Furnace / AC Air Filter Puller and Mounting Hook

thingiverse

This is a filter puller or remover that helps with removing a furnace/AC filter that is hard to get to because of tight tolerances in the filter housing. I have a Bryant brand AC/furnace with a side mounted access port to the filter. The filter port/housing has fairly tight tolerances and when inserted, the filter is inset about 3/4". This makes it difficult to fit one's fingers into the slot and get a good enough grip on the dirty filter to remove it. This device is a simple tweezer-like hooked puller that fits in-between the filter and the housing. The hooks or teeth catch the paper border of the filter and then it can be easily removed. There are four different puller widths to match common (Imperial) filter thicknesses: .75/1", 2", 3" and 4". My furnace uses 1" width filters, so that is the size that I 3D printed; this size also should work for .75" filters. I don't know how the other size filters are arranged and installed on various brands of furnace/AC units, but since it wasn't too difficult to make the wider versions, I made them as well. I included a mounting hook that is sized to work with the small size 3M Command Strips, and fits the 1" tool nicely (see photos). Double-sided mounting tape can also be used -- there is not a lot of weight that the hook needs to support. I mounted the tool just to the side of the filter access port, so it is easy to see and use. With 3D editing software, the hook can easily be stretched to match the wider width tools, if desired. Print the tools laying on their backs, and the hook laying on its side. The mounting hook weighs about 3g, and the tools weigh 11g, 13g, 14g, and 16g, going from the .75/1" to the 4", respectively.