Home Improvement Product Reviews

The best…, October 23, 2007

By 

Victor H. Agresti “remodeling-guy” (Gaithersburg, MD United States) – See all my reviews

  

  

Review of 3M Filtrete – Ultra Allergen

These are outstanding air filters, based on the lack of dust and clean air inside our house; the build quality of these filters; and the fact that they have such a high rating. We’ve been using these filters for about 10 years in a Trane heat pump system, with no issues.

This filter has a 3M Micro-particle Performance Rating of 1250. “MPR” focuses on a filter’s ability to capture the smallest particles between 0.3 and 1 micron. The higher the MPR, the more effective the filter is, and the more expensive. The “basic” Filtrete is the least expensive. These are near the top-end. Their highest filter is MPR rated at 1700, but costs about 1/3 more that this one, and I can’t tell the difference; although someone with allergies probably could. See TYPES OF FILTRETEs after this review for more information.

Ours is a two-story house with a basement. There are two returns in the system, high in the wall, one each on the first and second floors. Several years ago, to do an even better job of air cleaning, and to keep the inside of our ducts clean, I replaced both return grilles with a grille assembly that has a built-in “furnace” filter holder. We use 3M Filtrete Ultra Allergens in the system’s air exchanger and at each of those returns. In other words, all air flows through two Filtretes, which has been no problem for our heat pump’s air exchanger. (Since there’s no gas or oil “fire”, it’s not called a furnace). With this setup, the 3 filters need replacement every six months. Before adding the two return filters, we replaced the single air exchanger filter every 2 months, so total filter cost is the same.

One reviewer said: “little did I know the extra drag on the air flow would cause my Lennox Heat Pump to burn up.” All filters cause some drag on air flow, but the only way that could become a significant drag is if the filter was very dirty, which would be the fault of the homeowner for not replacing it. In my setup, if a filter is overdue for replacement, it arches in the middle (from the air drag) towards the fan’s suction, and the air whistles as it rushes around the filter. Dirty filters reduce the efficiency of heat pumps or furnaces, but claiming a heat pump “burned up” because of a high-efficiency filter’s air drag, is a stretch. It’s more likely that his contractor gave him that line to switch blame away from the Lennox equipment, which failed for another reason. I checked the Lennox web site, and they don’t even mention disposable filters, which isn’t surprising. Imagine Lennox Corporation warning customers not to use 3M filters because their equipment can’t handle the stress.

We don’t have pets or allergies; we use these filters because they result in very clean indoor air.

TYPES OF FILTRETEs

I did some research, and found that 3M makes three classes of disposable Filtrete 1″ filters for heating and cooling systems, with various options within each “class”; 14 different Filtrete filters in all.

- “High Airflow” MPR of 200 – 600; filter options:

Basic, MPR: 200
Dust, MPR: 400
Clean, MRP: 500
Dust and Pollen, MPR: 600.

- “Air Cleaning” MPR of 700 – 1000; filter options:

Micro Particle; MPR: 700
Allergen, MPR 800
Micro Allergen, MPR 1000
Micro Allergen Extra, MPR 1000.

- “High Performance” MPR of 1200 to 1700; filter options:

Allergen, MPR 1200
Ultra Pure, MPR 1250
Ultra Allergen, MPR 1250
Advanced Allergen, MPR 1500
Ultimate Allergen, MPR 1600
Maximum Allergen, MPR 1700

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Try the Advanced Allergen filter if you have allergies or pets, February 12, 2008

By 

Paul Moskowitz (Yorktown, NY) – See all my reviews

  

  

My house uses forced air for heating. The disadvantage of such a system is that it distributes the dust in the air everywhere in the house. However, it is supposed to be possible to filter out the dust. Over the years, I have steadily increased the quality of the filter that I use for my forced air heating system. However, until now I have not noticed any obvious difference in my allergic reactions that seem to start with the heating season.

There are two cats in my house. I have read that cat dander, tiny flakes of cat skin shed by the cats, is five times smaller than household dust particles. It stays in the air much longer than ordinary dust before it settles. Because of its small size it requires a more efficient filter to get it out of the air.

Until this year, I have used of variety of filters with mixed results. However, this year, I started using the 3M Advanced Allergen Filters, the ones in the blue wrapper. These have a 3M Microparticle Performance Rating of 1500, but do not have a MERV rating listed. MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value and is a number from 1 to 12, produced from a test designed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). A higher MERV rating indicates better filter performance. 3M uses particle data between 0.3 and 1.0 micron size to calculate a Microparticle Performance Rating or MPR. The higher the MPR, the better the filter. However, higher rated filters cost more.

Here are some of the Filtrete filters offered by 3M:
Dust & Pollen Filter, Microparticle Performance Rating 600,
MERV rating of 8
Micro Allergen Filter, Microparticle Performance Rating 1000,
MERV rating of 11
Ultra Allergen Filter, Microparticle Performance Rating 1250,
MERV rating of 11
Advanced Allegen Filter, Microparticle Performance Rating 1500,
MERV rating not available

The difference made by the Advanced filter was immediately obvious. My running nose stopped running. I assume that the new Advanced filters must be taking out more of the dust in the air including the cat dander. I have not noticed a change in the speed of the circulated air. The additional cost of the Advanced filter is worth it if you have allergies or pets. However, if you are happy with a lower-rated and lower-cost filter, then you can continue using that one. I suggest that you check Amazon and vendors on the web to get the best price.

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Too high a restriction, the house got cold…, January 3, 2010

I found this Amazon product page while looking for information on furnace problems and this filter.

We’ve been using the red “micro” Filtrete filters for years. This was our first try with the purple “Ultra” filters. I tried one in December, and removed it today (January 3, 2010).

It cut our heating ability by at least 40%!

With the red Filtrete, we have at least 92 degrees of heating ability: if we set the thermostat at 72, the house maintains 72, even when the outside “ambient” temperature (the average of the day’s low and high) is -20 degrees F.

Yesterday and today, we lost the ability to maintain temperature. On a day with an average temperature of 10 degrees F (low of 5, high of 15) the house dropped to 65 degrees. So, instead of being able to heat the house to at least 90 degrees above the outside temperature, we are down to only 55 degrees.

The FAQ on the 3M site glosses over this problem.

“Do I have to worry about restricted airflow with Filtrete filters?
Filtrete filters are designed to operate in most residential furnaces and air conditioning systems. If a Filtrete filter remains in use longer than three months, it may begin to restrict airflow or cause the system to malfunction. It also could restrict airflow in some higher efficiency/air conditioning systems. In this case, change the filter more frequently.”

Bull! Our furnace isn’t “high efficiency”, it’s an older 125000 BTU Singer, with a 160 degree limiter on the heat exchanger. A 3 or 4 week (not month) old purple “Ultra” choked the furnace, but when I put the 2 month old red “Micro” back in, the temperature came right back up!

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