Slacker Method for Keeping Air Clean

Posted by Jacques - January 17, 2009

lungs There are three really important things that your body needs to survive. Studies have shown that you can live for 4-6 weeks without food. If it’s water you’re missing, than you might last a week depending on the temperature. But without air, you will not be able to count more than a few minutes before suffering permanent brain death. And it isn’t just any air, it’s good quality air that we need. Ever heard of the Canary in the Coal Mine? Bad air can kill you.

Your body needs quality air to function properly. At worst, poor quality can cause permanent damage to your lungs, make you feel sick, and best, lower your efficiency and energy. Dirty air and smog can cause all sorts of brain damage, cancer, and athsma. Also, contaminants in the air can go directly to your bloodstream as it piggy backs on the oxygen which is exchanged through your alveoli. Don’t forget the many countless battles that people with allergies fight on a daily basis. This is why it is absolutely imperative that you always have clean air.

Now you may thinking, “What can I do about it?” or it “Seems like a lot of work.” As always I’ve done a little bit of thinking and determined that there’s a very slackerish way of handling poor quality air. Now, you can’t change the air quality outside, at least not without a lot of work lobbying your local politicians and pushing for the “Green” movement. While I like that idea, and highly recommend it, it isn’t exactly the most efficient way of making the air that you breathe cleaner. The number one rule to remember about being a slacker, is that you only need to worry about that which you can change. That being said, the good news is that for most people, the place where they have the most influence to change and the single place where they spend the largest amount of time (8 hours sleeping and beyond) is at home.

It all boils down to this. Get a good quality air filter, don’t opt for the cheap stuff, and change it every 3 months or so.

3M makes good quality air filters but they’re a bit pricey. If you shop around, you can find an air filter with the same rating for less. But focus more on quality than price. A low quality filter will allow all sorts of contaminants through that are not only bad for you, but will clog up your evaporator (I think that’s what it’s called) and cause it to need cleaning.

airfilter Before you go shopping, measure the area where the filter goes into, or better yet, measure the existing air filter before you throw it out. Just in case you need to get more down the line, write the measurements with a Sharpie someplace inconspicuous. Since I change my air filters every 3 months, every January I make sure I bring enough cash to buy 4 filters (so I don’t have to keep repeating this process several times a year). This way, I have enough for an entire year. Then I stuff the extra ones next to the A/C or in the laundry room so on those rare occasions I feel like changing it, it’s ready for the taking.

You also want to make sure it’s pleated. How do you know? Just look at the image in this article, or if that isn’t available, think of an accordian. It isn’t likely you’ll find too many air filters that AREN’T pleated, as that is the most common and readily available, and can even be found in your local grocery aisle. The other common times are the re-usable glass woven or HEPA filters. The re-usable are nice, but not really for slackers, who wants to be keep cleaning it? And the HEPA filters get clogged up really fast before needing a replacement.

So why three months? Actually, you can keep it a little longer. You often hear the recommendation to change monthly but guess what? It’s usually by people who benefit from that sort of thing. Pleated filters actually tend to work better over time as the accumulated dust acts as an additional filter. Think of water running down a mountain, incredibly clean at the bottom. Just don’t keep it longer than 6 months, as the strain of pushing air through the thick layers of dirt and filter will put strain on your A/C and will cause it to work harder or eventually break!

To recap: Measure the fit, buy quality pleated air filters, get enough for a year and store extras, change every 3 months or so, and you’re set.

Anything you like? Please share!

Slacker Method for Measuring Without a Ruler Okay so we’ve all been there, needing to measure something...
Slacker Method for Completing Your First Triathlon: Part 1 First of all Triathlons are never going to be “easy.”...
Slacker Method for Losing Weight by Swapping Foods Unfortunately, this slacker has not found a magic pill. Luckily,...
Slacker Method for a Successful New Year’s Resolution The easiest method for actually accomplishing your New Year’s resolution...
The Slacker Method for Building a Nest Egg Saving money for the future can be a tough thing....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

January 17, 2009 | In All Slacker Methods, Slackers and Health |

2 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

on the health line.Had 3 teeth pulled yesterday-great Dental Surgeon.Told jokes all the way.Called end of day to be sure all ok.over 1/3 less than last extraction and it was 2 teeth from another Dentist this one 3.I realize everyone different but some Dr and office staff need a course in patient courtesy and not collection one.
ike

Comment by ike — January 23, 2009 #
Wow, hope you’re feeling better.

Comment by Jacques — January 23, 2009 #

The Slacker Method