If you live in a newly constructed home in Sacramento, it was probably built with energy efficiency as a priority. This means more insulation and windows and doors with better seals. While these enhancements are good for keeping your heating and cooling costs reasonable, they’re not so excellent for your indoor air quality.
Your home comfort system needs to operate with a filter. But if you have a flat filter, you won’t be getting enough filtration. This style only gives the bare minimum of protection by blocking dust from infiltrating your heating and cooling system.
While you can get a pleated filter or one with a increased MERV rating, it still might not be enough filtration, especially if someone in your house has allergies or other respiratory problems.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier comes in. These systems are placed within ductwork to provide strong filtration throughout your house. Depending on the model you choose, you’ll be able to remove allergens, odors and even some viruses under certain airflow conditions.
Here are our best 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 made to shield scientists as they created the atomic bomb. Today, they’re a staple in hospitals and other medical settings.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System has a three-step filtration procedure. A prefilter draws significant irritants before the HEPA filter captures the remainder of miniscule particles. Then, a charcoal filter wipes out odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System works with all HVAC brands and smoothly works with your smart home. It combats the three leading kinds of indoor air pollutants:
- Airborne particles
- Chemical odors and vapors
- Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions
This air purifier can eliminate 99.9%* of pollutants, including mold spores, pollen, dust and pet dander. It’s also potent at reducing or eradicating 90%1 of flu and cold viruses under certain airflow conditions. And, as the result of laboratory and field studies, it decreases and destroys approximately 50% of residential odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S comes with sensing features that make it uncomplicated to maintain. When paired with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll get a notification 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 made in a variety of MERV ratings to work with your needs. This rating calculates how effective filters are at trapping contaminants. The higher the number, the finer 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, because it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-strength filtration. And it eliminates more than 95%3 of aggravating particles from your house’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is great for homes who are looking for enhanced 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 great 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 finer ones down to 0.3 microns.4 It’s able to deliver this powerful filtration without increasing the cost of turning on your HVAC system.
These three media air cleaners are compatible with any brand of HVAC system. However, it’s essential to realize that some of the denser ones, including MERV 16 and 13, may limit your system’s airflow. This can inflate your utility costs.
3. UV Air Purifiers
The sun’s UV rays are to blame when you get a painful sunburn. But this type of light has a helpful application when placed 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 lower the concentration of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as quickly as 45 minutes.5 This light wrecks cell structure, which prohibits these microorganisms from flourishing and moving across your house.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your heating and cooling system clean and working efficiently. It wipes out of germs, mold and fungi that are hidden inside ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier achieves all these things without making lung-irritating ozone.6
Breathe Healthier Air with the Support of Our Air Purification Professionals
Your loved ones’ comfort and health is our top priority at Bishop’s HVAC. We are aware there are lots of solutions out there. That’s why we make it easy to work with our indoor air quality specialists. We specialize in recommending solutions that fit your needs and budget, and we’d love to find out more about your residence and your air quality problems. Give us a call at 916-591-6889 now 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.