If you have a newly built house in the Rio Grande Valley, it was in all likelihood constructed with energy efficiency in mind. This means greater amounts of insulation and windows and doors with improved seals. While these advances are good for keeping your utility expenses economical, they’re not so great for your indoor air quality.
Your heating and cooling system needs to run with a filter. But if you rely on a flat filter, you won’t be receiving enough filtration. This type only delivers the smallest amount of protection by stopping dust from getting into your home comfort system.
While you can upgrade to a pleated filter or one with a better MERV rating, it still might not be adequate filtration, especially if someone in your house has allergies or other respiratory troubles.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier can be a great solution. These systems are attached within ductwork to give strong filtration throughout your home. Depending on the kind you choose, you’ll be able to filter allergens, odors and even some viruses under certain airflow conditions.
Here are our top 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 defend scientists as they worked on the atomic bomb. Today, they’re necessary in hospitals and other medical operations.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System has a three-step filtration process. A prefilter draws significant particles before the HEPA filter traps the remainder of miniscule irritants. Then, a charcoal filter eradicates odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System works with all HVAC brands and seamlessly connects with with your smart home. It fights the three major types 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, such as mold spores, pollen, dust and pet dander. It’s also potent at removing or eliminating 90%1 of flu and cold viruses under certain airflow conditions. And, based on laboratory and field studies, it removes and eradicates approximately 50% of your home’s odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S comes with sensing features that make it easy to maintain. When paired with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll get a notification to replace the filter and UVA light.2 This home air purifier must be linked 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 capturing contaminants. The better the number, the greater the filtration.
The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is recommended for residences with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, since it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-strength filtration. And it removes more than 95%3 of irritating particles from your house’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is great for families who desire improved protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter traps 99% of larger particles including 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 fantastic air purifier for allergies and in houses with pets. It traps 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 strong filtration without driving up the bill for turning on your HVAC system.
These three media air cleaners work with any brand of HVAC system. However, it’s critical to know that some of the thicker ones, like MERV 16 and 13, may restrict your system’s airflow. This can inflate your heating and cooling 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 concealed inside your ductwork. It’s also strong enough to decrease germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In actuality, 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 multiplying and infiltrating across your residence.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your HVAC system clean and operating like it should. It wipes out of germs, mold and fungi lurking inside 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 Assistance of Our Air Purification Specialists
Your family’s comfort and health is important to us at Cytech Heating & Cooling L.C.. We realize there are many solutions out there. That’s why we make it uncomplicated to collaborate 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 home and your air quality issues. Call us at 956-630-3522 today 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.