Put a filter size and a change schedule on a unit, and Run a Call does the rest: the customer gets an email a week before each change is due, every cycle, their portal lists every filter with its next change date, and the office sees the due date on the unit.

Who can do this: anyone who can edit equipment sets the size and schedule (office users and techs). Owners and admins turn the reminder email on.

Set the filter size and schedule on the unit

  1. Open the customer, then the property, then the unit. Click Edit. (Techs: open the job's house button, pick the unit and tap Edit.)
  2. Fill in Filter size, for example 16x25x1. This alone puts the unit and its size on the customer's portal.
  3. Under Change filter, pick how often: every month, every 2, 3 or 6 months, or once a year. No reminders turns the schedule off.
  4. Fill in Filter last changed with the date of the last swap. Leave it blank to count from the install date.
  5. Click Save changes.

Edit equipment dialog with Filter size 16x25x1, Change filter Every 3 months, and Filter last changed

The unit's page then shows Change filter, Filter last changed and Next filter due. The due date turns yellow with Due soon inside the last week. Once it passes, the next date on the same schedule takes over, so the reminders keep coming every cycle even when nobody records the swap.

Unit page showing Filter size, Change filter, Filter last changed and Next filter due

Tip

When a tech swaps the filter on a visit, update Filter last changed to that day. The schedule restarts from that date.

Turn on the reminder email (owners and admins)

  1. Go to Automations and open the Scheduling folder.
  2. Switch on Email customers when their air filter is due.

Scheduling folder on the Automations page with Email customers when their air filter is due switched on

It starts off, like every built-in message. While it's off nothing is sent and nothing is marked as reminded, so turning it on later sends the reminders that are due then.

What the customer receives

Every morning Run a Call checks each unit with a schedule. A week before each due date, the customer gets one email:

The filter reminder email in the automation builder, with the filter variables under the subject

  • Subject: Time to change your 16x25x1 air filter
  • The size, the unit (for example Furnace · Basement), the due date and how often it's changed.
  • See your filters opens their customer portal, when your company has one.
  • A line inviting them to reply or call so you bring the right filter on the next visit.

The email goes to the customer's email and to any contacts on their Contacts tab who get emails. Customers with no email on file are skipped.

To change the subject or the wording, open the message in the builder. See Changing the wording of a built-in message. The variables for this email are the filter size, the unit, the due date and how often it's changed.

In the customer portal

Signed-in customers see a Your air filters card with every unit that has a filter size and its next change date. See The customer portal.

Good to know

  • One email per cycle. The same due date is never emailed twice, and the next cycle's reminder goes out on its own a week before that date.
  • No size, no row. A unit without a Filter size doesn't appear in the portal and gets no reminder, even with a schedule.
  • Retired units are skipped.
  • Dates follow your company's time zone.