There are a lot of new features, both optional and standard, on St. Peter drivers’ vehicles these days. One you may not have heard of is called a cabin air filter. Simply put, its job is to keep the air in the passenger compartment of your car nice and clean.

A cabin air filter is similar to the filter you use on your furnace at home in St. Peter. Cabin air filters can catch particles down to three microns. By comparison, a grain of sand is 200 microns. So cabin air filters are effective against dust, dirt, pollen, mold spores and most pollutants in our Cleveland atmosphere. Good news if you suffer from any types of allergies, or if you live in an area in St. Peter prone to air pollution.

Cabin air filters are generally located in the engine compartment or under the dashboard. They can be tricky to access and replace, so you’ll probably want to go to your knowledgeable Autotronics of ST Peter technician to get it done. Check your minivan owner’s manual to find out if your minivan is equipped with a cabin air filter and how often it should be changed. Recommendations vary, but generally a cabin air filter should be changed every twelve to fifteen thousand miles.

Of course, if you are an allergy sufferer in Kasota, you may want to replace it more often. Also, if you do a lot of driving in polluted or dusty areas in MN, you’ll also want to shorten the cabin air filter replacement period. Dirty air filters just don’t work well, and they can exude an unpleasant odor if ignored for too long.

Most St. Peter folks know that good car care includes keeping your minivan clean, including the air inside the passenger compartment, so changing your cabin air filter should be part of your routine preventive maintenance. It’s good auto advice as well as good medical advice that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You really shouldn’t wait until the interior of your car starts to smell and your eyes start to water before you change your filter. And trying to cover it up with a dangling green pine tree is not the right answer, either!

Cabin air filters can be a welcome relief to St. Peter allergy sufferers, but they’re also a great idea for anyone in Cleveland who just wants to breathe better.

Here is a questions for quick St. Peter car owners What is a cabin air filter?

Is it:

1. A filter for a house in the middle of the woods?
2. A fresh, piney scent?
3. A filter for the passenger compartment of your car?

Clever you, it’s 3.

A cabin air filter cleans the outside air before it comes into the passenger compartment. It filters out dust, pollen, spores, bacteria, pollutants, sparrows, detrimental exhaust gas and odors.

These high tech filters can block particles larger than 3 microns. By contrast, a grain of sand is about 200 microns.

Now not all vehicles in the Cleveland area have cabin filters. They are fairly new on the scene in MN. About forty percent of new vehicles come with cabin air filters, but the number is growing every year.

Cabin air filters can make for a very nice driving environment for St. Peter car owners. Your car can be a haven during MN allergy season with very little dust and pollen getting into the cabin. However, like all filters, your cabin air filter eventually gets clogged. When this happens, your heating and air conditioning flow can become restricted. The filter can even get kind of smelly.

Autotronics of ST Peter
111 Jefferson Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
507.934.9290

Check your automobile manufacturer’s owner’s manual for recommended replacement intervals. Often, the owner’s manual forgets about the cabin air filter, so ask your knowledgeable Autotronics of ST Peter service professional for a recommendation. It’s usually every year or 12,000 miles/ 19,000 kilometers. Change it sooner if you drive in dusty St. Peter conditions or if you start to notice an odor from your ventilation system.

So, St. Peter drivers, keep your cabin air filter clean. It may not help with your brother-in-law in the backseat, but it will make your driving experience more enjoyable.