• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Social
  • Subscribe
  • Amazon Storefront

Philip or Flop

Let's Make our Homes Incredible Together through DIY!

  • Projects
    • Financial Planning for a Large Home Renovation
    • DIY a Raised Bed Vegetable Garden
    • Build an Outdoor Planter from Cedar Wood
    • Transform Your Bedroom with Paint
    • Raised Kids Craftsman Playhouse
    • DIY Epoxy Garage Floors
    • Fall Porch Makeover with a Bench Swing
    • Garage Football Stadium Makeover
  • DIY Tutorials
    • DIY Indoor Glamping: Simple Tents for Your Child’s Sleepover
    • How to Build a Horizontal Fence That Looks Great on Both Sides
    • How to DIY Limewash a Brick House
    • How to Install a Craftsman Style Window Sill and Trim
    • How to Seal Your Kitchen Backsplash
    • Add Glass to Your Pantry Door
    • Install a Transom Window in a Cased Opening
    • DIY Epoxy Garage Floors
    • Install Landscape Lighting for Added Curb Appeal
    • Home Maintenance with Exterior Sealants
    • Removing Trim Without Damaging Drywall
    • Using Sealants in a Bathroom Remodel
    • Smart Home: Air Filtration
  • Tool Tips
    • Removing Trim Without Damaging Drywall
    • Hearing Protection for DIY Projects
  • Lawn & Garden
    • DIY a Raised Bed Vegetable Garden
    • Install Landscape Lighting for Added Curb Appeal
    • Get Your Lawn Ready for Spring
    • Transform a Water Trough into a Planter
    • Build an Outdoor Planter from Cedar Wood
  • Home Transformations
    • Laundry Room Remodel – How to Maximize a Small Space
    • Fall Porch Makeover with a Bench Swing
  • Building a Home
    • Building our Coastal Kitchen with Ready to Assemble (RTA) Cabinets
  • Gift Guides
    • The Valentine’s Day Gift Guide for the DIYer in your Life
    • Holiday Gift Guide for the Tech Lover

Smart Home: Air Filtration

November 17, 2021 by Philip

Air filtration is a critical component to having clean air in our homes and changing our air filters regularly is a maintenance item that should not be overlooked. This article gives some background on how filtration works and shows an innovative product to help us be more regular about replacement! This post is sponsored by Filtrete™ Brand but the opinions are all my own.

Here is a fun fact about me, I have formal training in the textile sciences and have published multiple peer reviewed journal articles on aerosol filtration! I geek about smart home and engineered fabric structures and when those two intersect I really go crazy!

Importance of Home Air Filtration

The air we breathe often contains particulates, solid and liquid particles so small that they can stay suspended in the air for extremely long periods of time. Outdoors the air is always being replaced by the breeze, indoors the air is recirculating so any particulates that are created in the home can remain in the air for an extended period of time. Most homes will contain dander, pollen, lint fragments floating in the air and if you are like me doing home improvements there can be additional dust from demolition and construction!

Most homes have HVAC systems where the air is conditioned and pumped through duct work. These pathways are a great place to add filtration! Filters are often placed at the entrance of air returns or in the air handler itself. Having an efficient filter in all the air returns can substantially reduce the amount of particulates we breathe in, indoors. I have always used Filtrete™ air filters!

How Air Filters Work

Air filters are created from fabric products with a nonwoven structure which contain extremely fine fibers that have a completely random fiber architecture. This “web” of fibers is engineered to “trap” particles from the air flowing around them. Floating particles can range in size from tens of nanometers to tens of microns. Filters have different efficiency ratings and filters with higher MERV or MPR rating will capture a higher percentage of particles from a broader range of particle sizes. Typically filters with a higher MPR rating will be more expensive than ones with a low MPR rating because of the number of fabric layers and the total area of fabric in the filter (you will often notice that filters with high MPR ratings more pleats which increase the overall filtration surface area).  

Why We Have to Change our Air Filters

After a period of time our air filters get loaded with particulates that have been trapped in the fiber structure. You can visibly see this accumulation build over time as the filter first begins to look a little dirty and then a gray dust film coats the surface. While the filter will continue to remove particulates from the air, the loaded filters will become more and more “clogged”. As the filter accumulates more dust, the air can move through it less easily. We characterize how easily the air can move through a filter by the pressure drop across the filter. With no filter in place the pressure drop is zero. When a new filter is in place the pressure drop is small (not zero because of the fibers present in the filter) and as the filter is loaded with more and more dust the pressure drop gets higher and higher.

A large fan is used to push air through our HVAC systems. The amount of electrical energy (and cost) that it takes to push the air is dependent on the sizing and length of ductwork but also any additional pressure drops that are added to the system, like a loaded filter. A loaded filter, with a large pressure drop, requires the fan motor to use more energy to push the air. In extreme cases a badly clogged filter can put additional unwanted stress on the fan motor, shortening its life. In short, filters need to be changed regularly to save energy costs and minimize the stress on your HVAC system.

Filtrete™ Smart Air Filters

Here is the thing – clearly I know the importance of changing my home air filters but I still have a hard time remembering to do so. I write the install date on the filters, I put a calendar reminder in my phone to check them after 2 months and I have plenty on hand but I still often wait way too long!

I love smart home products and recently read amazing reviews of the Filtrete™ Smart Air Filters on Amazon (4.7/5 stars) and had to try them out. I have always used Filtrete™ Brand filters in our home and the idea that a filter can tell me when it needs to be changed via a Bluetooth® enabled pressure sensor sounded really amazing.

The Filtrete™ Smart Air Filters look the same as their traditional air filters except for a small yellow pressure sensor that is attached to the surface. This sensor is Bluetooth® LE-enabled and designed to monitor the pressure drop change across the filter over its lifetime. It sends this data to the Filtrete™ Smart App and can estimate how much life is left based on air flow and usage and send you a push notification when it is time to change!

I really like how quick and seamless the setup of the app and the syncing of new filters was. The app took 3 minutes to download and setup and syncing a new filter was as easy as hitting a single button on the app, pulling the little blue tab on the filters and naming the filter location, a total of 30 seconds. The app also has useful information such as outdoor air quality reports based on your location, syncing with popular voice assistants and an easy mechanism for you to reorder replacement filters.

These filters are now installed and running, and I will update this post with my additional impressions when these smart filters tell me they have reached their end of life!

Filed Under: Projects Tagged With: Home Maintenance

Primary Sidebar

Sign up for new post updates!

Search my site

Follow Me on Instagram

Follow on Instagram

Footer

Disclaimer

DIY and working with tools have inherent risks. The projects presented on this website are meant for inspiration only, as the conditions, materials and tools on your own project will vary. Always follow the manufactures’ instructions provided with your tools and abide by local building codes. Philip or Flop (of Philip or Flop, LLC) will not assume any liability for any damages, losses or injury sustained in the course of your own project.

Affiliate Links

Many of the links to products on this site are affiliate links. When you click these links and make a purchase I will make a commission off of the sale. The products are the exact same price as found as normal and the commission is paid to me by the merchant. These commissions help me to product more content for this site to make it more complete for you!

Tags

affordable DIY project alternative to custom kitchen cabinets beautiful DIY headboard beautiful fences box trim build custom headboard creative tent custom beach house custom designed house directions on how to build a kid's play tent DIY box trim DIYer gift guide DIY fences DIY headboard diy kid's tent DIY kitchen cabinets DIY limewash fireplace Garden gift guide for DIYer great holiday gift guides high end custom cabinets holiday gift guides Home Maintenance how to limewash your house indoor child's tent indoor tent interesting presenta kid's tent kitchen cabinet assembly low-cost high impact project McElroy metal roof metal roof new home construction new home preconstruction new house construction new house foundations no sew DIY kid's tent planter play tent ready-to-assemble kitchen cabinets RTA kitchen cabinets sleep over tent Valentine's Day Valentine's Day gift guide

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in amzn_assoc_ad_type = "link_enhancement_widget"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "philipbradfor-20"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "82eabd867b427f59250a4dc01b55bfa3"; amzn_assoc_placement = ""; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US";