Industrial air cleaning systems are the workhorses of the air cleaning industry, and you can expect your air cleaning system to work hard day in and day out to keep your air clean, breathable, and free of pollutants. You'll have to replace the filter periodically in order to keep the system in good working order, but in addition to following general recommendations for frequency (check every week in industrial situations), you should also consider whether there are any circumstances that might cause the filter to need changing earlier. Here are three variables that may apply to your situation and can potentially change the speed with which the filter fills up with dust and other particles.

1. Filter capacity

The size and absorbency of the filters you use can have a lot to do with how fast they fill up. If you make sure to source only high-capacity filters, you may find that they last longer. If you find that you still have to change them just as often even though they've captured more contaminants, maybe your old filters were getting saturated more quickly than you thought.

2. Filter porosity

The size of the holes in the filter through which air passes determines how small a contaminating particle has to be in order to escape the filter. The larger these holes are, the larger the specks that can get through and continue to contaminate your air. That sounds like a bad thing, but if you get a filter with smaller holes there's a tradeoff. The filter will remove more particles, but it will fill up faster because it's retaining a higher percentage of all the dust in the air. This means that the more pores per inch your filter has, the cleaner it will make your air and the more often it will need replacing. And, of course, a clogged filter that isn't replaced can do more harm than good as the pressure of the air behind it starts to knock dust particles back into your indoor air.

3. Building use

Many industrial settings produce a high volume of dust. Print shops, for example, tend to have a lot of paper dust in the air. If your industrial setting is one that releases many contaminants into the air, your filters will be worked hard and will fill up more quickly than they would if your building was used for a less dusty industry.

These three variables all demonstrate how your air filters in your clean air systems may fill up faster in some situations than others. If you're having your filters changed once a week and they seem totally saturated with dirt, consider whether they may be filling up faster than expected (whether for one of these reasons or another reason) and try changing them slightly more frequently to keep your air quality under control.