Cabin Air Filters Add Safety, Comfort

Today’s heavy-duty cabin air filters can help with HVAC system efficiency

The intense heat of summer means ventilation and air-conditioning systems (HVAC) will be operating at full strength to cool the cabin and keep the operators comfortable and safe from outside contaminants such as seasonal pollen, diesel soot and dust. The cabin air filter plays a huge role in protecting the driver over the long haul of summer.

Whether it is simply incoming fresh air, or air entering the cabin during the use of the HVAC system, the environment inside the cabin of a heavy-duty vehicle is subjected to constant assault. In addition to the general air quality, a poorly ventilated cabin can also become covered in a fine layer of dust as the contaminants in the cabin settle on all the surfaces, which allows the contaminants to remain in the cabin even longer.

A cabin air filter will provide the operating cabin space of a vehicle with a filtering barrier, much like the barrier provided by heating and air-conditioning filters in a home.

Today, there is also an increasingly growing focus on the health of the operator in the cabin. According to Michael Herald, Director of PC Engineering for Luber-finer, “It was about 1995 that the big push came in the United States for heavy-duty cabin air filters. It started in Europe first and was adopted by the U.S. later.”

Located in the HVAC system of a vehicle, most cabin air filters are found at the outside air intake, where outside air goes through the filter before it comes into the cabin. The typical signs that the cabin air filter may have become saturated with contaminants or plugged with debris can be found in windows that easily fog up or are hard to defrost.

In addition to contaminated air, cabin air filters that are plugged and have become moist may create an environment that encourages the growth of mildew and odors that can be circulated throughout the cabin by the HVAC system.

No matter who manufactures a cabin air filter, every filter eventually needs to be changed, said Gary Bilski, Chief Engineer for Luber-finer. It is important to change a filter every 15,000 miles, or according to the original manufacturer’s recommendations. The good thing is that replacing a heavy-duty cabin air filter is a job that does not require hours—but only a matter of minutes. “Most cabin air filters can be changed in 15 minutes or less,” Bilski said.

The new Luber-finer^® Extreme Clean HD^™ Premium Cabin Air Filter provides the necessary filtration and barrier to the outside contaminants that can invade a cabin and affect its occupants. Designed to remove sub-micron and micron-sized particles, including dust and pollen particles ranging in size from 5 to 100 microns, the Extreme Clean HD^™ Premium Cabin Air Filter can effectively and efficiently filter many of these contaminants, resulting in a much healthier driving experience..

About the Author:

John Gaither is the Director of Heavy-Duty Engineering for Luber-finer.

Luber-finer is one of the world’s largest suppliers of filters and filtration products. Luber-finer supplies products through industry-leading brands such as Luber-finer^® and PetroClear^®. Through its brands, Luber-finer serves the automotive, heavy duty trucking and several industrial markets. The company operates through a global network of manufacturing facilities, distribution centers and offices located throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and China.