If you live in a newly built residence in Milledgeville and Middle Georgia, it was probably made with energy efficiency in mind. This means greater amounts of insulation and windows and doors with enhanced seals. While these improvements are great for keeping your energy costs in check, they’re not so good for your indoor air quality.
Your heating and cooling system needs to run with a filter. But if you have a flat filter, you won’t be experiencing adequate filtration. This style only provides 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 increased MERV rating, it still might not be ample filtration, even more so if someone in your residence has allergies or other respiratory problems.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier can be a good option. These systems are placed within ductwork to provide strong filtration around your house. Depending on the kind you choose, you’ll be able to get rid of allergens, odors and even some viruses under certain airflow conditions.
Here are our favorite 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, gives premium filtration. These filters were first developed to defend scientists as they created the atomic bomb. Today, they’re necessary in hospitals and other medical operations.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System features a three-step filtration method. A prefilter catches bigger pollutants before the HEPA filter traps the remainder of tiny particles. Then, a charcoal filter takes care of odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System is compatible with all HVAC brands and smoothly connects with your smart home. It reduces the three leading varieties 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, including mold spores, pollen, dust and pet dander. It’s also capable of decreasing or eliminating 90%1 of flu and cold viruses under certain airflow conditions. And, according to laboratory and field studies, it removes and destroys 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 service. 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 come in in a variety of MERV ratings to match your needs. This rating measures how effective filters are at capturing contaminants. The greater 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, since 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 recommended for households who are seeking stronger protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter catches 99% of larger particles including 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 fantastic air purifier for allergies and in houses with pets. It catches 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 provide this effective filtration without running up the bill for using your home comfort system.
These three media air cleaners can be used with any brand of HVAC system. However, it’s important to realize that some of the thicker ones, such as 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 helpful application when installed inside your ductwork. It’s also powerful enough to eliminate germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In fact, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can lower the number of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as short as 45 minutes.5 This light destroys cell structure, which halts these microorganisms from growing and infiltrating across your home.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your heating and cooling system clean and working properly. It takes care of germs, mold and fungi that are hidden inside ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier does all this work without producing lung-aggravating ozone.6
Breathe Better with the Help of Our Air Purification Specialists
Your family’s comfort and health matters to us at Air Concepts of Middle Georgia. We are aware there are a lot of options out there. That’s why we make it easy to work with our indoor air quality pros. We specialize in recommending solutions that match your needs and budget, and we’d love to learn more about your residence and your air quality challenges. Give us a call at 478-200-5689 right away 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.