Ceiling return filters, wash or replace?

[MRUSA14]

Now I see it. Thanks for your reply, and for being the tester for so much of this stuff.

[seeg]

I used rare earth magnets from Michaels, a craft chain, in each of the 4 corners. They attach to a self tapping screw. For those of you who like the more finished look try these:

https://www.amazon.com/WIDGETCO-5mm-...=plastic+plugs

I got mine in light Beige and they don't quite match but no one has noticed yet. I have some in the garage left over from my boating days that match perfect that I believe I bought at a big box store or at Ace but couldn't find them when I went to purchase some. You can get 25 of them for $8.00 from amazon. Or try Widget Co.

[markanddee]

I did Pat's mod using the contact cement with no issues. I cut the screws and put a dab of white silicone in the hole and around the screw on the back. Haven't lost a screw or had a vent fall out yet.

[photraveller]

In our 2017 the magnets are more than strong enough, but its the glue bond that fails.

So far, all we have had are a vent that droops. When that happens, you know that one of the two magnets has broken loose. Since one magnet is capable of holding the vent up I would say the magnet is more than strong enough.

Using the contact cement fix others mentioned on here as fix.

[FreshAir]

OP here, don't know why i was thinking there used to be four screws and now two? I'll reconsider. Thanks for all the info.

[brobox]

Originally Posted by MRUSA14

Now I see it. Thanks for your reply, and for being the tester for so much of this stuff.

Marc, that was one I was glad I did. We were out in CA during the fires and drought where the filter needed cleaning once a week. Pat's mod was posted and we stopped at a Home Depot that afternoon. After changing filters with a screw gun every week....anything had to be an improvement and that mod was.

I have been using the white vent filters since new, they are nice as you can see when the filters start to get dirty. My A/C guy insisted I change those when he saw the MH in the driveway when it was new. The junk foam filters were the first thing he noticed. Typical A/C professional.

[gazellerd]

We used Pat's modification. Unfortunately, the magnets moved a slight bit while the epoxy dried (placed then on a plastic table with metal legs). So we aligned the magnets with water based ink so we would know where to place the screws. We placed craft brads where the original screws were.

[photraveller]

Update to my earlier post. I just lost another magnet off a vent and it's one of the ones I contact cemented in place.

After looking closer, I think I now see the problem, as well as the difference between magnets not being strong enough and mine which appear too strong in the 2017's.

Each one of my vents have a second set of magnets stuck to the top of the sheet metal flange that the vent magnets stick to. So now on my Sept/Oct build coach it is basically like they stacked the magnets on top of each other.

For anyone who has tried to pull these raw earth magnets apart once they stick together, I see why I'm having issues with getting the magnets to stay attached to the vents!

However I see why my vents don't fall down either.

My design from the factory is expecting the glue/epoxy/cement to hold to the magnet well enough to allow it to be pulled directly away from another magnet of the same size and strength.

Basically I can get the magnets to hold until I have to pull the vent down to clean it. Then I lose a few magnets magnets every time.

So I'm just guessing here, but there may have been a quick change mid year, after they found some vents falling down due to magnets not holding well to the thin gauge sheet metal. So the fix was to throw additional magnets on top of the sheet metal at the spot where the vents magnets contact the sheet metal from the opposite side.

I need to do some playing around, but I think the solution in my case is to either add screws through the sheet metal flange to provide more mass for the magnet to work against, or otherwise thicken the sheet metal flange.

I noticed when I use a nice hunk of steel like a bolt head. These magnets have more than enough holding power. They don't need the second magnet, they just need more steel to act against.

Steve