Air filters and air purifiers pull pollutants out of your indoor air to create a healthier environment in your home but and to support the life of your HVAC system. An HVAC system with filters that are clogged with dust and dirt has to work harder. That brings problems you might have to call in a professional to solve and also reduces the system’s working life. This costs you money. Here are the differences between an air filter and an air purifier.
The Air Filter
The air filter is already part of your HVAC system. It catches and holds on to particles such as pollen, dust, mold spores, and other pollutants. These filters are easy to find in a hardware or big box store and are inexpensive. They’re also easy to either clean or replace, and you can do this yourself every few weeks or so.
Air filters come with what’s called a MERV rating. This stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, and it measures how well the filter does its job. The type of filter you can readily buy has a rating of between 3 and 8. The higher the rating, the better the filter is able to catch and hold on to tiny particles. Filters with even higher ratings are available, but they’re more expensive. These filters can catch some pathogens, dust from lead and other toxic materials, and cigarette smoke.
The most effective of these filters are HEPA, or High Efficiency Particulate Air filters. These filters can have a MERV rating as high as 20. However, you may need to have an HVAC professional come and install a HEPA filter for your system.
The Air Purifier
As efficient as an air filter with a high MERV number can be, it’s still not as powerful as an air purifier, which needs to be installed in your HVAC system by a professional. Air purifiers don’t use the sort of fine membranes you’d find in an air filter. Instead, they use ultraviolet light, ionizers, or a hybrid of the two. They work on a truly molecular level to not only kill bacteria but viruses, which are much smaller than bacteria.
UV light air purifiers use germicidal UVC to destroy microbes. Ionic purifiers use ions, which are atoms or molecules that have lost electrons and now have a negative charge. They grab onto positively charged particles in the air, which then sink to a plate to be wiped away.
If You Need an Air Filter or Air Purifier, Call Us
Both air purifiers and air filters improve the quality of the air in your home. If you’re interested in air purifiers or scrubbers, get in touch with our experienced HVAC specialists at Absolute Electrical Heating & Air in Denver, Colorado.