If you have a newer home in Houston, it was probably built with energy efficiency in mind. This means greater amounts of insulation and windows and doors with better seals. While these enhancements are fantastic for keeping your utility expenses reasonable, 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 experiencing adequate filtration. This style only provides the lowest level of protection by blocking dust from infiltrating your home comfort system.
While you can upgrade to a pleated filter or one with a higher MERV rating, it still might not be enough filtration, particularly if someone in your residence has allergies or other respiratory troubles.
That’s where a whole-house air purifier can be a great solution. These systems are placed within ductwork to deliver strong filtration around your home. 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 favorite 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 the best filtration. These filters were first created to protect scientists as they worked on the atomic bomb. Today, they’re essential in hospitals and other medical buildings.
The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System includes a three-step filtration procedure. A prefilter catches bigger irritants before the HEPA filter catches remaining miniscule particles. Then, a charcoal filter wipes out odors and chemical vapors.
The PureAir™ S Air Purification System is compatible with all HVAC brands and easily works with with your smart home. It combats the three key kinds of indoor air contaminants:
- Airborne particles
- Chemical odors and vapors
- Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions
This air purifier can eliminate 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 reduces and eliminates approximately 50% of residential odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.
The PureAir S includes sensing features that make it uncomplicated to serviced. When paired 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 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 determines how capable filters are at removing contaminants. The better the number, the better the filtration.
The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is ideal for families with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, because it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-strength filtration. And it eliminates more than 95%3 of unhealthy particles from your residence’s air.
The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is recommended for households who desire better protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter traps 99% of larger particles such as dust, pollen and lint. And up to 54% of finer particles down to 0.3 microns.4
The Healthy Climate 11 Media Air Cleaner is a a fantastic air purifier for allergies and in residences 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 deliver this powerful filtration without driving up the bill for operating your HVAC system.
These three media air cleaners can be used with any brand of HVAC system. Regardless, it’s critical to be aware that some of the more substantial ones, like MERV 16 and 13, may restrict your system’s airflow. This can inflate your heating and cooling bills.
3. UV Air Purifiers
The sun’s UV rays are to the fault of you get a blistering sunburn. But this kind of light has a beneficial application when installed inside your ductwork. It’s also powerful enough to eliminate germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.
In reality, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can decrease the concentration of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as short as 45 minutes.5 This light wrecks cell structure, which prohibits these microorganisms from flourishing and moving throughout your home.
And this UV air purifier can also help keep your heating and cooling system clean and running properly. It wipes out of germs, mold and fungi that are hidden within ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier accomplishes all this work without creating lung-irritating ozone.6
Breathe Easier with the Help of Our Air Purification Professionals
Your household’s comfort and health matters to us at Marcos AC & Heating. We are aware there are many possibilities out there. That’s why we make it uncomplicated to work with our indoor air quality professionals. We specialize in creating solutions that match your needs and budget, and we’d love to learn more about your residence and your air quality problems. Give us a call at 713-469-3357 right away 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.