Air Cleaners & Purifiers

When the average HVAC system (furnace) is installed in a home, it generally has one level of air filtration. There will likely be a single 1” or 2” filter that is responsible for trapping all the dust and other pollutants from throughout the entire home.

Have you ever noticed on a sunny day when the sun is beaming through your window all the things that are floating around in the air? Those things are likely everything from simple dust, dirt or pet hair, all the way through molds, bacteria, pollen, spores and even airborne viruses. Do you wonder why many of us here in the Pacific Northwest have allergies?

In the air-tight homes and buildings that are being built today, more pollutants are trapped in our buildings such as carbon monoxide (from our breath) as well as off-gasses from such things as carpets, furniture upholstery, rugs, paint and other chemicals we use around our homes and businesses. There are several solutions to remove these pollutants from the air. They include:

• Air exchangers – mechanically brings in conditioned fresh air from outside, and sends out the bad air from inside.
  Enhanced media air filters - a bigger, more effective version of what comes standard on most systems.
• Electronic air cleaners (EAC) – electrostatically captures air contaminants, in addition to the regular air filters (a second level of air filtration).
• Air purifiers – these are the more advanced big brothers to the EAC’s that do everything they do, but also capture smaller particles as well as kill molds, bacteria and other live contaminants.
• UV lights – simple ultraviolet lights are inserted into the ductwork in your home or business and they kill the passing live pollutants as the air passes by them in the ductwork.
  Humidity control – controlling the relative humidity levels in a home or business are important to assure that molds and bacteria are not allowed to be in an environment where they can thrive.
• Duct Cleaning – the ductwork is commonly overlooked in terms of regular cleaning. It requires periodic cleaning and sanitizing.
• Ductwork sealing and continuity – it is important to have your ductwork checked by a professional to assure that it is not broken and actually drawing moldy, dusty air into your conditioned living space from crawl spaces or attics.