If you own a newly constructed house in the Bay Area, it was likely made with energy efficiency as a priority. This means greater amounts of insulation and windows and doors with better seals. While these advances are fantastic for keeping your utility costs under control, they’re not so good 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 receiving enough filtration. This type only gives the bare minimum of protection by keeping dust out of your heating and cooling system.
While you can get a pleated filter or one with a better MERV rating, it still might not be enough filtration, even more so if someone in your house has allergies or other respiratory problems.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier comes in. These systems are attached within ductwork to deliver mighty filtration throughout your residence. 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 favorite options 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, provides the best filtration. These filters were first developed to protect scientists as they worked on the atomic bomb. Today, they’re a staple in hospitals and other medical applications.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System features a three-step filtration process. A prefilter draws larger particles before the HEPA filter captures remaining smaller irritants. Then, a charcoal filter takes care of odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System is compatible with all HVAC brands and easily connects with with your smart home. It combats the three major varieties of indoor air pollutants:
- Airborne particles
- Chemical odors and vapors
- Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions
This air purifier can remove 99.9%* of pollutants, like mold spores, pollen, dust and pet dander. It’s also effective at decreasing or eliminating 90%1 of flu and cold viruses under certain airflow conditions. And, as the result of laboratory and field studies, it decreases and eliminates approximately 50% of household odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S comes with sensing features that make it uncomplicated to maintain. When linked with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll get a notification to install a new 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 work with your needs. This rating measures how capable filters are at trapping contaminants. The better the number, the greater the filtration.
The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is recommended for families 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 aggravating particles from your residence’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is suggested for families who desire better protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter catches 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 removes more than 87% of bigger particles down to 3 microns and more than 28% of smaller ones down to 0.3 microns.4 It’s able to offer this strong filtration without increasing the cost of using your HVAC system.
These three media air cleaners work with any brand of HVAC system. But despite that, it’s essential to know that some of the denser ones, including MERV 16 and 13, may limit your system’s airflow. This can increase your heating and cooling bills.
3. UV Air Purifiers
The sun’s UV rays are to blame when you get a blistering sunburn. But this kind of light has a helpful application when installed in 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 short as 45 minutes.5 This light damages cell structure, which stops these microorganisms from growing and spreading throughout your residence.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your HVAC system clean and running properly. It takes care of germs, mold and fungi that are hidden within ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier does all these things without developing lung-inflaming ozone.6
Breathe Healthier Air with the Help of Our Air Purification Professionals
Your loved ones’ comfort and health is important to us at Contra Costa Heating & AC. We realize there are many solutions out there. That’s why we make it easy to partner with our indoor air quality pros. We specialize in developing solutions tailored to your needs and budget, and we’d love to learn more about your house and your air quality issues. Reach us at 510-343-9841 right away 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.