Breathe Better with Whole-Home Air Filtration in North America

An air filter is an essential HVAC component for performance and comfort—but it’s often ignored.

Indoor air quality can influence your family’s health, especially if there’s someone in your North America household with allergies, asthma or other respiratory concerns. Dust, pollen, pet dander and mold can trigger symptoms, as well as volatile organic compounds. VOCs are chemicals that are part of regular household items such as cleaning products, furniture and flooring.

Up-to-Date homes are more energy efficient. But they are sealed more tightly. This means the air inside your home can be worse than outdoors—often two to five times more, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

There are methods you can use to take the reins of your home’s air quality:

• Lower pollution sources
• Ventilate with fresh air
• Use improved air filters

Filtration is one of the most successful techniques to clean the air that streams through your home. It captures particles as air passes through HVAC ductwork.

There are several types of air purification systems you can use to clean the air in your home. Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning can advise you on what’s right for you. And you can breathe easy knowing all our Expert work is upheld by a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee for a year.^*

7 Signs You Need a Better Air Filtration System

There are a couple of signs that your home could benefit from a filtration system.

1. Someone in your house has asthma or allergies.
2. Headaches, congestion or sneezing are frequent when you’re home.
3. Your home smells stuffy.
4. You have pets that shed.
5. Odors linger in your house.
6. Someone in your house smokes.
7. Your house is consistently dusty, despite routine cleaning.

Which Air Filtration System is Right for My Home?

A whole-home air purification system can eliminate pollution in your home’s air. And possibly provide relief to the asthma and allergy sufferers in your home.

Studies have found managing exposure to indoor allergens and tobacco smoke could stop 65 percent of asthma cases among elementary school-age children. And controlling biological contaminants like dust mites can also lower childhood asthma cases by 55-60 percent.

HEPA Filters

The High Efficiency Particulate Air, or HEPA, filter, was designed to protect scientists from radiation as they worked on an atomic bomb during World War II. Today these filters are frequently used in hospitals, science labs and even homes.

HEPA filters are rated to extract 99.97 to 99.99% of particles measuring 0.3 microns and greater. This includes pollen, dirt and dust. A HEPA air cleaner with activated carbon filters can capture chemicals, odors and smoke.

These filters have a MERV rating of 1721, depending on the brand. This rating demonstrates how effectively a filter can remove pollutants from the air.

Because of their high-efficiency filtration performance, HEPA filters are deep and can limit airflow. It’s important to touch base with Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning to make sure your heating and cooling system can work with one.

Media Filters

Media air cleaners are denser than basic air filters. They’re often four to five times wider—or more. This barrier fits closely against your HVAC equipment.

Because its functional surface is usually around 10 inches, media filters are able to catch about 95 percent of particulates.

These filters last longer too, commonly between three to six months.

Electrostatic Filters

There are a couple of electronic filtering systems you can add in your home.

An electrostatic filter uses magnetically charged material to catch particles. These washable filters are 97 percent effective at removing tiny particles from your home’s air. Plus, they’re also 30 times more effective than everyday filters.

An electronic air cleaner applies a high-voltage magnetic charge to trap particles.

Some can remove the majority of indoor air pollutants—particles, germs, bacteria, chemical odors and vapors—by up to 99.9 percent. And decrease ozone, a known lung irritant, created elsewhere in your home.