If you live in a newly built home in Bishop, it was probably made with energy efficiency in mind. This means increased insulation and windows and doors with enhanced seals. While these advances are excellent for keeping your utility bills in check, they’re not so great for your indoor air quality.
Your home comfort system needs to run with a filter. But if you have a flat filter, you won’t be getting adequate filtration. This type only gives the lowest level of protection by stopping dust from getting into your heating and cooling system.
While you can upgrade to a pleated filter or one with a increased MERV rating, it still might not be adequate filtration, especially if someone in your house has allergies or other respiratory issues.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier can be a great solution. These systems are attached within ductwork to provide effective filtration around your residence. Depending on the kind you go with, you’ll be able to filter 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 premium filtration. These filters were first made to protect scientists as they developed 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 larger pollutants before the HEPA filter catches remaining 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 seamlessly works with your smart home. It reduces the three key kinds of indoor air irritants:
- Airborne particles
- Chemical odors and vapors
- Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions
This air purifier can eliminate 99.9%* of pollutants, such as 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, as the result of laboratory and field studies, it removes and destroys approximately 50% of residential odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S comes with sensing features that make it easy to keep up. 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 come in in a variety of MERV ratings to match your needs. This rating determines how capable filters are at capturing contaminants. The higher the number, the finer 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, since it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-level filtration. And it gets rid of more than 95%3 of irritating particles from your home’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is recommended for homes who want improved protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter removes 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 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 provide this powerful filtration without increasing the bill for using your HVAC system.
These three media air cleaners are compatible with any brand of HVAC system. But despite that, it’s important to be aware that some of the thicker ones, including MERV 16 and 13, may decrease 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 stinging sunburn. But this wavelength of light has a useful application when installed in your ductwork. It’s also powerful enough to eliminate germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In actuality, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can decrease the number of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as short as 45 minutes.5 This light wrecks cell structure, which halts these microorganisms from flourishing and moving across your residence.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your HVAC system clean and working properly. It wipes out of germs, mold and fungi lurking inside ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier does all these tasks without making lung-irritating ozone.6
Breathe Healthier Air with the Support of Our Air Purification Pros
Your loved ones’ comfort and health is our top priority at Bishop Heating & Air Conditioning. We realize there are a lot of possibilities out there. That’s why we make it uncomplicated to partner with our indoor air quality specialists. We specialize in making solutions tailored to your needs and budget, and we’d love to find out more about your residence and your air quality challenges. Reach us at 760-784-9034 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.