Castle Filters One-Year HVAC Furnace Filter, MERV 8, 20x25x1, 1 Count (Pack of 1)

So, one filter one year. Good idea, bad execution. No matter where you live, the filter is going to get dirty in the course of a year. I found the faintest suggestion that you should blow it off once in a while.* It's a good filter. Three layers of various density foam stuff. Middle one is sticky for some reason. Maybe that's just me* When the filters begins building it's collection of dust and dirt my AC struggled, usually a monthly thing.* It has the usual style of casing. Criss cross to keep it from being sucked up** Big con here: case is cardboard, not even cardboard, like a shirt box - and the layers of sponge are so thick that my little air compressor could not get all the dirt out.* Tried the vacuum. Started messing up the little paper crisx cross areas* No problem. Take it apart and wash it. THEY GLUED ALL SIDE SHUT. So I had to tear one end to get the foam out and actually clean it.* Big pro here: there was so much gunk caught in those foam pieces I have to use the power setting on the shower to get it clean and it took 15 mins before the water ran clear so it's cleaning the air for sure.* Big disappointed: it's nearly impossible to get it all back together without destroying the flimsy shell and I was not successful until I left out the sticky middle layer.Summary, it's a quality filter concept just needs a little tweak on the shell if they want to advertise it as a one year use. ** Fyi I still clean it monthly because gross.Update: way overdue, can't believe I forgot to do this. I was contacted by the company immediately after my review posted they asked me questions about my concerns, about my house and HVAC system, and about my personal cleaning habits. They proceeded to educate me afterwards in a super friendly manner about the layers, what they do, and why you should never, ever touch the sticky layer if you want your filter to work right. Then, even though this was clearly my bad, they suggested, based on my description of performance, that I needed a different level of filter. So they sent me another for free! Even though I messed up the one, they sent me what they thought would be the correct one, advised me to keep the old ones as backup and followed up after the new ones arrived. Amazing customer service and mine has worked perfect since! Perhaps every one should call and get a personalized recommendation for the filter level first and avoid the confusion!Thanks Castle Filters!

The package was good and the product came damage free. Dimensions are exactly the same as any other filter out there and I have noticed my old ac isn’t short cycling as much as it did with the Merv 6 filter I had previously. My ac seems to run smoother, time will tell however I have already noticed less dust. Very happy with my purchase and this company!

When my replacement filter arrived it was damaged. the replacement filter was here in less than a week, no problem. Just vacuum it of about every 3 months and it does a great job!!

It’s pretty good have to clean it once a month to removed the dust.

I love that it work for a year!

quality

So I bought this “1 year” ac air filter. I put it in when I got it June 22, 2023 and last night exactly six months later my entire ac/ heat unit burned out and so I didn’t have any heat in one of the coldest nights here in Florida so far. Now I will have to pay money to have the ac people come out and see what happened. Good thing I have a warranty on my ac unit but I’ll have to pay for the call. At any rate, since I live in the Florida country and my return grate is near my back door, I think I get more than average dust and sand debris coming into the house and getting sucked in the vent. This debris is only from six months, normally I change mine every month so the concept is good. The actuality of it is putting your unit and pocket book in danger. The filter itself is good, maybe so good it shouldn’t be a one year filter. If you get the filter, make sure you change it out probably every three months to prevent unseen build up like this and blowing your ac unit up when you need it the most.

The media could not be loaded.  The 1-in castle filter fits in most air handlers that take wider filters and hold more dirt with less restrictions. I replaced all 3 of my home’s 5-inch filters using the 1-inch slot that I didn’t realize was already in the air handler when I ordered.Before ordering from Amazon, I talked to customer service at Castle saying I had a 5-inch space for the filter and they even offered to send extra empty filter frames to fill the spaces for my 3 units. I originally planned to use clear tape on the surfaces and affix the filter with some nano tape but when I pulled out the old filter I saw that my HVACs were already outfitted for 1-inch filters as well. Replacement took only seconds.Airflow and filtering is noticeably improved. Longer lasting and will not leak clouds of dust when dirty unlike the behemoth 4/5 in paper filters inevitably do (best to bag them immediately on removal) when you dispose of them.