HVACBossPro Blog — Property Managers & Commercial

Filter Changes Across a Rental Portfolio: Every Size Known Before the Van Leaves

Filter changes are the simplest job in HVAC and somehow one of the most wasteful on rental accounts. A tech pulls up to a rental, climbs into the attic, pulls the filter and finds it is a 20x25x1 when the van only has 16x25s. Back down, off to the supply house, back up the ladder. Multiply that across a portfolio and you lose whole afternoons to the wrong cardboard.

The Wrong-Size Filter Problem

Spring and fall plans, covered in Maintenance Plans for Landlords: Spring and Fall Tune-Ups Across Every Rental, put a filter change on every visit. That makes filter sizes the most-used piece of information on a rental account.

Rental filters are especially unpredictable. Houses built in different decades take different sizes. Some systems take a one-inch filter at the return grille, some take a thicker media filter at the furnace, some take two. A previous owner may have swapped a return grille. Tenants may have stuffed in whatever size the hardware store had. Unless someone wrote it down, every visit is a guess.

Record the Size on Every Address

In HVACBossPro, filter size is part of the equipment record on each address, along with system type, brand, model, serial, year installed, tonnage and unit location. It shows under the address on the office lists and on the tech's phone: “Central AC + Furnace · 3 ton · installed 2012 · filter 16x25x1.”

Make the filter size a must-fill on the first visit to every rental. Have the tech read it off the filter frame, not the old filter's label, since the old one may be the wrong size. Note thickness and count: “16x25x1 (x2), one in each hall return.”

The full equipment record is covered in Equipment Records per Unit and per Building for Commercial HVAC Accounts.

Note Where the Filter Lives

Size is half the problem. The other half is finding the filter. Add where it lives to the access notes:

• “Filter at return grille in hallway ceiling.”
• “Filter slot at furnace in garage, left side.”
• “Two filters: hall return and bedroom return.”
• “Media filter in cabinet below the air handler in the closet.”

Tenants move furniture in front of return grilles all the time, so a note like “Return behind the bookcase in the den” can save ten minutes of searching.

Build the Filter List From the Route

Once every rental has a recorded filter size, planning a filter day is easy. Open the day's route on the dispatch board or the tech's phone, read the filter size under each address, and add them up. Load the van once. The tech works the route without a detour.

For apartment buildings and multi-unit properties where every unit takes the same size, the count is even easier. For mixed portfolios, the list is the difference between one supply house stop and four.

Keep a few extra of the most common sizes on every van as a backup. Even with good records, a tenant may have swapped in a thicker filter or a second return may turn up that nobody noted. The spares cover the surprise, and the tech updates the record so it does not happen twice.

Use Photos to Prove the Change

Landlords and property managers rarely see a filter change happen. A photo of the old filter next to the new one, taken in the tech app and saved with the job, is the proof. It also tells a story the owner understands: a gray, clogged filter makes the case for regular changes better than any explanation.

Photos also help with tenant disputes. If a tenant says the filter was never changed, the dated photo on the job settles it.

Keep Sizes Up to Date

When a system is replaced, the filter size may change. Update the equipment record at the same time you record the new brand, model and serial. When a tech finds a filter size different from the record, they should note it on the job so the office can fix the address. A wrong size in the record sends the next tech out with the wrong filter.

Between-Visit Filter Changes

Some landlords want filters changed more often than twice a year, especially in rentals with pets or heavy use. Set a shorter interval on those addresses, such as 90 days, and the filter visits come due on their own on the Waiting List. Many shops price a filter-only visit lower than a full tune-up. Put it on your service list so it reads the same on every invoice and monthly statement.

For how filter changes fit with the rest of rental and commercial service, see the HVACBossPro commercial HVAC software page.