Cleaning vs Replacing 21.5x24x1 MERV 13 Filters

Side-by-side visual comparison of Cleaning vs Replacing 21.5x24x1 MERV 13 filters, showing a person brushing a dirty filter with cleaning supplies on the left, and a person installing a brand new filter into an HVAC unit on the right.

Pull a gray 21.5x24x1 filter from your return vent and the temptation makes sense. Rinse it off, let it dry, slide it back in, save the cost of a new one. We’ve run this test at FilterClarity.com more times than we’d like to count. The filter goes back in looking usable and immediately stops working … Read more