If you have a newly built residence in Pacheco, it was in all likelihood built with energy efficiency as a priority. This means more insulation and windows and doors with improved seals. While these advances are excellent for keeping your utility bill affordable, they’re not so excellent for your indoor air quality.
Your heating and cooling system needs to operate with a filter. But if you’re using a flat filter, you won’t be experiencing adequate filtration. This kind only gives the smallest amount of protection by stopping dust from getting into your home comfort system.
While you can upgrade to a pleated filter or one with a higher MERV rating, it still might not be enough filtration, even more so if someone in your home has allergies or other respiratory issues.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier can be a good option. These systems are installed within ductwork to provide strong filtration throughout your home. Depending on the kind you select, you’ll be able to remove allergens, odors and even some viruses under certain airflow conditions.
Here are our top solutions from Lennox®, an industry leader in air purification.
Best Air Purifiers from Lennox
1. HEPA Air Purifiers
A HEPA air purifier, like the Healthy Climate® High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filtration System, delivers the best filtration. These filters were first made to guard scientists as they worked on the atomic bomb. Today, they’re necessary in hospitals and other medical settings.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System features a three-step filtration process. A prefilter attracts significant particles before the HEPA filter captures the rest of miniscule pollutants. Then, a charcoal filter takes care of odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System connects to all HVAC brands and seamlessly links to with your smart home. It fights the three major types of indoor air contaminants:
- Airborne particles
- Chemical odors and vapors
- Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions
This air purifier can get rid of 99.9%* of pollutants, including mold spores, pollen, dust and pet dander. It’s also capable of decreasing or eradicating 90%1 of flu and cold viruses under certain airflow conditions. And, based on laboratory and field studies, it reduces and eradicates approximately 50% of your home’s odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S comes with sensing features that make it simple to serviced. When used with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll be notified when to change the filter and UVA light.2 This home air purifier must be linked with communicating Lennox systems and the iComfort S30.
2. Media Air Cleaners
Lennox Healthy Climate® Media Air Cleaners are made in a variety of MERV ratings to fit your needs. This rating determines how good filters are at removing contaminants. The greater the number, the better the filtration.
The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is ideal for households with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, since it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-grade filtration. And it removes more than 95%3 of unhealthy particles from your residence’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is great for households who want improved protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter traps 99% of larger particles like dust, pollen and lint. And up to 54% of miniscule particles down to 0.3 microns.4
The Healthy Climate 11 Media Air Cleaner is a a fantastic air purifier for allergies and in residences with pets. It eliminates more than 87% of bigger particles down to 3 microns and more than 28% of smaller ones down to 0.3 microns.4 It’s able to offer this strong filtration without increasing the bill for operating your home comfort system.
These three media air cleaners work with any brand of HVAC system. But despite that, it’s important to know that some of the thicker ones, like MERV 16 and 13, may limit your system’s airflow. This can increase your energy costs.
3. UV Air Purifiers
The sun’s UV rays are to the fault of you get a stinging sunburn. But this type of light has a useful application when placed within your ductwork. It’s also strong enough to reduce germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In actuality, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can lower the amount of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as quickly as 45 minutes.5 This light damages cell structure, which stops these microorganisms from growing and spreading across your home.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your HVAC system clean and working like it should. It takes care of germs, mold and fungi hiding in ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier achieves all these things without producing lung-aggravating ozone.6
Breathe Better with the Help of Our Air Purification Professionals
Your loved ones’ comfort and health is important to us at Clean Air HVAC. We realize there are lots of possibilities out there. That’s why we make it simple to partner with our indoor air quality specialists. We specialize in developing solutions that meet your needs and budget, and we’d love to learn more about your residence and your air quality challenges. Call us at 925-233-6238 right away to start the process.
1Based on laboratory and field studies.
2PureAir™ S requires the iComfort® S30 and a communicating indoor unit.
3Leading consumer magazine, January 2012. Based on the published CADR, which is the standardized measurement system to determine the cubic feet of clean air produced per minute. Particles captured range in size down to 0.3 micron. One micron = 1/25,000 of an inch in diameter.
4Based on lab tests conducted on filters with conditions included in ASHRAE standard 52.2 for E1 and E3 size ranges.
5Based on constant circulation of air in the home, 3,000-square-foot home with a 5-ton air handler.
6U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Ozone Generators that are Sold as Air Cleaners: An Assessment of Effective and Health Consequences," August 2006.