Furnace Filter Cover?

[D45]

Should there be an access cover for the filter or is this acceptable to be open like this?

Just seems like the area is not sealed well, at all, and allows a lot of air to "leak" in and out

 

[Stuart in MN]

My furnace has a little sheet metal cover that snaps over the end of that gap to seal it up.

 

[beakie]

I've one house with a cover (current home) and one without.
Old house the filter was very snug and I had to add a tape "flap" to use to pull it out. This place it is loose, but the cover ensure less air is sucked around that gap.

essentially you want air being sucked from the return air vents through that filter, NOT bypassing around it. If you can't buy, or get a cover made, some 2" masking tape would be cheap cover.

 

[rlitman]

It should be under negative pressure, so any piece of metal would stay in place nicely.

 

[ItsNemo]

Should be covered...just get a short length of tin, put two 90 degree flat bends in it (a brake would super handy) at the width of the gap, and shove her in.

 

[beakie]

It should be under negative pressure, so any piece of metal would stay in place nicely.

only when furnace is running.

 

[Brian_WK]

Normally isn't needed unless you have pets. But being its right next to the water heater you can have some issues with a negative draft and the flue if the equipment room is closed off. I used 3 inch wide blue painters tape its good enough and comes off clean. and when the furnace runs it ***** the tape to the duct and keeps it sealed.

Brian

 

[Stuart in MN]

Should be covered...just get a short length of tin, put two 90 degree flat bends in it (a brake would super handy) at the width of the gap, and shove her in.

That's basically what the cover on my furnace filter looks like. They did include a little tab at the top you can grab onto to make it easier to pull off.

 

[kbs2244]

Tape it, or cover it, if you feel the need.
But I would guess that when the blower coms on it ***** the filter up against the furnace side.

 

[Falcon67]

Yes, it should be covered and sealed against air infiltration. Doesn't take much to start sucking in debris that will collect on the A coils and impede air flow.

 

[kcheves]

Mine is sealed with metalized tape.

 

[D45]

Looks like I need to fab up a cover and seal it up

A flat piece of tin with two 90 degree bends is simple, but I believe the filter sticks out about 1/2"

I will figure something out this weekend

 

[gungatim]

That is exactly how my furnace is setup. my cover is just a site made piece of leftover duct bent to slip on. I tossed it out when it got too much of a pain to get on and off. I use a bit thicker filter anyway so it doesn't really make a difference without the cover...

no way to **** in debris, as the filter is sucked tight against the housing, at most you would **** a little more return air from the basement than the rest of the house. sure someone will say it will **** deadly CO or gas or something in some rare case and kill everyone in the house in your sleep, so if you are worried, go for it...

 

[nh_yota]

That's normal and you can cover it with a piece of sheet metal attached with magnets.

 

[ratdoggy]

I just got some left over magnetic sign material from a sign shop...
The stuff people use to put their company name on their car or truck door...
Cheap and easy

 

[NUTTSGT]

I'm no HVAC guy but I've seen many furnaces doing what I do and there are plenty of furnaces out there with filter set ups like that.

 

[CJ7VFR]

Looks like I need to fab up a cover and seal it up

A flat piece of tin with two 90 degree bends is simple, but I believe the filter sticks out about 1/2"

I will figure something out this weekend

The townhouse my wife lived in when we met had an exposed filter like you have with no cover. Or at least that is what I found out. The previous owner used duct tape to cover the filter hole/slot up. When I first saw it I was like WTF is that. When I removed the tape, and pulled out the filter, it was so packed full of dirt you couldn't see any light thru it, not even a bright shop light I put on one side to shine light on it. That filter must have been there at least 10 years, and I could not figure out how any air got thru it at all.

I bought my wife a new reusable filter that you could take out and clean, and I made a simple bent sheet metal cover as you are describing. It had to also bend a bit around the filter as it stuck out like yours does. I went one step further and also bought a cheap long piano hinge to mount the cover to the furnace, along with a little magnet I put on the other side of the cover.

The hinge allowed the cover to open up more like little door, and also keep it attached to the furnace so my wife could not loose it. And the magnet helped keep it closed nice and tight without having to use any tools/hardware to open it or close it.

That setup was pretty cheap, and it made it easy to open up the filter cover to remove and clean the filter without the possibility of anyone loosing the cover, or in my wife's case, stepping on it and terminating it as she seems to do with just about anything that is on the floor.

Jim

 

[SSAAHemiFan]

there is a product called filter lock - it is vinyl with built in magnets that will cover the open slot.

 

[The Cobbler]

In my opinion, those 1" filters don't do much and an open filter as shown won't reduce the filtration from blow by that much. My new furnace I had a 5" filter installed with weatherstripped edges etc. virtually zero air will bypass the filter. the housing snaps in place and seals . I wouldn't worry or loose sleep over an exposed filter as shown. having said that, wouldn't hurt to fab up a cover or tape it over either.

 

[D45]

My previous two houses had the huge 5" thick filters with snap/locking covers

I downsized quite a bit and this house has an 12 year old Goodman, that uses a 16x25x1..........it works well, just doesn't seem right to me that its not covered

When a local Sears Hardware was closing, I bought 40 filters, for 70% off........a tad extreme

Today I bought a flat piece of sheetmetal and some foam adhesive weather-striping, near the storm door screen/door sweep section. Total investment was around $8

Time to try to fab up a cover

 

[D45]

Good $10 project

Fits nice and snug and is sealed pretty darn good

Started with this:

Cut and trimmed and bent into this:

Added some of this on each side:

Slide it snugly into place:

 

[KDXSR5]

Looks like it turned out pretty decent.

 

[555]

Good job!

 

[Group B]

Mine filter looked just like yours. I just run a couple pieces of aluminum foil tape up each side and it seals it up perfectly. I just peel it off and replace when I need to change the filter. Cheap and easy fix.

 

[Mustang1167]

Mine filter looked just like yours. I just run a couple pieces of aluminum foil tape up each side and it seals it up perfectly. I just peel it off and replace when I need to change the filter. Cheap and easy fix.

This thread made me finally get around to fixing mine. I also used the foil tape. I knew it should have had a cover just needed a little inspiration.