Heading out for a drive? Wanna get some fresh air? You can roll those windows down and let the wind blow through the car as you drive. But how fresh is that air (hopefully, not bad here in Johnsburg)? Then again, if it’s cold or it’s raining, you may want the windows up.

With the windows up, you have a choice what air you want to breath. You can adjust the vent so the air inside the cabin is recirculated. Or you can set the vent so outside air enters the cabin. In either case, how fresh is that Johnsburg air?

If you’re recirculating the air, with every breath you take, you are recirculating your own carbon dioxide through your respiratory system. YUK! And not the healthiest idea.

Other than the air that enters your car’s cabin through the window, the air that is pulled through your vents by the cabin blower has a potential advantage over the air coming in through the windows; there is a line of defense to ensure you and your loved ones are breathing fresh air.

Fresh air and your cabin filter

You have numerous filters in your car that can include:

• The engine air filter
• The oil filter
• The Crankcase breather filter
• The air dryer filter
• The oil vapor filter
• The vapor emission filter
• And more …

One other filter you’ll find in your car is the cabin air filter. The oil filter filters the oil as it flows through the engine. The air filter filters air as it enters the engine. The vapor emission filter filters fuel vapors from the atmosphere. The cabin air filter filters the air that enters the inside of your car. 

Of course, the air that it filters is the air that enters through the vents. In the case of recirculated air, it filters the air as it passes out of the cabin and then back in.

It’s amazing to see just how dirty a cabin air filter can get. It’s disgusting to think that we’re breathing air that ‘filters’ through a filter that dirty. But, when replaced regularly, the cabin air filter ensures that you’re breathing the cleanest possible air inside your car. 

Even if you’re cabin blower is turned off, if outside air is coming through the vents, it’s going through the cabin filter, dirty or clean.

Johnsburg air isn’t bad. But a clean cabin filter makes it even better.