Remember to Change Your Filter?

Whether you have a permanent AC filter that needs to be cleaned monthly or disposable filters that require regular changing how you do remember to do this routine task?

Activity-filled days make it very easy to forget something as easy to do as changing or cleaning your AC filter. Because your filter is an important part of keeping your HVAC system operating efficiently, here are a few tips to help you remember this chore.

If you have a Gmail account, you have a free Google account. Log in and click on the applications icon. Select “Calendar” and set a date to service your filter. Set the frequency for monthly and then set to indefinite. Google will send you a notification from that point forward (until you cancel the event on the calendar).

If your email is through Go-Daddy or one of the other services, you may have to pay for an on-line calendar. If you do not want to do this, you can schedule an email for delivery once a month on the day of your choosing as a reminder. Simply write yourself the email, set the delivery date, and then set delivery for one month later and then one month later and so on for at least a year or two. This is time consuming but you will not need to pay $9.99 to Go-Daddy for the calendar function.

If you have a Facebook account, you can go to the calendar, create an event “Change Filter”, and then set the event for the same day every month. Once again, this is a little time consuming to set up, but Facebook will remind you that it is time to change your filter in the same annoying way it reminds you of that person from High School that you accidently friended is having a birthday.

If you have a smart phone, it will have a calendar application. Use that calendar to set a monthly reminder and depending on how your application operates, you will get a notification and maybe a chime. If you have the option of setting a chime, make sure it is an annoying chime so that you will not ignore it.

If you are a low-tech kind of person, write it on your paper calendar. At the beginning of the year when you are writing in birthdays, anniversaries, or other occasions write in “CHANGE THE AC FILTER”.

Another low-tech option is to associate your filter change with something you do monthly. If you have a bill that you pay once a month, then associate paying that bill with changing your AC filter. I knew someone that used paying the mortgage to trigger changing her filter. A low-tech approach but it worked for her.

Whatever method you choose, take the advice from Nike and just do it!