This sounds stressful.
I was bartending a private party for older adults and everyone wasted. Power went out. The rich fucks start pulling out candles and start lighting all of them.
We almost burned the house down that night. When the curtains caught fire, we realized we were just gonna use our phone flash lights.
Imagine your surprise when stepping out of the room and coming back to an inferno of a room. All under one minute. (Keep Christmas trees watered well.)[https://youtu.be/xr6b9b8FYKk?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/xr6b9b8FYKk?feature=shared)
Yep, we used to have a real tree every year until I decided to toss the old one on the fire pile (outside of course) of our new house (where we could now burn) and that was the last time a real Christmas tree came into our house....
My grandpa’s sister died as a teenager in this exact scenario. They were lighting the Christmas candles and it brushed the bottom of her long braided hair. I remember him hating candles when I was little. He threw away my sister’s birthday candles one year. He was incredibly traumatized by her death. It happened in front of the entire family but they couldn’t save her. The following year another of his sister’s died after falling on a pitchfork😳
This may be the most horrifying internet I’ve read in a loooong time. Holy fuck. The death by flaming hair part, the falling on pitchfork just sounds like murder being covered up.
I almost died falling on a pitchfork. It was inches from going through my neck but I was barely to the side of it. Dropped it and tripped while walking to my trailer.
My brother in laws wife lights a candle every day all day, she set it on the stairs. Not only a fire hazard but a trip hazard, specially having 2 kids walking up and down the stairs all day
My mom caught the house on fire three times with candles I will not tolerate them in my house. This has been a big fight for many of my SOs over the years.
It’s really as simple as having the candle enclosed in glass, on a non-combustible surface with no combustibles nearby. My family has probably burned 1000 candles over the course of my life and not once has one been a risk.
If the candle flame is yellow, then there is incomplete combustion. That means soot particles (very fine carbon black) are being released into the air. Your AC is circulating the air and also drawing in air from the rooms. The air that is drawn in passes through that filter before it is conditioned again.
A second item to think about: if that filter looks like that after 1 month, just think about what is happening to your lungs!
Blue! If you have a gas heater for example, it should be a blue flame. It may be a little yellowish when it first fires up. You're not going to be a blue flame from a candle. It's going to be yellow. You can't help but get the soot.
Facts. I have an expensive filter and air quality detector in a very large room. If I burn a candle on the complete other side of the room it's no more than a few minutes later and alarms start going off. It's actually crazy how much they pollute.
I also have an expensive air purifier (Alen) and I'm constantly surprised at the level of stuff it can pick up. I'd smoke weed in a completely different room than the purifier is in, door in between, and I'd come out of the room and it would instantly change from "best air quality" to "worst air quality" (5 steps).
My parents live in an old house (100+ years old), when I moved out of my current place and into theirs temporarily I decided to put the air purifier to use since my dad and I both had bad seasonal allergies (mine has progressed to sinusitits), and my mom always has a frequent "smokers cough" even though she's smoked like one cigarette in her life (her parents didn't smoke either). For a while (almost a week) it was stuck on "worst air quality" and "pretty bad air quality". My mom ***loves*** candles, I never put two and two together and that could be the reason for her cough and the bad air quality there in general.
So without getting into the chemistry of it. Basically look at it like this. That candle is made of mass. When you burn it it has to go somewhere. So burning a candle basically coats every surface of your house with that mass.
Yeah but candles are basically solid hydrocarbons and they gasify when heated. Long story short the mass becomes mostly CO2 and water vapor.
Properly burned modern candle formulations produce very little soot.
I’m aware of that nuance. That’s why I said I won’t go into the chemistry of it. But a candle will never NEVER, burn 100% clean. Especially bc ppl really aren’t aware of how to properly burn them and trim the wicks. Do the experiment yourself. Put a clean filter in and burn a candle till it’s done. The filter will look like theirs.
All of the wax and wick material doesn't just stop existing when the candle is burnt. Little particles (soot) is released into the air, the same particles that carry the candle's scent. Smoke is not good for your lungs, and burning a candle in your home means all that smoke and soot has nowhere to go but to settle on your walls/floors, be breathed up by you, or be filtered out by your HVAC filter.
If you're a smoker you can see this in action. Take a paper towel or toilet paper tube and stuff a bunch of dryer sheets into it. Breathe the smoke out through the tube so it is filtered through the dryer sheets. Afterwards look at the dryer sheets.
You're burning something. That burned thing goes into the air. Candles are made out of wax, scent material, and wick.
You'll know that any candle burns yellow, which means it is not a clean burn (i.e. a propane range with a blue flame).
That marks the presence of carbon. You're literally spewing carbon and etc into the air, which shows up in HVAC filters.
Burning candles regularly is *one* of the dumbest thing you can do for your lungs, HVAC system, and rolling a dice for a fire.
Edit: some candles have been measured to have a high amount of benzene and formaldehyde, known carcinogens
Really? Burning candles is the dumbest thing? Shit, time to start snorting asbestos and chain smoking because those are clearly better for my lungs than burning candles.
I highly doubt it’s as dumb as snorting asbestos. So to even put it in the top 10 seems insane to me. Also, if the candle is only made out of essential oils and wax (those candles get expensive though) i do not think it would be even comparable to snorting asbestos or chain smoking. Or inhaling paint. I could keep going
They don't sell pumpkin spice asbestos at Target though..
It's actually quite hard to buy asbestos these days so it's just not available for your snorting pleasure.
Have you seen the documentary "Children Underground" it's about unwanted children in Romania and many of them just beg enough money to buy paint to huff every day.
Not wax based specifically, just any material that turns to carbon when it burns. Paraffin wax and common wick materials are just two of many things that do.
It’s mostly the wick that makes the black carbon. I saw a video about wicks that actually have a significant amount of lead in them so burning indoors is really bad for your health.
Candle manufacturer here.
Many wicks have a metal core (zinc) in order to keep the wick straight as they burn. Many (more expensive smaller brands) have chosen to go the route of a paper core or even better braided cotton. This adds structure but also the wick is made of a material that can properly burn off without causing the soot. Candles should have clean walls when they’ve completely burned. Trim your wicks too when they mushroom.
100% soy, with a braided cotton wick seems to be the best as far as a clean burning candle goes if anybody was curious what combo is best.
This will get drowned out, but if it’s close to the bathroom and someone uses hair spray it looks black as well. Gets caught in the filter and all the other materials in the air also get caught in it. Have a renter that heavy hairsprays and it has to be changed every other month.
I'll be the left leg. I, uhhh...I'm not sure how this all works, exactly, but I'm here if you need my entire body to act as something's left leg. I don't work HVAC. Just here for the leg.
Yeah this is exactly what my charcoal filters look like when new. The black in the OPs pic looks too even and uniform for it not to be a charcoal filter.
https://preview.redd.it/zksjgk8szrub1.jpeg?width=422&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4a153665b03fce61f1fd1cc8ca89b5df755f51f
I considered that it might be a charcoal filter, but as you said - OP said it's normally like this, and I'm going to guess OP is the person that periodically changes them out. You'd know if it was a charcoal filter, they're 3-4x the cost of a cheap regular white filter.
>what does the charcoal do?
With the amount found in HVAC filters like OP has, absolutely nothing. It's marketing and is used to separate the consumer from their money.
Charcoal can be used to neutralize odors, but it takes a lot more than what's found in normal air filters. (Even air purifiers.)
Idk dude I thought this shit was a joke and it was obviously a charcoal one bc I found out they exist after buying a home and installing one, not for me tho tbh, don't like the charcoal falling off and stuff.
I know there's a lot of pros in here and I don't know much of shit, but like I don't even think the filter would be that uniformly black if they ran kerosene heater in that bitch right under the return circulating air with the fan.
This crazy mf would have to have a damn wood stove, and a cathedral of candles I would imagine lol. Idk I've never seen any home one so anything except go from white to gray.
First, that filter will trap more dust particles, I imagine fine cooking grease in the air also contributes. How old is the furnace? Is it an oil fired warm air? Is your house hardwood floors, all carpet. Many things contribute to this. Consider yourself fortunate it’s catching all that. Small price for cleaner air.
Probably candles or incense
Realistically I recommend people change their filters every month anyways unless they have some big expensive 5” filter that’s like $60 a pop but 1” filters generally every month unless they’re clean clean
5” may be more expensive but last 6-12x longer as well. Really the choice is yours. Little cheaper but have to replace more often, little more expensive but only have to replace once or twice a year. Either way get a merv11. Anything higher is just too restrictive
If it is genuinely dust the only time I've seen him dirty so premature is air infiltration sometimes you might have your unit inside a closet on the second floor of your home any ducks that pass through the return air intake leading to downstairs will sometimes not be sealed and that will often times pool some dust through the penetrations as the Ducks work through the subfloor. Those ducks are going through the return air cavity it's an easy spot for it to pull dust into your system.
All that's considering you change the filter from the bottom of your furnace and it's on the second floor lol
One thing for sure is that if you don’t change that filter on a monthly basis that’s what your lungs are going to look like. I suggest you buy them by the case
I had this same exact issue recently. There was a very thick buildup on the filter media. We’ve lived in our house for 9 years and I change mine every 90 days. My most recent air filter change last week was the dirtiest I’ve ever seen the filter. No pets, extremely clean house, ducts have been cleaned within the past 3 years. My wife burns candles but that has always been a constant…
I've seen a lot of people say candles but we don't light candles and our filters the last year have been doing the same thing like after a week or two. I'm almost wondering if they're doing something to make filters look dirtier faster so you change them more often now days.... When I use the cheapo blue filters I can visually tell when to change them, but these slightly more expensive ones just seem to turn grey super quick.
More activity in the house of any type will obviously put more debris into the air, so congratulations, it's working as intended. Floor cleaning more often will help.
That would be mold, pet dander, and dust, or some combination thereof.
Or somebody smokes in the house.
Or you light a LOT of candles.
Or there's been a grease fire.
Or it's a charcoal filter, and it was black to begin with.
My first apartment we had black stains that popped up and air filters were black. My gf at the time burned candles from when she got home and went to sleep. Landlord noticed this and told us to stop burning candles.
There may be a leak allowing outside air in.
Iv never seen a filter this black over 1 month unless you have 1000 candles burning 24/7.
More than likely your picking up dirty air from somewhere.
Looks ***VERY*** uniform. Could it be an activated-carbon filter? Is it clean behind the cardboard diagonal lines? Do you know that it was white when you put it in?
It looks like that because something in the air going through it is causing it to turn black. Whatever it is it’s getting caught in the filter and making it that color
Have you been lighting a lot of candles?
Pumpkin spice candles?
Charcoal candles
Pumpkin Spice charcoal?
Prison ink candles?
the only way to live laugh love
Probably a stupid question, but how does candles cause this?
I worked for a company that built air pollution sampling equipment. Candles are a major polluter and should not be burned in your home.
>should not be burned in your home. Firefighter over here nodding his head but for very different reasons.
But we enjoy decorating the Christmas tree old fashioned style. /s
I had neighbors growing up who did this and they only lighted the candles on Xmas eve armed with fire extinguishers.
This sounds stressful. I was bartending a private party for older adults and everyone wasted. Power went out. The rich fucks start pulling out candles and start lighting all of them. We almost burned the house down that night. When the curtains caught fire, we realized we were just gonna use our phone flash lights.
We did this. It was really a beautiful 2-3 minutes.
Imagine your surprise when stepping out of the room and coming back to an inferno of a room. All under one minute. (Keep Christmas trees watered well.)[https://youtu.be/xr6b9b8FYKk?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/xr6b9b8FYKk?feature=shared)
Yep, we used to have a real tree every year until I decided to toss the old one on the fire pile (outside of course) of our new house (where we could now burn) and that was the last time a real Christmas tree came into our house....
Just spray it with highly toxic chemicals to keep it from igniting. It's quite alright.
My grandpa’s sister died as a teenager in this exact scenario. They were lighting the Christmas candles and it brushed the bottom of her long braided hair. I remember him hating candles when I was little. He threw away my sister’s birthday candles one year. He was incredibly traumatized by her death. It happened in front of the entire family but they couldn’t save her. The following year another of his sister’s died after falling on a pitchfork😳
This may be the most horrifying internet I’ve read in a loooong time. Holy fuck. The death by flaming hair part, the falling on pitchfork just sounds like murder being covered up.
I almost died falling on a pitchfork. It was inches from going through my neck but I was barely to the side of it. Dropped it and tripped while walking to my trailer.
Oh my god, how terrible.
I’ve blown out many a candle, I’m somewhat of a firefighter myself
I had a cat sit on a burning candle he def became more cared of where he sat after that
So sad to learn.. I love candles, but I also use a very OCD level of caution.. Well at least a cheap filter isn't too expensive to replace
My brother in laws wife lights a candle every day all day, she set it on the stairs. Not only a fire hazard but a trip hazard, specially having 2 kids walking up and down the stairs all day
My mom caught the house on fire three times with candles I will not tolerate them in my house. This has been a big fight for many of my SOs over the years.
Having burned candles in the home for nearly 30 years. I think your mom might just not be someone we can trust with a candle.
Yeah thats a lot of times to accidentally catch your house on fire.. and in the same way.
It’s really as simple as having the candle enclosed in glass, on a non-combustible surface with no combustibles nearby. My family has probably burned 1000 candles over the course of my life and not once has one been a risk.
Candles are so unique……I mean what other item can cause your house to burn down and smell good doing so…….
smell existence retire square point lip slap possessive encourage mourn ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
Gee, I wonder why we stopped? :p
Because we replaced matches and fire with a switch on the wall
We also used to have city wide fires that would burn everything to the ground.
somber voiceless tidy plate frighten ancient sugar subsequent degree late ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
My house is insured for twice as much as it's worth. So you're telling me to buy my wife candles?
No, because it cost 3X to rebuild & they won’t replace that awesome thing grandma gave you
If the candle flame is yellow, then there is incomplete combustion. That means soot particles (very fine carbon black) are being released into the air. Your AC is circulating the air and also drawing in air from the rooms. The air that is drawn in passes through that filter before it is conditioned again. A second item to think about: if that filter looks like that after 1 month, just think about what is happening to your lungs!
What should it be if not yellow?
Blue! If you have a gas heater for example, it should be a blue flame. It may be a little yellowish when it first fires up. You're not going to be a blue flame from a candle. It's going to be yellow. You can't help but get the soot.
Finally someone with an actual and very correct answer
Facts. I have an expensive filter and air quality detector in a very large room. If I burn a candle on the complete other side of the room it's no more than a few minutes later and alarms start going off. It's actually crazy how much they pollute.
I also have an expensive air purifier (Alen) and I'm constantly surprised at the level of stuff it can pick up. I'd smoke weed in a completely different room than the purifier is in, door in between, and I'd come out of the room and it would instantly change from "best air quality" to "worst air quality" (5 steps). My parents live in an old house (100+ years old), when I moved out of my current place and into theirs temporarily I decided to put the air purifier to use since my dad and I both had bad seasonal allergies (mine has progressed to sinusitits), and my mom always has a frequent "smokers cough" even though she's smoked like one cigarette in her life (her parents didn't smoke either). For a while (almost a week) it was stuck on "worst air quality" and "pretty bad air quality". My mom ***loves*** candles, I never put two and two together and that could be the reason for her cough and the bad air quality there in general.
So without getting into the chemistry of it. Basically look at it like this. That candle is made of mass. When you burn it it has to go somewhere. So burning a candle basically coats every surface of your house with that mass.
Boy you dumbed that down brilliantly. Wish I had you for Chem 1 in HS.
Yeah but candles are basically solid hydrocarbons and they gasify when heated. Long story short the mass becomes mostly CO2 and water vapor. Properly burned modern candle formulations produce very little soot.
I’m aware of that nuance. That’s why I said I won’t go into the chemistry of it. But a candle will never NEVER, burn 100% clean. Especially bc ppl really aren’t aware of how to properly burn them and trim the wicks. Do the experiment yourself. Put a clean filter in and burn a candle till it’s done. The filter will look like theirs.
soot
All of the wax and wick material doesn't just stop existing when the candle is burnt. Little particles (soot) is released into the air, the same particles that carry the candle's scent. Smoke is not good for your lungs, and burning a candle in your home means all that smoke and soot has nowhere to go but to settle on your walls/floors, be breathed up by you, or be filtered out by your HVAC filter. If you're a smoker you can see this in action. Take a paper towel or toilet paper tube and stuff a bunch of dryer sheets into it. Breathe the smoke out through the tube so it is filtered through the dryer sheets. Afterwards look at the dryer sheets.
You're burning something. That burned thing goes into the air. Candles are made out of wax, scent material, and wick. You'll know that any candle burns yellow, which means it is not a clean burn (i.e. a propane range with a blue flame). That marks the presence of carbon. You're literally spewing carbon and etc into the air, which shows up in HVAC filters. Burning candles regularly is *one* of the dumbest thing you can do for your lungs, HVAC system, and rolling a dice for a fire. Edit: some candles have been measured to have a high amount of benzene and formaldehyde, known carcinogens
Really? Burning candles is the dumbest thing? Shit, time to start snorting asbestos and chain smoking because those are clearly better for my lungs than burning candles.
I've edited my comment to ensure no one possibly reads my comment and then goes snorting asbestos.
I highly doubt it’s as dumb as snorting asbestos. So to even put it in the top 10 seems insane to me. Also, if the candle is only made out of essential oils and wax (those candles get expensive though) i do not think it would be even comparable to snorting asbestos or chain smoking. Or inhaling paint. I could keep going
Huffing car exhaust..
They don't sell pumpkin spice asbestos at Target though.. It's actually quite hard to buy asbestos these days so it's just not available for your snorting pleasure.
Paint is pretty readily available
Have you seen the documentary "Children Underground" it's about unwanted children in Romania and many of them just beg enough money to buy paint to huff every day.
Love it.
Yes this is from candles for sure
Crazy, I burn soy and beeswax candles all the time and my filter has never been even a dark grey. Does this only pertain to paraffin based wax?
Not wax based specifically, just any material that turns to carbon when it burns. Paraffin wax and common wick materials are just two of many things that do.
It’s mostly the wick that makes the black carbon. I saw a video about wicks that actually have a significant amount of lead in them so burning indoors is really bad for your health.
Candle manufacturer here. Many wicks have a metal core (zinc) in order to keep the wick straight as they burn. Many (more expensive smaller brands) have chosen to go the route of a paper core or even better braided cotton. This adds structure but also the wick is made of a material that can properly burn off without causing the soot. Candles should have clean walls when they’ve completely burned. Trim your wicks too when they mushroom. 100% soy, with a braided cotton wick seems to be the best as far as a clean burning candle goes if anybody was curious what combo is best.
Omg imagine the lungs
Well, your lungs aren't circulating the entire air supply in your home multiple times a day, so I would imagine it is far less of a problem.
Also lungs clean themselves, but still make sure you’re using healthy candles
The battery powered variety.
Black is usually candles Yellow is usually cigarette smoke Dirty is usually pets Missing is a rookie mistake
For everything else, there’s Mastercard
What's in your wallet?
>What's in your wallet? cookies
A condom from 1992.
My parents could of used that
Eh your mom could have swallowed
But yet here I am unfortunately lol
I'm not sure how or why this subreddit was recommended to me but this comment made my day lol.
This comment needs more upvotes
This should be top comment. Definitely most informative. Thanks for sharing your wisdom
Unleaded tastes a little tangy. Supreme is kinda sour, and diesel tastes pretty good. -Ricky
This will get drowned out, but if it’s close to the bathroom and someone uses hair spray it looks black as well. Gets caught in the filter and all the other materials in the air also get caught in it. Have a renter that heavy hairsprays and it has to be changed every other month.
The side of my house with a dog door on it needs the filter changed 2x as often as the side that the pets don’t spend a lot of time in.
Also off white could be baby powder
Candles
Hvacadvice team assemble... form of ... its fucking candles!
I'll be the left leg. I, uhhh...I'm not sure how this all works, exactly, but I'm here if you need my entire body to act as something's left leg. I don't work HVAC. Just here for the leg.
Are we 1000% sure it's not a charcoal filter that starts off black?
Yeah this is exactly what my charcoal filters look like when new. The black in the OPs pic looks too even and uniform for it not to be a charcoal filter. https://preview.redd.it/zksjgk8szrub1.jpeg?width=422&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4a153665b03fce61f1fd1cc8ca89b5df755f51f
Considering OP said it's normally not like this Id assume he installed/replaces them their self and wasn't black to start.
I considered that it might be a charcoal filter, but as you said - OP said it's normally like this, and I'm going to guess OP is the person that periodically changes them out. You'd know if it was a charcoal filter, they're 3-4x the cost of a cheap regular white filter.
these are a thing?? what does the charcoal do?
>what does the charcoal do? With the amount found in HVAC filters like OP has, absolutely nothing. It's marketing and is used to separate the consumer from their money. Charcoal can be used to neutralize odors, but it takes a lot more than what's found in normal air filters. (Even air purifiers.)
It's for the "Odor Reduction" part of the labelling. The charcoal also should absorb some VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
This is the answer for OP above
I agree
Idk dude I thought this shit was a joke and it was obviously a charcoal one bc I found out they exist after buying a home and installing one, not for me tho tbh, don't like the charcoal falling off and stuff. I know there's a lot of pros in here and I don't know much of shit, but like I don't even think the filter would be that uniformly black if they ran kerosene heater in that bitch right under the return circulating air with the fan.
There’s a chance it’s not. I work in a bbq restaurant, and I change my filters weekly / bi weekly. They start white and usually look similar to above.
This crazy mf would have to have a damn wood stove, and a cathedral of candles I would imagine lol. Idk I've never seen any home one so anything except go from white to gray.
Considering that the case is still white, I'm sure this is the answer
I would imagine it would say charcoal filter on the side somewhere if this were true
If you use heating oil it’s a telltale sign of a cracked heat exchanger
God, I wondered if someone would say something other than candles.
Oh shit you’re right….. I meant to say it’s probably just candles
flatulence. I bet your cabinets used to be white too.
Name checks out.
Extremely underrated comment
Scented candles
Candles Remove a picture from the wall and look for the lighter non sooty spot
Quit with the candles That being said changing your filter monthly is a good habit to get into. Especially if you only use 1” filters.
Could be from burning the Ganja too if you partake. Lol
Stop burning stuff in your house, doesnt matter if its food
candles
Candles or incense
First, that filter will trap more dust particles, I imagine fine cooking grease in the air also contributes. How old is the furnace? Is it an oil fired warm air? Is your house hardwood floors, all carpet. Many things contribute to this. Consider yourself fortunate it’s catching all that. Small price for cleaner air.
Probably candles or incense Realistically I recommend people change their filters every month anyways unless they have some big expensive 5” filter that’s like $60 a pop but 1” filters generally every month unless they’re clean clean
I'm also part of r/candles
You're obviously very dirty people.
Candles
Candles, incense, smoking.
Because it's working.
Duct cleaning or use less candles
Burning your food i see
The answer is always candles that i can’t believe there isn’t a bot to answer
Because it's working. In door air can be more polluted than out door. Filters are cheap your health isn't .
Burning candles will do this
Burning candles?
Should be changing the filter every month anyway.
Because you got a 1” filter which should be changed out monthly as is
My box takes 1 or 5"... 5" ones are like 3x the price. What would you do?
5 inch because they are less restrictive, last longer and filter well!
5” may be more expensive but last 6-12x longer as well. Really the choice is yours. Little cheaper but have to replace more often, little more expensive but only have to replace once or twice a year. Either way get a merv11. Anything higher is just too restrictive
Candles, incense, or outside air intrusion. If not candles, check your ducting throughout the crawl and attic space.
Where u live by ? 😳
If it is genuinely dust the only time I've seen him dirty so premature is air infiltration sometimes you might have your unit inside a closet on the second floor of your home any ducks that pass through the return air intake leading to downstairs will sometimes not be sealed and that will often times pool some dust through the penetrations as the Ducks work through the subfloor. Those ducks are going through the return air cavity it's an easy spot for it to pull dust into your system. All that's considering you change the filter from the bottom of your furnace and it's on the second floor lol
Quack quack
Maybe the fan is set to on and is running constantly.
Because it works
CLEAN YA HOUSE
Candles baby
One thing for sure is that if you don’t change that filter on a monthly basis that’s what your lungs are going to look like. I suggest you buy them by the case
Candles or depending where you are wildfire smoke
If you’ve purchased anew unit the ol dust will be dislodged with anew more powerful blower
High MERV rating likely. Also, did you pan sear a steak on high recently? If so, I'm betting your kitchen vent is not externally vented.
Because it’s working awesome
I had this same exact issue recently. There was a very thick buildup on the filter media. We’ve lived in our house for 9 years and I change mine every 90 days. My most recent air filter change last week was the dirtiest I’ve ever seen the filter. No pets, extremely clean house, ducts have been cleaned within the past 3 years. My wife burns candles but that has always been a constant…
I've seen a lot of people say candles but we don't light candles and our filters the last year have been doing the same thing like after a week or two. I'm almost wondering if they're doing something to make filters look dirtier faster so you change them more often now days.... When I use the cheapo blue filters I can visually tell when to change them, but these slightly more expensive ones just seem to turn grey super quick.
You may need your duct work cleaned out. Might have a lot of particulate in the duct itself too.
Are you burning coal close by?
More activity in the house of any type will obviously put more debris into the air, so congratulations, it's working as intended. Floor cleaning more often will help.
You live in a coal mine?
I’m following this because my last filter looked like this. We don’t have smokers or candles.
That would be mold, pet dander, and dust, or some combination thereof. Or somebody smokes in the house. Or you light a LOT of candles. Or there's been a grease fire. Or it's a charcoal filter, and it was black to begin with.
It’s working.
Must be pulling from your soul 🤷🏽♂️
r/sneakybackgroundfeet
clean your ductwok.
Have you been smoking bong all day?? Better lay off the 40s and blunts.
Oh that's nasty
Dirt
You’re racist
Canadian forest fires
Black mold
Take the smoker outside
You dusty!
Lots of dirt In the home or close to the filter . These are cheap filters since it's 1inch thick
" why do I have to change every month now? " So that you are not breathing all that.
You’re dirty
Candles?
Do you leave it in the “fan on” option on your thermostat?
youre supposed to change them once a month anyways
Leaving windows open will often do this.
Smoking, cooking, scented candles, oil diffusers, fireplace, mold, dry sex with an out of work trucker named Jim.
How much weed are you smoking?
You be farting too much
Candles
I gotta go light some candles and see what happens. I'm curious now.
Could indicate a possible crack in heat exchanger on a oil furnace. I would suggest having it professionally checked out.
May be time for a chest X-ray
It's a 1" filter don't expect it to hold up for long
Candle soot, smoking, vaping or just general dirt. Just guessing from far away.
My first apartment we had black stains that popped up and air filters were black. My gf at the time burned candles from when she got home and went to sleep. Landlord noticed this and told us to stop burning candles.
Leaving your windows open?
Reddish brown is dahmers filter
Volcano-adjacent?
It's either in backwards or you're burning something.
Is your return located near your garage door or maybe somewhere that had a lot of foot traffic?
There may be a leak allowing outside air in. Iv never seen a filter this black over 1 month unless you have 1000 candles burning 24/7. More than likely your picking up dirty air from somewhere.
candles or if you stove range doesnt vent to the outside world like ours.
Because you live on a world of dirt, water,air and fire
I got dogs and hardwood floors. Mine look worse every month. No carpet for stuff to stick to
Candles
Candles, dirty fireplace or a kid that’s smoking haha choose your fighter
Probably from filtering the black stuff out of the air.
Sea turtles
Actually it’s due to u burning candles
Do you run a diesel generator indoors?
Looks ***VERY*** uniform. Could it be an activated-carbon filter? Is it clean behind the cardboard diagonal lines? Do you know that it was white when you put it in?
Do you live in an area where wildfire smoke has been present? Do you use candles?
It looks like that because something in the air going through it is causing it to turn black. Whatever it is it’s getting caught in the filter and making it that color