If you own a newly constructed residence in Lexington, it was in all likelihood built with energy efficiency at the top of the list. This means more insulation and windows and doors with enhanced seals. While these improvements are fantastic for keeping your energy bills economical, they’re not so excellent for your indoor air quality.
Your heating and cooling system needs to work with a filter. But if you have a flat filter, you won’t be receiving ample filtration. This type only provides the bare minimum of protection by keeping dust out of your home comfort system.
While you can install a pleated filter or one with a better MERV rating, it still might not be adequate filtration, particularly 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 placed within ductwork to provide strong filtration throughout 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 styles 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 premium filtration. These filters were first developed to protect scientists as they made the atomic bomb. Today, they’re a staple in hospitals and other medical buildings.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System has a three-step filtration procedure. A prefilter catches significant irritants before the HEPA filter catches the remainder of miniscule pollutants. 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 works with your smart home. It fights the three major types of indoor air irritants:
- Airborne particles
- Chemical odors and vapors
- Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions
This air purifier can remove 99.9%* of pollutants, such as mold spores, pollen, dust and pet dander. It’s also effective at reducing 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 destroys approximately 50% of household odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S includes sensing features that make it uncomplicated to maintain. When paired with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll be notified when 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 work with your needs. This rating calculates how good filters are at removing 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 eliminates more than 95%3 of irritating particles from your home’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is recommended for households who desire stronger protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter captures 99% of larger particles like 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 residences 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 driving up the cost of turning on your home comfort system.
These three media air cleaners work with any brand of HVAC system. Regardless, it’s important to realize that some of the thicker ones, such as MERV 16 and 13, may decrease your system’s airflow. This can increase your heating and cooling expenses.
3. UV Air Purifiers
The sun’s UV rays are the fault of why you get a painful sunburn. But this wavelength of light has a helpful application when concealed within your ductwork. It’s also powerful enough to decrease germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In actuality, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can reduce the number of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as fast as 45 minutes.5 This light destroys cell structure, which halts 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 running like it should. It eliminates of germs, mold and fungi that are hidden in ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier accomplishes all these things without making lung-inflaming ozone.6
Breathe Healthier Air with the Support of Our Air Purification Professionals
Your family’s comfort and health is important to us at James Heating & A/C, Inc. We know there are a lot of options out there. That’s why we make it easy to collaborate with our indoor air quality specialists. We specialize in recommending solutions that fit your needs and budget, and we’d love to hear more about your house and your air quality problems. Reach us at 336-853-6070 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.
