{"id":454,"date":"2020-07-27T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gogreenhart.com\/blog\/?p=454"},"modified":"2025-10-31T09:59:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T16:59:55","slug":"understanding-the-merv-rating-and-air-filters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/indoor-air-quality-service\/understanding-the-merv-rating-and-air-filters\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the MERV Rating and Air Filters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"air-fliter-cu\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Air filtration systems are one of the basic building blocks of indoor air quality for a home. We offer many types of IAQ services for our clients, but air filtration in Modesto, CA<\/a> solutions are one of the most common. Among the top systems we install are PureAir S, the Carbon Clean 16, and the Clean Air 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, finding the right air filtration for a home isn\u2019t something\nwe do by selecting the most powerful filters available. That can lead to\nserious problems with the HVAC system in the house. We take into account many\nfactors when it comes to choosing air filters. One of the key factors is MERV,\nthe rating system measuring air filter strength. To help understand the\nimportance of finding the right air filters, we\u2019re going to go into more depth\nabout MERV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The MERV Basics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

MERV stands for minimum efficiency reporting value<\/em>.\nThe measurement for filter strength and how to test it was created in 1999 by\nthe American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers\n(ASHRAE). The older measurement ASHRAE used was often confusing to customers,\nso MERV was adopted. The new tests are done by measuring the effectiveness of a\nfilter with 12 different sizes of particles. A MERV number is then assigned to\nthe filter based on these tests, ranging from 1 to 16. The higher the number, the\nmore effective the filter is at trapping smaller particles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A MERV 1 filter has an efficiency of less than 20% on particles between 3\u201330 microns in size. Further along the scale is MERV 16, with 95% efficiency on particles down to 0.3 microns in size. So there is a wide range of differences along the scale\u2014and it goes up to 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filters that are MERV 1\u20134 are the types found in window air conditioning systems or the standard furnace filter use to protect the interior of the furnace from large contaminants but aren\u2019t very effective on anything smaller than 10 microns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MERV 5\u20138 filters are the ones most often installed into\nhomes and some commercial buildings. They\u2019re effective at stopping pollen, dust\nmites, the lint from carpet and furniture, and dust and most particles down to\n3 microns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MERV 9\u201312 filters are the top-line for residential uses and are\nused in larger commercial and medical buildings. These filters can stop many\nfine particles down to 1 micron in size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MERV 13\u201316 filters are rarely used in homes. They are used\nfor surgery rooms, hospital in-patient rooms, computer clean rooms, and other industrial\nuses. They are strong enough to stop bacteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason it\u2019s important to match a home\u2019s HVAC system with\nthe right MERV is that we can\u2019t err on going too<\/em> strong, because it will\nlimit the efficiency of the HVAC system because of the resistance to airflow.\nWe will match your house with the most powerful filter possible that will not create\nproblems for your comfort and damage the HVAC system. To help remove any particles\nthat the MERV rating of the filter will not effect, we can pair the filter with\nan air purifier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLive Green, Save Green!\u201d<\/a> Greenhart serves Modesto, CA and the surrounding areas. Get in touch with us for the right air filters for your house.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finding the right air filtration for a home isn\u2019t something we do by selecting the most powerful filters available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1806,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[11,43,88],"class_list":["post-454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indoor-air-quality-service","tag-air-filtration","tag-air-purification","tag-modesto"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1807,"href":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions\/1807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dehartinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}