Dirty Filter Stories: Rodney Bakken

Rodney Bakken of Smyrna, Tennessee has three kids (ages 12, 11 and 8), three cats, one dog and a guinea pig, too. It's a full house, but Rodney told us that Filtrete "keeps our home in great shape!"

Filtrete: You, sir, have a lot of pets!

Rodney Bakken: We'd have more pets if we had more money and more space and more time. We really love them.

We've always had at least two cats and the newest addition is the dog, Raiden. He blows his coat twice a year, so we have long white hair all over the house. We've noticed A LOT of dog hair in the air filter.

F: The dog hair actually gets trapped in the filter?

RB: It does. We had noticed pet hair in there before, but suddenly it was "Wow! There's a lot of dog hair in here."

F: Does anyone in your family suffer from allergies? Or are you lucky to have escaped that?

RB: Well, Nashville, which is where we live now, is one of the top 10 allergy cities in the country. During the spring and fall, we deal with seasonal allergies from pollen and trees, and things of that nature. When we moved here from Southern California, it became important to me to get a filter that would help trap some of that stuff so it wouldn't circulate throughout the house.

F: And does using a Filtrete air filter help remove allergens?

RB: It really does seem to help remove allergens like pollen from the air in our home. There have been a couple times when we have pushed it past the limit. We were so busy that we forgot to change the filter. And we do notice a difference then. Like this fall, we put two and two together and realized, "We need to go grab a filter!" It was overdue. We vowed that we can't do that anymore, because I suffer from quite a few allergies and they get bad when there are a lot of allergens in the air.

F: How willing were they to pose with the dusty filter?

RB: Actually, they thought it was a great idea. Part of their job at home is to clean up things like that. If there's stray dog hair around, they're in charge of sweeping it up. They saw some of the other [dirty filter] photos on your website, and they said, "Oh, that’s nothing! We should pose." They were excited to take the photo with the animals and the filter.

F: Well, it was their chance to finally get some recognition for doing such a dirty job! When did you start using Filtrete air filters?

RB: About nine years ago. We moved from Southern California to Tennessee. I had been using $3 and $4 filters in California—the cheapest I could find. But when we moved to Tennessee, I realized we’d have to do a lot more to get rid of all these allergens. Tennessee is home to scores of flowering trees—it’s unbelievable. It's like a tropical rainforest out here in comparison to Southern California. So nine years ago, we went to the store and bought a Filtrete filter.

F: When you replace a filter, are you ever surprised at how much it has captured?

RB: I am. When you see all the dust and dander and pet stuff in the Filtrete filter, it’s shocking that it had been floating around. I have some background in industrial filtration, so I know a fair amount about filters. Some people would say that it’s crazy to pay that much more for a filter that claims to filter better. But I know that a better filter actually does a lot more.

F: You really do get what you pay for with Filtrete, don’t you?

RB: You do. We would not buy another brand!

DISCLAIMER

The statements, claims and opinions expressed here represent the views of the individual being interviewed, and not necessarily the views of 3M.

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