If you own a newer house in Florissant and St. Charles, it was probably built with energy efficiency at the top of the list. This means greater amounts of insulation and windows and doors with enhanced seals. While these enhancements are fantastic for keeping your utility costs in check, they’re not so great 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 getting adequate filtration. This style only provides the lowest level of protection by keeping dust out of your heating and cooling system.
While you can install a pleated filter or one with a increased MERV rating, it still might not be adequate filtration, even more so if someone in your residence has allergies or other respiratory troubles.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier can be a good option. These systems are attached within ductwork to provide mighty filtration around your house. Depending on the type you select, you’ll be able to get rid of allergens, odors and even some viruses under certain airflow conditions.
Here are our best 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 created the atomic bomb. Today, they’re a staple in hospitals and other medical applications.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System has a three-step filtration process. A prefilter attracts bigger particles before the HEPA filter traps the rest of smaller particles. Then, a charcoal filter eradicates odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System is compatible with all HVAC brands and easily works with your smart home. It reduces the three major types of indoor air contaminants:
- 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 decreasing or eradicating 90%1 of flu and cold viruses under certain airflow conditions. And, according to laboratory and field studies, it reduces and destroys approximately 50% of household odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S includes sensing features that make it uncomplicated to keep up. When linked 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 used 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 calculates how effective filters are at removing contaminants. The greater the number, the greater the filtration.
The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is ideal for families with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, since it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-grade filtration. And it gets rid of more than 95%3 of aggravating particles from your house’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is great for households who are seeking improved protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter captures 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 an excellent 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 smaller ones down to 0.3 microns.4 It’s able to offer this powerful filtration without increasing the cost of operating your heating and cooling system.
These three media air cleaners work with any brand of HVAC system. But despite that, it’s important to be aware that some of the thicker ones, like MERV 16 and 13, may decrease your system’s airflow. This can increase your utility costs.
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 beneficial application when installed in your ductwork. It’s also tough enough to decrease germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In reality, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can decrease the number of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as fast as 45 minutes.5 This light destroys cell structure, which prohibits these microorganisms from growing and spreading throughout your home.
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 hiding within ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier achieves all these things without developing lung-irritating ozone.6
Breathe Easier with the Help of Our Air Purification Pros
Your loved ones’ comfort and health is important to us at B & B Heating & Cooling. We realize there are a lot of possibilities out there. That’s why we make it easy to partner 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 challenges. Reach us at 314-325-7552 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.