What Happens If You Put Furnace Filter In Backwards

furnace repair service

For your furnace to part optimally, you know you have to replace the filter. For experienced homeowners replacing the filter isn't a trouble, but it might be a problem for new homeowners that might install it backwards.

What happens if yous put the furnace in backwards?

Yous might recollect nothing volition happen, merely cypher is further from the truth than this. According to furnace repair service providers, installing the furnace backwards comes with plenty of negatives that include:

Short cycling

Short cycling is when the furnace turns on and off faster than information technology should. Y'all might become away with installing the filter backwards with a new furnace, simply it will short cycle if your furnace is old. Sometimes the issue is so severe that fire starts.

When you lot let the furnace short bike for a long fourth dimension, you put the furnace under more than strain than it should, which significantly reduces the appliance'due south efficiency.

Reduced efficiency

When you install the furnace filter backwards, you impede airflow, which reduces the appliance'due south efficiency.

Installing the filter backwards likewise means that the air flows around the filter, throwing a lot of dust on the evaporator scroll. When there is a lot of dust on the evaporator ringlet, you lot have reduced efficiency.

Also the dust covering the evaporator ringlet, it also coats the blower fan, blower motor, and other internal parts of the furnace which further significantly reduces your apparatus's efficiency.

Poor indoor air quality

Reduced airflow, short cycling, and increased dust make the house uncomfortable to live in. The state of affairs is worse in newer homes that are designed to be airtight. Here yous will have to clean and dust the house more than oftentimes than usual.

Increased risk of mold growth

As mentioned higher up, a backwards filter leads to more grit getting in the furnace and reduced airflow. The unfortunate thing is that grit is a food source for mold.

This ways the longer you live with the filter in the backwards position, the college the chances of mold growing in your domicile.

Mold comes with plenty of health negatives such as increased allergies, respiratory diseases, and many others.

How can yous avoid installing the furnace the wrong way?

There are two ways to do it. I is to invest in knowledge. Y'all need to read or watch videos on how to install the filter properly. To know how to install the filter in your specific furnace, read the owner'south manual.

If you don't have time for this, rent a professional to install it for you. The cool thing with hiring a professional person is they not but supplant the filters; they also inspect the furnace and fix whatever issues that might be present.

Understanding how the furnace works

The key to fugitive making a fault is to understand how the HVAC system works. Airflow always goes from the return vents to the furnace where information technology's re-heated.

The HVAC duct system works like a loop with a return side and supply side. The return side is usually larger than the smaller supply ducts. In a single home, yous will take one or two large return ducts that extend the unabridged length of the firm.

The supply side is the smaller side, and information technology supplies air to the house through the air vents. Then if you lot look at your furnace and follow the furnace's ends, yous will accept one large and another small duct.

For the air filter, it's always before the HVAC equipment. The air always comes from the side of the duct with no HVAC components.

The blower fan, motor, evaporator coil, and other organization parts are e'er downstream of the filter. And this makes sense as you need air filtered before it gets into the furnace.

You need to be observant.

It's easy to install the filter backwards, even if you are experienced. All it takes is a loss of concentration, and you make a error. To avert this, observe your deportment. Also, consider hiring a furnace repair service Long Island to make clean or supercede the filter for you.

As mentioned above, the service providers don't only practice the bones piece of work, they also melody upwardly the appliance to ensure it'southward in top working status.