FAIR LAWN, NEW JERSEY, Nov. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 
Fall HVAC Changeover Guide on Filter Loading and Preventive Maintenance
There is a narrow window in fall, roughly from late October through mid-November across the Northeast and Midwest, when outdoor air temperatures sit in a range that calls for neither full cooling nor full heating. For commercial buildings with air-side economizers, this is theoretically the most efficient stretch of the year. The building is conditioned largely with outdoor air at minimal energy cost.
It is also the stretch when filters take the heaviest outdoor air load, and when a significant number of economizer faults go undetected. Energy bills run slightly higher than expected. Indoor temperatures feel inconsistent. By the time the cause is obvious, winter heating demand has arrived.
Brookaire, the Fair Lawn, New Jersey commercial air filter manufacturer and distributor founded in 1974, has published a free guide for facility managers and HVAC contractors on the filter and preventive maintenance side of the fall changeover. The full guide is titled The Fall HVAC Changeover Window: What Facility Managers Need to Know Before Winter Heating Demand Arrives.
Brookaire manufactures and distributes commercial air filters. It does not sell or service economizers. The guide stays on the connection facility teams already manage: how filters load during economizer operation, and how a single preventive maintenance visit covers both.
WHY FALL CHANGES HOW AIR FILTERS LOAD
During economizer mode, a building pulls in large volumes of outdoor air. Filters load differently than they do during closed-loop recirculation. Outdoor particulate, pollen, and any remaining wildfire smoke all affect how quickly a filter reaches its final pressure drop.
A loaded filter raises the static pressure against which the supply fan must push air. That reduces the effective outdoor air volume the economizer is able to deliver. A system trying to economize with a loaded filter is working against itself. Buildings near urban corridors in Newark, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Massachusetts and Knoxville operate in air quality conditions that speed this up.
WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS ABOUT ECONOMIZER PERFORMANCE
The guide curates its research directly from the source documents. A paper presented at the European Conference on Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Industry in 2022 by HVAC engineers Robert Mowris and Peter Jacobs, titled "Smart Economizer for Commercial HVAC Systems," states: "Research studies indicate that 50 to 70% of air-side economizers on commercial heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are not functioning properly, causing energy use to increase by 18 to 37%."
The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in its Best Practices for Air-Side Economizers Operation and Maintenance, states: "Achieving the potential energy and cost savings requires that the economizer be set up correctly and maintained adequately."
The guide adds the filter angle to those findings. A malfunctioning economizer that pulls in too much outdoor air loads filters faster than a standard maintenance schedule accounts for. In buildings with quarterly filter changes, a damper stuck open mid-quarter pushes filters to end of service weeks ahead of the next scheduled change. In colder markets such as Minneapolis and Worcester, uncontrolled outdoor air is also a freeze-protection risk for hydronic coils.
ONE SITE VISIT, NOT TWO MAINTENANCE PROGRAMS
PNNL's best practices identify the key economizer inspection items before heating season: dampers and actuators, sensors, and the controller that sets damper position from sensor data. The guide points out that the same visit is the right moment to review filters.
That means confirming filter loading status, checking whether current filter specifications still suit the system's fall operating mode, and pre-staging replacement stock for the heating season ahead. The two tasks are one maintenance visit, not two separate programs.
"Fall is when outdoor air volume peaks, and that is exactly when a filter program review pays off," said Lynne Laake, Marketing Director at Brookaire. "We are a filter manufacturer, not an economizer company, so the guide stays on what we know: how filters load, and how preventive maintenance visits cover both."
WHERE BROOKAIRE SERVES
Brookaire's Fair Lawn, New Jersey headquarters serves New Jersey and the surrounding Northeast. The York, Pennsylvania distribution center serves Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic. The Lakeville, Minnesota distribution center serves Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Avon, Massachusetts location at 254 Bodwell St, Unit A, Avon MA 02322 serves Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The Knoxville, Tennessee operation serves Tennessee, Kentucky, southern Ohio, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida.
Brookaire's scheduled job-site delivery and customer portal support contractors planning fall maintenance programs across multiple accounts. For a companion read on EPA and CDC ventilation guidance heading into respiratory virus season, see Brookaire's fall ventilation guidance for offices and schools.
ABOUT BROOKAIRE
Brookaire is a third-generation, family-operated manufacturer and distributor of commercial HVAC air filters headquartered in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Founded in 1974, the company operates distribution centers at 17-02 Nevins Road, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410; 581 Manchester Ct, York, PA 17408; 8095 215th St W, Lakeville, MN 55044; and 254 Bodwell St Unit A, Avon, MA 02322, along with Puremaxx Filtration Solutions in Knoxville, TN. Brookaire's complete product offering includes standard and custom pleated filters, ASHRAE filters, HEPA filters, bag/pocket filters, V-bank filters and V-belts. Its pleated products, including the DeltaPleat premium filter line, are made from 100 percent US-sourced materials. Services include scheduled job-site delivery, job tagging, real-time tracking, a customer portal for multi-site account management, 48-hour custom filter production, and filter disposal pickup.
Brookaire serves HVAC contractors and facility managers across New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, Washington DC, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Tennessee.
Fall HVAC changeover guide: airfilters.brookaire.com/the-fall-hvac-changeover-window
Fall ventilation guide: airfilters.brookaire.com/fall-ventilation-guidance-offices-schools
Resource library: airfilters.brookaire.com
All locations: brookaire.com/locations
Follow Brookaire:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/brookaire-company
Instagram: instagram.com/brookaire
Facebook: facebook.com/brookaire
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UChSapJieifNddxqEyqj1ESQ
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Media Contact:
Lynne Laake
Marketing Director, Brookaire Corporation
lynne.laake@brookaire.com
(973) 473-7527
