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DeHart Plumbing, Heating, and Air Inc. Blog

Why Your House May Need an Air Purifier

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You want air in your home that’s not only pleasant to breathe, but healthy for you and your family. Good ventilation is a starting place, followed by having our professionals install an air filtration system. Sometimes, these steps will do the job necessary for the best indoor air quality.

But you may need to go a step further and have an air purification system installed; i.e. an electronic air purifier that uses ionization, UV lights, or another process to remove pollutants from the air. We think air purifiers are a good idea in general, but we want to address why your house specifically may need air purification along with air filtration and improved ventilation.

The Limits of Air Filtration Systems

In a post last year, we discussed how air filters are rated for effectiveness at removing airborne contaminants. The short version is that filters have MERV ratings, and the higher the MERV rating, the smaller the particles a filter can stop as air flows through it. Air filters for residential homes range from 5 to 13 MERV.

Air filters can be powerful enough to stop the majority of contaminants from circulating through a ventilation system. That’s why filters such as the HEPA filters are used in places like hospitals, labs, and clean rooms. But household HVAC systems are not powerful enough to create decent airflow through a filter that has extremely high MERV—the filter not only stops contaminants, but it also stops the movement of air! Your house’s HVAC system has a limit on how powerful a filter it can have installed and still be able to keep the indoors comfortable and prevent energy bills from skyrocketing. 

Enter the Air Purification System

If you have the most powerful filter possible for your home installed into the HVAC system, but small pollutants are still able to slip through it, it’s time to pair the filter with one or more air purifiers. 

Several airborne contaminants in your home may be able to get through filters. These include VOCs (volatile organic compounds), microbes, odor molecules, and chemicals. If your home has a large concentration of these contaminants and won’t handle a filter with a MERV high enough to stop them, installing an air purification system will usually do the job. In fact, with the right combination of filtration and purification, you can remove more than 99% of the airborne contaminants circulating through the living spaces of your home. 

The Air Purification Options

There are different types of air purifiers, and there are also IAQ systems that combine both filtration and electronic purification so you can have the indoor air quality concerns taken care of with a single installation. The most common type of air purifier uses ionization to charge particles and then draw them from the air. UV lights are an effective purification system to zap microbes, mold spores, and bacteria. 

Finding the ideal air purifier in Escalon, CA to meet your needs only requires calling our professionals. We help homes enjoy terrific air quality without a loss in energy efficiency.

Call Greenhart for great indoor air quality for your home. Live Green, Save Green!

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