According to research by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor air can be as much as five times more polluted than outdoor air. This is because indoor air is more concentrated, and home environments also experience excess chemicals from fossil fuels. Secondhand smoke and cleaning products diffuse in the outdoors. All of this spells trouble for just about anyone, which is why many utilize air purifiers to help reduce the impact of these pollutants.
With that in mind, are these purifiers actually effective? In this guide, we’re going to explore whole-home air purifiers, their effectiveness, and any benefits they might provide to your home.
Explaining Whole-Home Air Purification
Whole-home air purifiers work by integrating into your existing HVAC system. While your system is cooling or warming the air, the purifier is using its filtration system to actually remove allergens and pollutants from the home. In this way, these two systems work in tandem to help make a more comfortable and breathable environment in your home.
To purify the air, whole-home air purification systems utilize one of several types of filters. In this section, let’s take a look at some of the filtration systems currently available.
UV Filters
As the name indicates, UV filters utilize ultraviolet light to kill microorganisms. The wavelength of light is usually UV-CV, which actually negatively affects the DNA of microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. These are very effective, and since there’s no need for chemicals, this is a safe way to help remove harmful biological antigens from the air.
HEPA Filters
The term HEPA filtration stands for high-efficiency particulate air filtration. These air filters will remove anything as small as 0.3 microns from the air, which accounts for about 99.97% of airborne pollutants and allergens. This includes mold spores, bacteria, dust, dander, and even secondhand smoke particles. To illustrate the filtration capabilities of a HEPA filter-equipped whole-home purifier, even human cells, which are 10 to 100 microns, filter out of the air.
Electrostatic Filters
Electrostatic filters work like magnets for dust and airborne particles. As air passes through the filter media, the electrostatic membrane, made of materials like paper or cotton, attracts allergens using static electricity. Once collected, they stay there until you wash, dry, and replace the filter in the whole-home air purifier.
Media Filters
Media filters are the thickest air purifier filtration method. Like other filters, they use a filter medium to trap dust, pollen, mold spores, and pet dander as air passes through. They are usually made of pleated paper or similar material and have a high minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) rating for filtration.
Spun Glass Filters
While some call these fiberglass filters, they use a webbing of glass fibers to trap larger airborne particles, such as dust, pet dander, and pollen. These will require relatively frequent replacement and aren’t as effective at collecting smaller allergens and pollutants.
The Benefits of Whole-Home Air Purification
Now that we’ve covered some of the types of air purification filtration, let’s take a look at the benefits of whole-home purification for your household.
Removing Allergens
In the United States alone, there are more than 80 million seasonal allergy sufferers. In a home, allergens like pollen, mold, and dust often come in via open doors and windows, on clothes, and on the bodies of our pets. Whole-home air purifiers will pull these allergens out of the air and transfer them to filtration media that is then cleaned or replaced.
More Effectiveness for Air Purification
While there are smaller, single-room air purifiers on the market that are fairly effective, whole-home air purifiers are a much more thorough option. This is because they purify all of the air in the home rather than just in a single room. Also, since these work alongside an HVAC system, the two systems provide a combined effect. While the HVAC cools the air, the purifier will clean it of allergens and pollutants.
Removing Pollutants
A whole-home air purifier doesn’t just remove allergens from the air; it’ll also remove pollutants that will negatively affect your health. Chemicals like building materials, cleaning supplies, secondhand smoke, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can all be present in alarming numbers in your home. A good whole-home air purifier will filter these out so that indoor air quality rises significantly.
Whole-Home Air Purification Helps Your HVAC System
One of the biggest factors that age HVAC systems is the collection of dust and allergens. As your HVAC system runs, dust collects on air filters. Clogged air filters cause HVAC systems to work harder to push air, which causes extra strain on the internal motors, shortening the lifespan of the system. With whole-home air purifiers, less material will make it to the HVAC air filter so that it’ll strain the system less. This will also reduce energy bills.
So, How Effective Are Whole-Home Air Purifiers?
When it comes to the overall effectiveness of these devices, it really comes down to the filtration system. With a whole-home system, you want to err on the side of a high MERV rating. Effectively, the higher the MERV, the better the system is going to purify the air. For this reason, HEPA-based air purifiers are going to remove more allergens from the air than many of the other types.
UV variations are also great for filtering out dangerous microorganisms. The UV light effectively
“kills” them by interfering with their DNA and making them cease functioning. UV light even renders the DNA of other biological allergens, like pet dander, so that the allergy-causing proteins break down.
Conversely, media filter-based whole-home air purifiers will do a great job with larger allergens or pollutants, but they’re going to do worse with smaller ones. These include mold, mildew, and bacteria, all of which cause allergic reactions.
The Households Best Served by Whole-Home Air Purifiers
These additions to your HVAC system work best for those households with allergy sufferers. With the best systems being able to filter out allergens as small as 0.3 microns, these devices help create indoor environments where household members can breathe easily.
Anyone with chemical allergies will also find these useful HVAC additions, as these can make homes with secondhand smoke and chemicals more breathable. Finally, homes with asthma sufferers and people with cardiovascular conditions will also benefit since the reduction of air pollution helps with both.
We Understand Whole-Home Air Purification
With 30% of Americans experiencing allergy symptoms, it’s critical that indoor environments are clear of allergens and pollutants. Your home should be a bastion of health with high indoor air quality, and employing one of these systems will help drastically.
At Blue Best Plumbing, Heating, Air, Generators, we care about the air you breathe, and we’ve been members of the Bountiful community for 20 years. If you’re not sure where to start, give us a call today, and we’ll consult you about your purification options as well as any HVAC services you may require.
