If you live in a newly built home in Rapid City, it was probably built with energy efficiency at the top of the list. This means increased insulation and windows and doors with improved seals. While these advances are excellent for keeping your utility expenses economical, they’re not so great for your indoor air quality.
Your HVAC system needs to run with a filter. But if you have a flat filter, you won’t be receiving adequate filtration. This kind only provides the lowest level of protection by stopping dust from getting into your home comfort system.
While you can install a pleated filter or one with a increased MERV rating, it still might not be ample 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 placed within ductwork to provide effective filtration throughout your house. 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 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, gives the best filtration. These filters were first created to protect scientists as they worked on the atomic bomb. Today, they’re necessary in hospitals and other medical buildings.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System features a three-step filtration procedure. A prefilter attracts larger particles before the HEPA filter traps the rest of smaller irritants. Then, a charcoal filter wipes out odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System connects to all HVAC brands and smoothly connects with your smart home. It combats the three key varieties 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, including 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 eradicates approximately 50% of household odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S comes with sensing features that make it simple to maintain. When used 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 used with communicating Lennox systems and the iComfort S30.
2. Media Air Cleaners
Lennox Healthy Climate® Media Air Cleaners are made in a variety of MERV ratings to work with your needs. This rating determines how good filters are at removing contaminants. The higher the number, the better the filtration.
The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is recommended for households with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, because it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-grade filtration. And it gets rid of more than 95%3 of irritating particles from your home’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is suggested for households who want better protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter captures 99% of larger particles such as 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 an excellent air purifier for allergies and in homes with pets. It catches 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 effective filtration without driving up the price of operating your HVAC system.
These three media air cleaners work with any brand of HVAC system. But despite that, it’s important to realize that some of the thicker ones, including MERV 16 and 13, may decrease your system’s airflow. This can increase your heating and cooling bills.
3. UV Air Purifiers
The sun’s UV rays are the reason why you get a stinging sunburn. But this type of light has a useful application when concealed within your ductwork. It’s also powerful enough to decrease germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In fact, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can lower the number of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as short as 45 minutes.5 This light damages cell structure, which stops these microorganisms from flourishing and infiltrating throughout your home.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your heating and cooling system clean and running efficiently. It takes care of germs, mold and fungi lurking within ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier achieves all these things without making lung-inflaming ozone.6
Breathe Better with the Assistance of Our Air Purification Pros
Your family’s comfort and health is important to us at Street Heating and Cooling. We are aware there are many solutions out there. That’s why we make it easy to work with our indoor air quality professionals. We specialize in creating solutions that fit your needs and budget, and we’d love to learn more about your home and your air quality challenges. Reach us at 605-206-3915 right away 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.