If you live in a newer house in Tucson and Phoenix, it was in all likelihood constructed with energy efficiency as a priority. This means increased insulation and windows and doors with improved seals. While these enhancements are good for keeping your utility bills affordable, they’re not so good 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 experiencing enough filtration. This kind only gives the lowest level of protection by stopping dust from getting into your home comfort system.
While you can upgrade to a pleated filter or one with a increased MERV rating, it still might not be ample filtration, even more so if someone in your house has allergies or other respiratory troubles.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier comes in. These systems are attached within ductwork to provide mighty filtration across your house. Depending on the kind you choose, you’ll be able to remove 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, delivers premium filtration. These filters were first created to shield scientists as they worked on the atomic bomb. Today, they’re a staple in hospitals and other medical buildings.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System includes a three-step filtration method. A prefilter draws significant particles before the HEPA filter catches remaining smaller irritants. Then, a charcoal filter takes care of odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System works with all HVAC brands and smoothly connects with your smart home. It reduces the three leading varieties of indoor air irritants:
- Airborne particles
- Chemical odors and vapors
- Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions
This air purifier can get rid of 99.9%* of pollutants, including mold spores, pollen, dust and pet dander. It’s also potent at reducing or destroying 90%1 of flu and cold viruses under certain airflow conditions. And, according to laboratory and field studies, it removes and eradicates approximately 50% of your home’s 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 change 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 come in in a variety of MERV ratings to match your needs. This rating measures how effective filters are at capturing contaminants. The greater the number, the finer the filtration.
The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is ideal for residences with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, as it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-strength filtration. And it eliminates more than 95%3 of aggravating particles from your house’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is great for families who want enhanced protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter traps 99% of larger particles like 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 great 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 smaller ones down to 0.3 microns.4 It’s able to offer this powerful filtration without running up the cost of using your home comfort 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 thicker ones, like MERV 16 and 13, may limit your system’s airflow. This can increase your heating and cooling expenses.
3. UV Air Purifiers
The sun’s UV rays are to blame when you get a painful sunburn. But this type of light has a beneficial application when placed in your ductwork. It’s also tough enough to eliminate germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In fact, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can decrease the concentration of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as little as 45 minutes.5 This light destroys cell structure, which halts these microorganisms from growing and moving around your residence.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your home comfort system clean and operating like it should. It takes care of germs, mold and fungi that are hidden inside ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier accomplishes all these tasks without making lung-irritating ozone.6
Breathe Easier with the Assistance of Our Air Purification Professionals
Your family’s comfort and health matters to us at Desert Husky HVAC/R Services. We know there are a lot of options out there. That’s why we make it easy to collaborate with our indoor air quality pros. We specialize in creating solutions that meet your needs and budget, and we’d love to find out more about your house and your air quality challenges. Call us at 520-416-5415 right away to begin.
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.