HVAC Furnace Filters Page Two

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Particulates & Compounds in the Air We Breath

HVAC Electronic Air Cleaners (EAC's)

Ultraviolet Air Cleaner Protection

Particulates & Compounds in the Air We Breath

• Pollen
• Lint
• Mildew
• Mold
• Fungi
• Virus's
• Spores
• Dirt
• Pet Odors
• Dust
• Dander
• Dust Mites
• Smoke
• Cooking Odors
• Formaldehyde
• Bathroom Odors
• Chemical Smells
• Tobacco Odors
• Many Other Volatile Organic Compounds

Removing these things is the job of your HVAC air filter. The standard HVAC air filters you can buy at the hardware store, the fiberglass stranded air filters, are the cheapest and most ineffective air filters for removing these particles and odors. The cheap air filter will remove less than 10 percent of these particles and none of the odors from the air that you breathe. Many people are surprised to learn the contents of the air they are breathing from the list above. The question they most often ask themselves is what can I do to filter these things from the air my family, coworkers, and I are breathing? The answer to that question is easy but based on what you want to spend and the level of cleanliness you want. As stated above the best is the Electronic Air Cleaner used in conjunction with a mechanical filtering media and the UV air cleaner. The Electronic Air Cleaner when used with the UV air cleaner will ensure the eradication of bacteria, mold, fungi, and mildew. It is the ultra violet light that kills these things and is installed in the return duct near the EAC (Electronic Air Cleaner). When these two devices, the electronic air cleaner and the ultraviolet air cleaner, are combined with the mechanical air filter, you can be assured that you have the best indoor air quality available in your dwelling. Additionally, if you had the electronic air cleaner and the ultraviolet air cleaner installed in your dwelling, changing the mechanical filters will come on a less frequent basis. That is triple protection for your families and coworkers health through increased indoor air quality.

The Electronic Air Cleaner (EACs)

Electronic Air Cleaners (EACs) can be expensive compared to the regular filtering media's but from personal experience they are well worth the cost. Customers with allergies and respiratory conditions have reported better breathing conditions when their units were working properly. These units are capable of filtering particles that are less than one micron in size. An EAC is a high tech way of improving the indoor air quality of your home. When the air passes through the first part of the unit the particles in the air are given an electrical charge using thin ionizing wires located in the cells. Downstream from the wires are collector plates with an opposite charge. The particles (now polarized) are attracted to the collector plates that have an opposite polarized charge. For this reason, electronic air cleaners need to have the cells removed and cleaned usually on a semi-annual basis. Mild soap and water should be used along with extreme care so the ionizing wires or collector plates are not damaged. If the plates or ionizing wires are damaged during cleaning, the cells should be replaced before restoring power to the unit or the power pack can be damaged. The power pack is an expensive and integral part of the electronic air cleaner. If you have a maintenance agreement the service should include cleaning and caring for this unit if you have one installed in your home or business. Since these units are expensive they should have professional attention paid to them from time to time. While the cells are not super-fragile, damage can occur if the proper precautions are not taken during the cleaning of these cells.

Ultraviolet Air Cleaners

Many of us know that ultraviolet rays are harmful to our skin if we are over exposed to the suns rays. This is the reason most of us use sun block in the summer. Why are UV rays so harmful to us and most biological organisms? UV rays penetrate the cells and break down the molecular bonds in the cells. This can cause mutation of the cells and change their biological make-up. This process can be used to our advantage to improve the indoor air quality of our living and working spaces. UV lights can be installed in your duct work so that it may wash the air from harmful bio-organisms that live in the air and duct work of your home or business. When the air containing these microorganisms pass through the UV light in the duct work, the light penetrates the organism and breaks down its molecular bonds. This causes cellular and genetic damage that renders these microscopic critters harmless. It also robs them of their ability to reproduce. Many of the items listed above can be eradicated from your system if you have one of these lights installed in your duct work. There is an additional benefit to having UV light protection installed in your ducts. A few years back I was reading an engineering trade journal concerning HVAC. In this article a contractor installed UV lights in the ducts of a very large building. In addition to the people occupying the building reporting less illness, the power bill for the building was reduced because the UV light eradicated mold, mildew, and other organisms that tend to grow. These things grow on the coils and reduce and restrict air flow. This causes the motors to work harder to push and pull the air where it is supposed to go. The UV light eliminated these restrictions allowing the motors to use less power to move the air. The secondary benefit to this is reduced maintenance costs because the motors are not working so hard all the time and therefore do not have to be replaced or repaired as often. A UV light installed in your duct work can benefit more than your health, it can benefit your checkbook also.

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UV Air Cleaner inside the duct work.

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