If you live in a newly constructed house in Front Royal, it was probably constructed with energy efficiency in mind. This means greater amounts of insulation and windows and doors with enhanced seals. While these enhancements are great for keeping your utility bill reasonable, they’re not so great for your indoor air quality.
Your HVAC system needs to run with a filter. But if you’re using a flat filter, you won’t be getting enough filtration. This type only gives the lowest level of protection by stopping dust from getting into your HVAC system.
While you can upgrade to a pleated filter or one with a higher MERV rating, it still might not be ample filtration, particularly if someone in your home has allergies or other respiratory problems.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier comes in. These systems are attached within ductwork to provide powerful filtration across your residence. Depending on the type you select, you’ll be able to remove allergens, odors and even some viruses under certain airflow conditions.
Here are our top systems 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 top-of-the-line filtration. These filters were first created to protect scientists as they made the atomic bomb. Today, they’re must-have in hospitals and other medical buildings.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System has a three-step filtration method. A prefilter catches significant particles before the HEPA filter catches the rest of smaller irritants. Then, a charcoal filter wipes out odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System works with all HVAC brands and seamlessly integrates with your smart home. It reduces 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, such as mold spores, pollen, dust and pet dander. It’s also capable of reducing or destroying 90%1 of flu and cold viruses under certain airflow conditions. And, as the result of laboratory and field studies, it reduces and destroys approximately 50% of residential odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S includes sensing features that make it easy to maintain. When paired with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll receive an alert to install a new 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 calculates how good filters are at capturing contaminants. The better the number, the greater the filtration.
The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is recommended for homes with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, because it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-strength filtration. And it removes more than 95%3 of irritating particles from your home’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is great for households who desire improved protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter captures 99% of larger particles such as dust, pollen and lint. And up to 54% of finer particles down to 0.3 microns.4
The Healthy Climate 11 Media Air Cleaner is a a great air purifier for allergies and in houses with pets. It eliminates more than 87% of bigger particles down to 3 microns and more than 28% of finer ones down to 0.3 microns.4 It’s able to deliver this strong filtration without driving up the bill for turning on your home comfort system.
These three media air cleaners can be used with any brand of HVAC system. Regardless, it’s important to be aware that some of the denser ones, like MERV 16 and 13, may decrease your system’s airflow. This can increase your utility costs.
3. UV Air Purifiers
The sun’s UV rays are to the reason why you get a stinging sunburn. But this wavelength of light has a beneficial application when installed inside your ductwork. It’s also powerful enough to decrease germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In fact, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can decrease the amount of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as quickly as 45 minutes.5 This light destroys cell structure, which stops these microorganisms from multiplying and spreading across your house.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your HVAC system clean and running efficiently. It eliminates of germs, mold and fungi lurking within ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier accomplishes all these things without creating lung-inflaming ozone.6
Breathe Healthier Air with the Assistance of Our Air Purification Professionals
Your loved ones’ comfort and health is important to us at Dave's Diversified Services. We realize there are a lot of solutions out there. That’s why we make it easy to collaborate with our indoor air quality specialists. We specialize in making solutions tailored to your needs and budget, and we’d love to hear more about your residence and your air quality challenges. Call us at 540-636-3396 now to begin.
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.