If you live in a newly built house in Rockford, it was in all likelihood built with energy efficiency at the top of the list. This means increased insulation and windows and doors with enhanced seals. While these enhancements are fantastic for keeping your utility costs reasonable, they’re not so great for your indoor air quality.
Your HVAC system needs to work with a filter. But if you have a flat filter, you won’t be getting ample filtration. This kind only provides the lowest level of protection by keeping dust out of your HVAC system.
While you can upgrade to a pleated filter or one with a increased MERV rating, it still might not be ample filtration, especially if someone in your residence has allergies or other respiratory troubles.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier comes in. These systems are placed within ductwork to provide effective filtration around your house. Depending on the kind you select, you’ll be able to filter allergens, odors and even some viruses under certain airflow conditions.
Here are our favorite 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, gives the best filtration. These filters were first created to guard scientists as they made the atomic bomb. Today, they’re a must-have in hospitals and other medical operations.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System includes a three-step filtration process. A prefilter catches bigger particles before the HEPA filter catches remaining tiny pollutants. Then, a charcoal filter takes care of odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System connects to all HVAC brands and smoothly works with your smart home. It combats the three major types of indoor air irritants:
- Airborne particles
- Chemical odors and vapors
- Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions
This air purifier can remove 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, as the result of laboratory and field studies, it reduces and eliminates approximately 50% of household odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S comes with sensing features that make it easy to maintain. When used 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 installed 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 fit your needs. This rating calculates how effective filters are at capturing contaminants. The higher the number, the finer the filtration.
The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is ideal for homes with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, as it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-level filtration. And it removes more than 95%3 of irritating particles from your residence’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is great for households who are seeking enhanced protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter removes 99% of larger particles such as 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 an excellent air purifier for allergies and in homes with pets. It removes 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 deliver this powerful filtration without running up the cost of using your home comfort system.
These three media air cleaners are compatible with any brand of HVAC system. Regardless, it’s essential to realize that some of the thicker ones, such as MERV 16 and 13, may decrease your system’s airflow. This can inflate your utility bills.
3. UV Air Purifiers
The sun’s UV rays are to blame when you get a stinging sunburn. But this kind of light has a useful application when concealed within your ductwork. It’s also tough enough to decrease germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In fact, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can decrease the number of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as little as 45 minutes.5 This light destroys cell structure, which prohibits these microorganisms from growing and moving throughout your house.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your home comfort system clean and operating efficiently. It takes care of germs, mold and fungi that are hidden within ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier achieves all this work without developing lung-irritating ozone.6
Breathe Healthier Air with the Assistance of Our Air Purification Pros
Your family’s comfort and health is important to us at Temperature Doctors Heating & Cooling. We realize there are lots of options out there. That’s why we make it easy to partner with our indoor air quality professionals. We specialize in developing solutions tailored to your needs and budget, and we’d love to learn more about your residence and your air quality issues. Reach us at (815) 914-6197 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.