Air filters are often the unsung heroes of heating and cooling performance. Find out how a small investment in these simple yet important components to your forced-air system can boost home comfort, and protect and drive heating performance this season and cooling performance the next.
Higher Efficiency, Greater Rewards
Air filters are designed to provide basic protection for the components of your forced-air system and household air from common dust and debris. So, it makes sense that the higher efficiency filter you use, the greater rewards you’ll reap for system performance and clean indoor air.
A basic air filter may remove the largest of airborne contaminants from indoor air, but a host of harmful contaminants are not captured, and re-circulate through the home to collect on surfaces of forced-air components and inside ductwork.
Debris collects on furnace blowers and the cooling coil of A/C systems, which increases electricity consumption for both and noise levels for furnace blower motors, and also reduces cooling performance of the A/C coil.
Air Filters and Indoor-air Quality
The indoor air of the typical Ferndale and Clawson home is likely more polluted than outdoor air, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This is because indoor air becomes encapsulated inside homes, especially during the heating months in tightly sealed homes without adequate ventilation.
By replacing a disposable filter with one of higher efficiency, such as a pleated filter rated MERV 9 to 13, you’ll protect heating and cooling components, and help remove viruses, bacteria, mold spores, allergens and a host of other airborne contaminants that would continue to circulate and collect on surfaces in your home.
This is a basic guide of air filter quality:
- MERV 1-4: Disposable and ineffective; not recommended.
- MERV 5-8: Better quality for removing allergens and mold spores.
- MERV 8-13: Higher efficiency air filters offer a host of benefits for removing allergens, auto emissions and humidifier dust.
- MERV 14-16: High-end filters which remove most tobacco smoke, all bacteria and tiny sneeze droplets. HVAC modifications may be necessary.
For help selecting the best air filters for your needs, please contact us at Aladdin Heating & Cooling today.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Warren, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about high efficiency air filters and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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