Cut your air con power bill – clean filters regularly

Aug 1, 2023

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If you haven’t removed and cleaned the internal filter of your reverse cycle split system air con (AC) for more than a few months it will probably be quite dusty and costing you extra in electricity usage.

Reverse cycle AC is great for many reasons:

The most energy efficient way to keep your house temperature comfortable,
Capable of heating and cooling so you don’t spend money buying a separate heater,
Uses electricity which is either partly renewable (grid) or fully renewable if you have solar power like me, so you can use your own free electricity generated from your roof.

Read my buyers guide to understanding which AC energy rating level is best suited to your city/town climate.

The instructions below are for reverse cycle split system AC units where part of the unit is inside on your wall and the other part is behind it on the outside wall.

If you have a ducted AC system the air intake filters will still need to be cleaned at least every 6 months. Typically with a ducted AC the air intake filter on a side wall or ceiling is covered with a metal grill. Once you’ve flipped the grill/moved it out of the way, remove the filter, depending on how dirty it is vacuum or clean with warm mild soapy water and then make sure it is completely dry put the filter and grill back.

I hadn’t remembered to clean the filters of our kitchen and dining reverse cycle split system AC unit since last year so it looked like the photo below when I unclipped and removed it.

Check your AC manual for how to remove the filter, it was quite easy on our Actron system as it is attached with magnets at the top of the unit.

As you can see by the in progress photo below, the difference between the left side (vacuumed) and the right side (not vacuumed yet) is quite obvious.

If your filter hasn’t been cleaned for a long time or your home is particularly dusty/damp I suggest you take the filter outside, vacuum it for loose dust, clean with warm mild soapy water and then make sure it is completely sun and air dried before clipping it back in your air con system.