If you live in a newly constructed house in Fredericksburg, it was probably constructed with energy efficiency in mind. This means greater amounts of insulation and windows and doors with enhanced seals. While these advances are good for keeping your heating and cooling expenses under control, they’re not so good for your indoor air quality.

Your home comfort system needs to work with a filter. But if you have a flat filter, you won’t be receiving ample filtration. This style only gives the smallest amount of protection by blocking dust from infiltrating your HVAC system.

While you can install a pleated filter or one with a higher MERV rating, it still might not be ample filtration, even more so if someone in your home has allergies or other respiratory issues.

That’s where a whole-house air purifier can be a good option. These systems are attached within ductwork to provide powerful filtration across your house. Depending on the model you go with, you’ll be able to filter allergens, odors and even some viruses under certain airflow conditions.

Here are our top solutions from Lennox, an industry leader in air purification.

Best Air Purifiers from Lennox

1. HEPA Air Purifiers

A HEPA air purifier, like the Healthy Climate® High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filtration System, delivers the best filtration. These filters were first developed to shield scientists as they created the atomic bomb. Today, they’re essential in hospitals and other medical operations.

The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System features a three-step filtration process. A prefilter attracts significant pollutants before the HEPA filter traps the rest of smaller particles. Then, a charcoal filter eradicates odors and chemical vapors.

The PureAir™ S Air Purification System is compatible with all HVAC brands and easily links to your smart home. It combats the three major varieties of indoor air pollutants:

• Airborne particles
• Chemical odors and vapors
• Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions

This air purifier can eliminate 99.9%* of pollutants, including mold spores, pollen, dust and pet dander. It’s also capable of reducing or destroying 90%¹ of flu and cold viruses under certain airflow conditions. And, according to laboratory and field studies, it decreases and eliminates approximately 50% of your home’s odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.

The PureAir S includes sensing features that make it uncomplicated to maintain. When used with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll receive an alert to change the filter and UVA light.² This home air purifier must be used with communicating Lennox systems and the iComfort S30.

2. Media Air Cleaners

Lennox Healthy Climate® Media Air Cleaners come in in a variety of MERV ratings to fit your needs. This rating determines how effective filters are at removing contaminants. The greater the number, the finer the filtration.

The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is recommended for residences with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, as it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-level filtration. And it eliminates more than 95%³ of aggravating particles from your home’s air.

The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is great for families who want better protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter removes 99% of larger particles including dust, pollen and lint. And up to 54% of finer particles down to 0.3 microns.⁴

The Healthy Climate 11 Media Air Cleaner is a a great air purifier for allergies and in homes with pets. It catches more than 87% of bigger particles down to 3 microns and more than 28% of finer ones down to 0.3 microns.⁴ It’s able to provide this powerful filtration without increasing the bill for using your HVAC system.

These three media air cleaners are compatible with any brand of HVAC system. But despite that, it’s essential to realize that some of the denser ones, like MERV 16 and 13, may restrict your system’s airflow. This can inflate your heating and cooling costs.

3. UV Air Purifiers

The sun’s UV rays are the reason why you get a stinging sunburn. But this wavelength of light has a useful application when concealed within your ductwork. It’s also tough enough to decrease germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.

In reality, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can reduce the number of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as fast as 45 minutes.⁵ This light damages cell structure, which stops these microorganisms from multiplying and infiltrating around your residence.

And this UV air purifier can also help keep your HVAC system clean and operating like it should. It wipes out of germs, mold and fungi hiding inside ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier achieves all these things without developing lung-inflaming ozone.⁶

Breathe Better with the Help of Our Air Purification Professionals

Your family’s comfort and health is important to us at Childress Heating & AC. We are aware there are lots of options out there. That’s why we make it simple to collaborate with our indoor air quality professionals. We specialize in making solutions that match your needs and budget, and we’d love to find out more about your home and your air quality issues. Reach us at 540-675-4306 today to get started.

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¹Based on laboratory and field studies.

²PureAir™ S requires the iComfort^® S30 and a communicating indoor unit.

³Leading consumer magazine, January 2012. Based on the published CADR, which is the standardized measurement system to determine the cubic feet of clean air produced per minute. Particles captured range in size down to 0.3 micron. One micron = 1/25,000 of an inch in diameter.

⁴Based on lab tests conducted on filters with conditions included in ASHRAE standard 52.2 for E1 and E3 size ranges.

⁵Based on constant circulation of air in the home, 3,000-square-foot home with a 5-ton air handler.

⁶U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Ozone Generators that are Sold as Air Cleaners: An Assessment of Effective and Health Consequences,” August 2006.