Activated Carbon / Charcoal Air Filters – How Long Do They Really Last?

That’s a great question. Many air purifiers / air cleaners have activated carbon filters to help remove chemicals, odors, smoke, etc., and it is sometimes difficult to know whether or not they still work or exactly when they need to be changed. Manufacturers generally give a suggested time frame for changing filters, but then state that the life of an activated carbon filter really depends on the amount of contaminants in the area, which is a bit confusing.

A good rule of thumb is to change all filters, HEPA, and activated carbon / charcoal filters once a year, especially if you are very sensitive to indoor air pollution. If you’re extremely sensitive, don’t risk it – change filters every time symptoms start to reappear.

For the rest of us who may not know if we are really sensitive or not, but we still want a better idea of ​​how long our activated carbon / charcoal filters last and really when to change them, there is a way to ‘test it’, by how well it is still removing smells and odors.

The military grade charcoal in gas masks and in good charcoal / charcoal air purifying filters works by absorbing or attracting chemical residues in the air. And since odors and odors also come from molecules and chemical residues in the air, if an activated carbon / charcoal filter in your air purifier is still working well, it should be able to totally or primarily remove an odor or odor in a matter of minutes, right? ?

So one way to ‘test’ your activated carbon / charcoal air filter is to place your air purifier in the kitchen after you’ve finished cooking, making coffee, or spraying some air freshener or cologne into the air that surround, then turn the air purifier on full power for about 15 minutes. If the odor is completely gone or is very noticeably reduced, the activated carbon / charcoal filter is probably still doing its job trapping the chemical molecules in the air responsible for the odor.

You can test the filter again later and if it takes longer to get rid of odors, that tells you that the charcoal is ‘filling up’ and the air needs to circulate through the air purifier a few more times to be clean. True military grade charcoal or charcoal filters (like in Austin air purifiers) will do a better job and last longer, but once you start noticing that odors don’t go away like they used to, that charcoal filter is probably ‘ full ‘and needs to be changed to make sure you and your family continue to breathe clean air.

However, it is very important, if you are using an air filter for serious health concerns, chemical sensitivities, or in an industrial application where dangerous chemicals are in the air, to replace the carbon filters or at least install fresh bulk carbon to time or a little earlier to make sure the air filter is not circulating more pollutants than normal because the carbon filter is saturated and only blows polluted air through the unit.

There are also various electronic and saturation / color change VOC and chemical detectors and for any industrial application where hazardous vapors or gases are present we highly recommend using them with your air cleaner to inform you when the filter has stopped removing contaminants . or if the air filter is not removing them enough.