Use crushed furnace filters?

March 7, 2023 7:11 AM

I ordered furnace air filters and unfortunately, they arrived damaged. It appears they got crushed during shipping. Seller told me I could toss and is sending me a new batch but I feel guilty. Photos inside - would you use them?

Here are photos of the filters.

Use or toss?

posted by Twicketface to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

The seller has decided it's worth sending you a new set. So, toss and be thankful. Don't worry about it.

Personally unless there were clear holes in the filter I'd likely use them, but that's because I don't worry about these things at all. If you're going to think about it, even a blip not worth your energy or time.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:17 AM on March 7, 2023

Toss, and don't feel guilty. The filter protects elements of your furnace, as well as elements of yourself when you breathe the heated air. If there are holes in it, you'll damage those elements.
posted by beagle at 7:18 AM on March 7, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'd use them. I'd manually straighten them out a bit and pop them in. There's no super technology going on here... it's just a filter.

EDIT: Yeah, I'd look for holes first. If it's really torn up, I'd toss it.
posted by SoberHighland at 7:19 AM on March 7, 2023 [7 favorites]

I'd use them too. It looks like only the edges are really damaged. My A/C filter holder compartment is really tight - I'm pretty sure the edges of mine look worse after I stuff the thing in.

If those fins in the middle are crushed or punctured, then I would toss that one, because that's the part that does the filtering.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:26 AM on March 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

You could also give them away on Craigslist to someone who wants to make a DIY air purifier (especially useful if you're somewhere that wildfire smoke is a problem).
posted by pinochiette at 7:39 AM on March 7, 2023 [7 favorites]

If there were no holes in them, I'd straighten them out as best I could and use them.
posted by alex1965 at 7:52 AM on March 7, 2023

I’d straighten them out and with some tape either use them and chuck them in for 2 weeks during high pollen season and take advantage of some “extras” during that time or make a homemade air purifier and shown above.

Or put them on my local Buy Nothing group and I’m sure someone would want them
posted by raccoon409 at 8:20 AM on March 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

You're not guilty of anything. If I were you, I would sleep so well after throwing out the filters I didn't cause to be damaged if there are fresh replacements on the way.
posted by emelenjr at 8:35 AM on March 7, 2023

I've used filters that were about that damaged before, because someone put their bike away for the winter a little too fast. We didn't die, and I didn't notice any uptick on our heating bills, but man, getting them out again was enough of a pain in the ass that I am now much more careful about storing them.

Toss the damaged ones.
posted by Etrigan at 8:41 AM on March 7, 2023

I know from living in many rent houses with ancient furnaces and therefore frequent conversations with repair/maintenance people, the primary purpose of the filter is to let air flow freely without sucking anything damaging into the machinery. They've always said use the cheapest filters because the others over-impede airflow and make the equipment work harder than it's meant to, and in fact if your only choice is a black grotty filter and no filter at all, run it with no filter but try to get to the store within a few days and don't, like, shave your head right in front of the air return registers.

Most of the buzzwords are there to make you think the highest quality filter is better for you, but if you want your air cleaned buy an air cleaner. Commercial air-exchange systems are a little different, in that the filtration is actually a deliberate feature of the system, and at the highest end they do have sanitation and purification functions, but those are often modules that do their work entirely before or after the climate control part.

So a filter with a bit of damage on it is not a particular threat to the equipment or your health, as long as you don't have something freaky happening in or near your air return registers (if you do, you should fix that). The company doesn't want to be accused of selling you or telling you to use a damaged product, and they certainly don't want to pay more to get it back from you than they did on the bulk product in the first place.

They're fine to use. If you want to save them for when you've got something especially stinky or dusty going on in the house, or allergy season, where you'd feel bad for changing filters every few days or every week otherwise, you can do that. If they are really bendy where the edge is crimped, you can do a bit of reinforcement with some masking tape and thin cardboard strips if you're worried about it bending too much while putting it in/taking it out.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:36 AM on March 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'd likely use them, but not, say, when the air quality was especially bad (that can happen where I live in summer and early fall during wildfire season). I might be inclined, if I were on top of things, to change them sooner rather than later (like earlier in the use cycle). But yes, I'd use them.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:56 AM on March 7, 2023

Response by poster: Thanks, all! My furnace has a plastic housing the filters go into, so not worried about them being too warped/getting stuck. Agree that changing these more frequently is a good way to go.
posted by Twicketface at 12:40 PM on March 7, 2023

I'd use them, as long as there are no holes. Throwing them away is just wasteful and they almost certainly work perfectly.
posted by dg at 4:27 PM on March 7, 2023 [1 favorite]