If you live in a newly constructed home in Troy, it was likely built with energy efficiency at the top of the list. This means more insulation and windows and doors with improved seals. While these advances are excellent for keeping your heating and cooling costs under control, they’re not so fantastic for your indoor air quality.
Your HVAC system needs to run with a filter. But if you have a flat filter, you won’t be getting ample filtration. This kind only provides the bare minimum of protection by keeping dust out of your heating and cooling system.
While you can install a pleated filter or one with a higher MERV rating, it still might not be ample filtration, even more so if someone in your home has allergies or other respiratory issues.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier comes in. These systems are installed within ductwork to provide strong filtration around your house. Depending on the type you go with, you’ll be able to remove allergens, odors and even some viruses under certain airflow conditions.
Here are our favorite options 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, provides premium filtration. These filters were first developed to shield scientists as they worked on the atomic bomb. Today, they’re essential in hospitals and other medical facilities.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System includes a three-step filtration method. A prefilter catches bigger irritants before the HEPA filter captures the rest of tiny irritants. Then, a charcoal filter wipes out odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System works with all HVAC brands and seamlessly links to your smart home. It reduces the three major kinds of indoor air contaminants:
- Airborne particles
- Chemical odors and vapors
- Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions
This air purifier can remove 99.9%* of pollutants, such as mold spores, pollen, dust and pet dander. It’s also capable of removing or eliminating 90%1 of flu and cold viruses under certain airflow conditions. And, according to laboratory and field studies, it reduces and eradicates approximately 50% of household odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S includes sensing features that make it easy to keep up. When paired with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll receive an alert to change the filter and UVA light.2 This home air purifier must be used with communicating Lennox systems and the iComfort S30.
2. Media Air Cleaners
Lennox Healthy Climate® Media Air Cleaners are available in a variety of MERV ratings to work with your needs. This rating determines how capable filters are at removing contaminants. The greater the number, the better the filtration.
The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is great for families 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 gets rid of more than 95%3 of aggravating particles from your residence’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is great for homes who are looking for better protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter captures 99% of larger particles such as dust, pollen and lint. And up to 54% of smaller particles down to 0.3 microns.4
The Healthy Climate 11 Media Air Cleaner is a a fantastic air purifier for allergies and in homes with pets. It catches more than 87% of bigger particles down to 3 microns and more than 28% of miniscule ones down to 0.3 microns.4 It’s able to offer this effective filtration without increasing the price of using your home comfort system.
These three media air cleaners can be used with any brand of HVAC system. But despite that, it’s important to be aware that some of the denser ones, including MERV 16 and 13, may restrict your system’s airflow. This can increase your heating and cooling bills.
3. UV Air Purifiers
The sun’s UV rays are the reason why you get a painful sunburn. But this kind of light has a beneficial application when installed inside your ductwork. It’s also tough enough to eliminate germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In fact, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can reduce the amount of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as quickly as 45 minutes.5 This light damages cell structure, which halts these microorganisms from growing and spreading across your house.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your home comfort system clean and running like it should. It eliminates of germs, mold and fungi that are hidden within ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier does all this work without making lung-aggravating ozone.6
Breathe Healthier Air with the Help of Our Air Purification Specialists
Your family’s comfort and health matters to us at Edington Heating & Cooling Inc. We know there are a lot of solutions out there. That’s why we make it easy to partner with our indoor air quality specialists. We specialize in developing solutions that fit your needs and budget, and we’d love to find out more about your house and your air quality issues. Call us at 937-558-9478 now to get started.
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.
