Woosh Smart Air Filter Review: No More Guessing

“It’s a helpful method to monitor the pressure drop across the filter—it’s a good way to know when it’s time to change the filter because otherwise, there’s a lot of guess work,” says Lee. He says the typical three-month replacement recommendation is based on an estimate of 20 percent of your HVAC system’s runtime (about five hours a day). Much of this depends on your climate, however, Lee says A recent study 20 homes in Toronto had a median HVAC runtime of 10 percent over a year, meaning these people would be able to replace their filters less frequently.

Regarding the MERV 13 ruling, Lee said the higher flow resistance will make HVAC fans work harder. Depending on your system, the fan may stop Working hard, reduces airflow and potentially damages the cooling coil. However, a higher MERV rating does not equal higher flow resistance. It depends on the quality of the filter, as Lee says he’s seen MERV 13 filters with lower flow resistance than MERV 8. Ultimately, Lee says the main factor is the age of your HVAC system.

“If it’s a relatively new system in good condition, and you’re using a MERV 8 filter without any problems, I don’t think it would be a problem to use a MERV 11, MERV 13, or even a MERV 14 filter because even if there is a difference in flow resistance But it’s relatively small,” she says. “I think most systems should be able to handle it, especially if you don’t change your filter for a whole year.”

People with older systems should be careful, as they may not be able to handle high-efficiency filters. He recommends listening to sounds and feeling the flow coming from your home’s cooling and heating vents.

The good news is that Woosh’s Smart Filter can detect problems with your HVAC system. The company says it can detect early signs of coil freezing, which can cause irreparable damage if not fixed. It operates by checking pressure drop and flow rate along with temperature and humidity levels.

Thankfully, using a MERV 13 filter doesn’t seem to have any adverse effects on my system and I haven’t received any notices of problems with my HVAC. My only concern is that, according to the app, I still I haven’t needed to change the filter even though it’s been nine months since I installed it. My wallet is happy, but from what I’ve heard and read about the filter, I should have changed it by now.