it.

Conspiracies theories be damned.

This is the best I could find, but exceeds your $10 price expectation:
[www.rememberthefilter.com]

You can save 15% if you buy 5 cases or more (~$700+ investment).

You'll be hard-pressed to find a MERV 4 with cross bars to prevent the fiberglass from getting ingested into your system. Maybe cut something like this to tape on the system side:
<[www.homedepot.com];

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C(-)ris
I've been using these for years: [www.nordicpure.com]

At some point in time they had some blowout sale on them and I have enough filters for probably 5 years.

I tried one of their filters. The actual size is too small compared to the labeled size. It would stay in the track.

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MikeF
This is the best I could find, but exceeds your $10 price expectation:
[www.rememberthefilter.com]

You can save 15% if you buy 5 cases or more (~$700+ investment).

You'll be hard-pressed to find a MERV 4 with cross bars to prevent the fiberglass from getting ingested into your system. Maybe cut something like this to tape on the system side:
<[www.homedepot.com];

Yeah, I saw those too. Wrote them off for the same reason as well.

16x20 is too small, but what about using 16x20 with painter's tape to hold them in place and block the additional open space around them?

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MikeF
16x20 is too small, but what about using 16x20 with painter's tape to hold them in place and block the additional open space around them?

That’s a great idea. Make some shims to bridge the gap and use tape to attach the shims to a filter.
You can reuse the shims.