Don’t Fear Your Furnace

by Katrina Smith Korfmacher and Madeline Holodnik

“Have you changed your furnace filter lately?”

If you are reading a blog about healthy housing, the answer is probably yes. But if not, you are in good company: Of the 84 homeowners we met while doing the ROC HOME study in Rochester, New York, over the past few years, almost half had dirty furnace filters. So, the ROC HOME team decided to create a short video to help people to take this important step toward keeping a healthy home. Even if you regularly change your furnace filter, perhaps you have family members, colleagues, patients or clients who do not: We hope this resource will be useful to them!

ROC HOME was a study supported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Healthy Homes Technical Studies program and led by Silent Spring Institute in partnership with the University of Rochester, the City of Rochester, the National Center for Healthy Housing, and the community group Rochester ENergy and Weatherization (RENEW). The study looked at whether federal housing grant programs designed to reduce lead hazards also affect exposure to contaminants like asthma triggers, pesticides, flame retardants, and phthalates and to conditions like injury hazards, humidity, and missing smoke detectors. ROC HOME also engaged residents through an action-oriented educational intervention based on New York State’s Healthy Neighborhood Program. We learned about residents’ healthy home knowledge, behaviors, and conditions, provided education and low-cost resources, and studied whether improvements were made after the intervention.

All of the ROC HOME participants were homeowners who income-qualified for a HUD lead hazard control grant program. The vast majority of participants (93%) had forced hot air heating systems, and we were surprised by how many did not know that they should regularly change their furnace filter, never mind how to do it.

In most cases, we were able to go into the basement with the residents and show them where their furnace filter was, talk about its importance, and demonstrate how to change it. When we returned for later study visits, many people had continued to change their furnace filters—but others had not. This suggests multiple levels of action may be needed, such as:

• Educational materials about furnace filter replacement for multiple audiences including homeowners, tenants, and landlords.
• Seasonal reminders on social media in communities where many people have forced hot air furnaces.
• Add furnace filter replacement to housing rehabilitation grant programs.
• Encouraging home visitors to integrate messaging about furnace filters into their work with residents.
• Incorporating furnace filter education into inspections of rental housing.
• Providing free home inspections that include furnace safety education to new home buyers.
• Research on the health benefits of furnace filter replacement and whether health information motivates people to change their filters.

Some of these ideas have already been piloted in Rochester. For example, City of Rochester Lead Hazard Control grant specifications now regularly include furnace filter replacement, and city staff distribute copies of a Healthy Homes, Healthy Families guide that includes furnace filter information.

Many people don’t know that it is recommended to have your furnace inspected by a professional every year or can’t afford to do so. Our ROC HOME experience suggests that even people who have an annual inspection could use a reminder to change their furnace filter. But what should the message be? Most guidelines recommend buying a good-quality filter (MERV 8 or higher) and changing it every three to four months during the heating season. Beyond that, things get tricky:

• Furnaces take different sizes and types of filters; some last longer than others.
• It’s hard to make a health-based message because we can’t quantify exactly what health benefits different filters and replacement regimens may have for different people.
• People with asthma or allergies may benefit from a higher MERV-rated filter, but these filters may not work for some furnaces.
• Renters may not have access to their furnace or the ability to make sure the landlord changes their filter.
• Changing the filter is important for functioning of the furnace and may save energy costs, since the furnace has to work harder to pull air through a dirty furnace.

Given the diversity of furnaces, it’s hard to give one-size-fits-all guidance. In the end, we decided to create a short video focused on the ROC HOME audience of low-income homeowners in Rochester, where most people use forced hot air furnaces. We provide links to additional resources on our website. We hope others will adapt these ideas for their region, housing, and communities.

Watch the Video and Do It Yourself

Learn how and why to change the furnace filter in your forced hot air heating system! Changing your furnace filter is easy to do, can be done by yourself and helps improve the air quality in your home. The University of Rochester Environmental Health Sciences Center shows you the easy steps to check and change your furnace filter. Learn how to choose a furnace filter and what to look for when buying one.

Special Bonus:

The Furnace Filter Replacement Video: An Interview with Filmmaker Maddie Holodnik

KSK: Maddie, tell us why you decided to make the video Furnace Filter Replacement?

MH: We decided to make this video because we received a lot of questions from participants in the ROC HOME study about changing their furnace filter. We talked with a lot of people who did not even know they had a furnace filter, never mind that they should change it! We wanted to show just how easy it can be. We also wanted to highlight the health benefits of furnace filters, especially for those with asthma or allergies.

KSK: But surely there are lots of videos on how to change your furnace filter online already…. Why make another?

MH: There are many videos out there from the HVAC industry. Most are around six or seven minutes and too technical for many people.

KSK: So, how did you get started?

MH: We started by researching the importance of furnace filters and replacing them. We learned a lot about MERV ratings, so we were able to distill that information down to what people needed to know. After that, we started developing the script and mapping out how we wanted the video to look. We wanted to choose a furnace that looked most like ROC HOME participants’ furnaces, one with a filter that would be changed every three to four months, but we did include examples of some different types of furnace filters.

KSK: What was the biggest challenge you faced making this video?

MH: Making sure to include all the important and necessary information while making it a relatively short video.

KSK: As you made the video, who were you thinking about?

MH: This video is definitely geared towards the public, especially those who have no experience changing their furnace filter. I didn’t know how to change my furnace filter until I made this video, so I wanted to make sure it was easy for people with no experience.

KSK: What did you learn from making the video?

MH: The first thing I learned is how to change my furnace filter! I think this was the perfect example of a topic where making a video explaining how to do it is so much more impactful or easier to understand than an infographic.

KSK: Any final thoughts?

MH: I just really hope people see how easy and actionable changing your furnace filter can be. I also hope people recognize that it can improve their indoor air quality!

 

Katrina Smith Korfmacher, Ph.D, Professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Rochester, is the author of Bridging Silos: Collaborating for Environmental Health and Justice in Urban Communities, which explores the challenges, successes, and lessons learned about collaboration through three case studies in New York, Minnesota, and California. She is a little bit afraid of her basement.

 

 

Madeline Holodnik, MPH, is an engagement coordinator in the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the University of Rochester.