If you have a newly constructed home in Cedar Rapids, it was in all likelihood built with energy efficiency as a priority. This means greater amounts of insulation and windows and doors with enhanced seals. While these advances are good for keeping your utility costs in check, they’re not so great for your indoor air quality.
Your home comfort system needs to work with a filter. But if you have a flat filter, you won’t be experiencing adequate filtration. This style only provides the bare minimum of protection by blocking dust from infiltrating your HVAC system.
While you can get 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 issues.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier comes in. These systems are placed within ductwork to provide powerful filtration around your residence. 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 systems 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 created to shield scientists as they made the atomic bomb. Today, they’re a staple in hospitals and other medical facilities.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System has a three-step filtration procedure. A prefilter attracts larger pollutants before the HEPA filter catches remaining tiny particles. 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 integrates with your smart home. It fights the three key varieties 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 decreases and destroys approximately 50% of your home’s odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S includes sensing features that make it simple to maintain. When linked with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll receive an alert to install a new 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 fit your needs. This rating calculates how good filters are at capturing contaminants. The better the number, the greater 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, since it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-level filtration. And it eliminates more than 95%3 of irritating particles from your residence’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is great for homes who want enhanced protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter captures 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 residences 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 increasing the bill for turning on your heating and cooling system.
These three media air cleaners can be used with any brand of HVAC system. But despite that, it’s critical to know that some of the thicker ones, including 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 the fault of why you get a blistering sunburn. But this kind of light has a beneficial application when concealed within your ductwork. It’s also tough enough to reduce germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In actuality, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can lower the number of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as quickly as 45 minutes.5 This light damages cell structure, which halts these microorganisms from growing and spreading across your house.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your home comfort system clean and working efficiently. It eliminates of germs, mold and fungi hiding inside ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier does all this work without developing lung-irritating ozone.6
Breathe Easier with the Support of Our Air Purification Specialists
Your family’s comfort and health is important to us at Ilten's. We realize there are a lot of possibilities out there. That’s why we make it simple to partner with our indoor air quality pros. We specialize in making solutions that meet your needs and budget, and we’d love to hear more about your residence and your air quality problems. Call us at 319-208-2351 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.