If you live in a newly constructed house in Franklin Lakes, it was likely built with energy efficiency at the top of the list. This means more insulation and windows and doors with enhanced seals. While these advances are great for keeping your energy costs in check, they’re not so good 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 adequate filtration. This style only provides the bare minimum of protection by blocking dust from infiltrating your heating and cooling system.
While you can get a pleated filter or one with a higher MERV rating, it still might not be enough filtration, especially if someone in your house has allergies or other respiratory issues.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier can be a good option. These systems are placed within ductwork to deliver mighty filtration around your house. Depending on the type you go with, 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 premium filtration. These filters were first developed to protect scientists as they created the atomic bomb. Today, they’re necessary in hospitals and other medical facilities.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System has a three-step filtration method. A prefilter draws significant pollutants before the HEPA filter catches remaining miniscule irritants. Then, a charcoal filter eradicates odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System works with all HVAC brands and smoothly connects with with your smart home. It fights the three leading types of indoor air contaminants:
- Airborne particles
- Chemical odors and vapors
- Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions
This air purifier can get rid of 99.9%* of pollutants, like 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, as the result of laboratory and field studies, it reduces and destroys approximately 50% of residential odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S includes sensing features that make it easy to keep up. When used with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll be notified when to install a new filter and UVA light.2 This home air purifier must be installed 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 determines how capable filters are at trapping contaminants. The higher the number, the finer the filtration.
The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is great for homes with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, because it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-level filtration. And it removes 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 improved protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter traps 99% of larger particles like dust, pollen and lint. And up to 54% of smaller 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 removes 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 deliver this strong filtration without driving up the bill for using your heating and cooling 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 denser ones, like MERV 16 and 13, may decrease your system’s airflow. This can inflate your heating and cooling expenses.
3. UV Air Purifiers
The sun’s UV rays are to the reason why you get a blistering sunburn. But this kind of light has a beneficial application when placed inside 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 destroys cell structure, which prohibits these microorganisms from flourishing and moving across your home.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your HVAC system clean and working efficiently. It wipes out of germs, mold and fungi hiding inside ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier achieves all these tasks without developing lung-irritating ozone.6
Breathe Easier with the Help of Our Air Purification Pros
Your family’s comfort and health is our top priority at Total Comfort. We know there are a lot of possibilities out there. That’s why we make it simple to work with our indoor air quality pros. We specialize in making solutions that meet your needs and budget, and we’d love to learn more about your home and your air quality issues. Call us at 201-268-5663 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.