Cabin Filter: Original vs. Fram Fresh Breeze

Air flows downward. So the arrow should be pointing to the floor.

Nexus 5

 

It's amazing that I should see this post now. My Prius is only a few months old so I didn't buy it for this car, but I just bought this filter a few days ago for my other car, a 2010 Subaru Legacy and had the same issue that you are having. The directions and video for installing that filter in my car says to install it with the arrow pointing DOWN, yet the filter I took out plus the filter cover both say to install it with the arrow pointing UP. I posted the question to Fram on their Facebook page 3 days ago. They didn't answer right away, but when they got back to me, I didn't feel confident in their response that they really knew the answer, but they told me to go against what I saw in the video, and go against what I read in their instructions, and install it with the arrows pointing UP.

As far as looking at the old filter to see which side was dirtier to give me a clue of air flow - I couldn't tell. Both sides looked hardly dirty at all, and looked pretty equal. The last time I changed that filter was 30K miles ago.

 

My understanding is that the Toyota filter (I have not seen the Fram filter) is an electrostatic filter i.e. part of its filtering mechanism is to actively attract and hold particles by static electricity. It is not just a fine mesh that physically blocks lumps (but it will do that as well) but much more sophisticated than that.

It should only need a light vacuuming and then a gentle rinse in clean water to remove particles and reactivate the mechanism.

I am sure it has no function to remove smells. Anything added to the electrostatic filter will reduce its efficiency.

Perhaps a piece cut from a cooker hood filter and placed in the holder under the ordinary filter will remove those smells as these are usually activated charcoal to remove grease and smells, they are also cheap, I must try some time but it will reduce airflow perhaps to an unacceptable level.

 

I found an explanation here:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/diy-cabin-filter-change-2010-210720.html?t=210720

Some filters have an arrow and "UP" on them. Using those you would point the arrow UP. Some have an arrow for airflow direction which do not have the word "UP", and for those you would point the arrow down.

You must live in an area where the air is very clean. I've changed one in our '04 Sienna and it looked bad. Lucky you....

The Fram Fresh Breeze supposedly has baking soda as well to help neutralize smells.

 

Looking at both sides of a cabin filter makes me wonder what difference it makes which side you place up, they both look the same.

 

Maybe they look different under a magnifying glass?

 

This should be no different than HVAC filters. Lesser the surface area, the more current needed to push the same amount of air through it. The cheap pleated filters have been known to be VERY hard on blower motors in the HVAC world.

 

For our house, the pleated Allergan trapping filters were rather expensive, and THOSE are very hard on the HVAC system.
It's the cheap ones without the pleats that don't overtax the system.
Tough cause we have allergies...

 

At home, I use the cheapo ones for the Winter months and the pleated ones during the warmer months, when the furnace isn't in use.

 

No. Think of the filter as a nozzle. The more pleats give more surface area, so other things, being equal, the opening of the nozzle is larger.

 

When I started being brave enough to change the filters on my own, I started using FPR 9 because that was the highest Home Depot carried. Then I found that they started carrying FPR 10 and started using them. Costs me about $40 every 90 days for the two that we need, quite a pain in the pocket! I think with all the pollution in the air our lungs deserve it though. When the HVAC does come on I notice they look quite concave. Kind of l0oks like it might all of a sudden be sucked into the tube...

 

If your grill with take it try one of these instead: Return Air Grille Filter at Filters Fast

I only change mine once a year. I use a HVAC vacuum gauge and its not even close to needing to be changed after a year: General G-99 Air Filter Gauge Kit - Amazon.com

 

Our HVAC system can't handle the FPR 9, so I tried a lower allergen filter, and even that is too hard on it.
We have to use the totally cheapo no pleats, which don't help our allergies.
The coil on the outside unit would freeze and the system would labor to keep the house cool when using the expensive, pleated filters.
This is on a brand new house, crappy builder HVAC maybe.