You come home after a busy day at the office, make a cup of delicious tea, sit down on the couch and take a deep breath.
Unfortunately, what you smell is dust.
Seems you forgot to change that air conditioner filter.
Last time it took you three weeks before you finally got to it, and it looks like the situation is going to repeat itself.
Maybe it's time to consider a reminder? Filters are the least expensive parts of the AC units, take the least time to maintain, and are proven to extend your unit's life.
If you want to avoid expensive repairs, or equally unpleasant hot days without properly working AC, you should start by using regular air filter changes as your first line of defense.
Everybody knows that changing the filter is quick and easy, and so is purchasing one.
As long as you know what size you need, that is.
Turns out that for most people, the difficult thing is remembering when they should change the air conditioner filter.
Depending on the filter's efficiency, specialists recommend to change them every one to three months.
On one hand seems impossible to forget; however, with the pace of life nowadays, and dozens of things to take care of each week, something may easily slip your mind.
Thankfully, there are some easy, proven ways to take care of your AC unit, thus taking care of your family's health.
Apply one of these methods, and you may stop worrying that everybody in your house is breathing in dust or mold particles.
One of the simplest ways for those of you who change their air conditioner filter once a month is to replace them on the same day you pay your bills.
When you take care of that power bill, you will be reminded that your AC unit uses power, and you will remember that a clean filter saves energy, so in fact it saves you money.
A few months into it, you might notice that you reach for the bills with one hand and for a new air filter with the other.
What if your bills are paid electronically, and you never write checks to utility companies? Well, that means you are a computer savvy customer, and most likely check your e-mail at least once a day.
You could use it to your advantage and put a reminder in your computer calendar.
It will only take a moment to set up a recurring message that it is time to change your AC filter, and you can forget all about it until the next time it pops up on your screen.
If you are an old-fashioned homeowner, however, there is an old-fashioned solution for you.
All you need is a small piece of paper, a marker, and a fridge magnet.
Write down a short message to yourself stating, for example, air conditioner filter change on 15th.
It will be impossible to miss that message, since your daily routine for sure involves standing in front of the refrigerator for a moment.
And with a note like that, your routine will definitely include an air conditioner filter change when needed, not when you remember it three weeks too late.