Yes. The outdoor air quality environment plays a key role in what happens inside. For instance, if your American Lung Association outdoor air rating is a C or worse, chances are you might benefit from installing an indoor air cleaner. Do you live near a dirt road, an airport, a busy highway or factory?  Do you frequently spray chemicals that kill weeds or bugs; or use lawn fertilizer? Are there trees, shrubs and flowers producing a high pollen count near your house in the spring? All these sources emit particulates and / or gasses that can easily find their way inside your home each time you enter or leave, and cause adverse effects to your health. Do you already have an air cleaner? Be sure to change your filter at the recommended frequencies; more often if your outdoor air environment includes any of the above described.

Do you live in a humid climate? A dry climate? Studies show that humidity levels between 40-60% are ideal. Outside this range, your home and your health suffers. You may want to install a dehumidifier or humidifier depending on these outdoor air quality influences.  Already have a humidifier? Be sure to change the vapor pad (with flow through models) at the recommended frequency for optimal humidifier performance.

Regardless of any indoor air quality unit installed in your HVAC system, be sure to perform regular suggested maintenance to ensure optimum performance and the longest life of your unit.

The initial cost of a HEPA air cleaner may be more expensive than other types of air cleaners. You’ll also want to weigh the cost of filter replacement and power consumption of the unit. You can then determine your annual cost of operation.

To be truly effective all HEPA air cleaners and purifiers should run continuously. Scientific research shows that indoor air pollution rapidly returns to pre-treatment levels when a system is turned off. Additionally, each time you leave and re-enter your home, you bring new contaminants in to your home.

HEPA air cleaner is used today in places such as homes to beauty salons to airplanes, laboratories, hospitals and operating rooms across the country because they are the best in air filtration.They are the most efficient in removing 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold bacteria and other particulates larger than 120nm in size.The more adversely you feel the effects of airborne particulates or the more polluted your environment is, the more you may prefer to install a HEPA system Vs another type of air cleaner.

Why should i install A HEPA Filtration System In My Home?

We can see unhealthy outdoor air by pollutants from smokestacks, vehicle exhaust and smog. But did you know the air inside your home can be even more hazardous to your health?

In fact, indoor air can be up to 100 times more polluted than the air we breathe outdoors.

Studies show that most people spend as much as 90% of their time indoors and that indoor air pollution is among the top five environmental health risks. The best way to address this risk is to control or eliminate the sources of pollutants, and to ventilate a home with clean outdoor air. The ventilation method may, however, be limited by weather conditions or undesirable levels of contaminants in outdoor air. If these measures are insufficient, an air cleaning device may be useful (EPA).
 
Studies show that young, asthmatic children who had HEPA filtration system like HEPA air cleaners in their bedrooms for almost four months showed fewer asthma symptoms. Even if asthma or allergies are not a problem to your family, just breathing clean air can be an added bonus in itself.

The difference between a HEPA filter and other filters is that HEPA filters are made of thin fibers of glass, and contain some level of activated carbon-based material. The fibers of the filters are formed into a thick paper-like material that is pleated, with some HEPA air filtration systems having as much as 40 square feet of the folded filter material in the HEPA system. As particulates in pretreated air attempt to pass through the filter’s thick, folded surface they cannot; instead, they adhere to it.

There are three ways the HEPA filter stops particulates:

1. Particulates simply run into the fiber and stick.

2. When particulates get within one diameter of the filter’s fiber, rather than passing through the fiber they are drawn to and get stuck on the fiber.

3. As a very small particle (about 0.1 micron) moves through the filter it collides with other molecules (Brownian motion) and again gets caught in the fiber.

Since pure HEPA air filters do not remove odors, chemicals or gasses, HEPA air purifiers have some level of activated carbon-based material to absorb odors and chemicals. Carbon absorbs gasses that will not be caught by the HEPA element. These chemicals are either harmful gasses or those that cause odors.

Air is drawn into your HEPA system and through the HEPA filter. Because HEPA Air Filtration Systems combine HEPA filters with carbon-based materials, they stop mold spores, bacteria, viruses, pet dander and dust, and also help to eliminate harmful gasses and odors from your home. The air that leaves this type of air purifying system is cleansed and almost totally free from contaminants.

HEPA is an acronym for “High Efficiency Particle Arrestor”. Basically HEPA is a type of filter that can trap the smallest particles (0.3 micrometers (µm) in diameter) that other air filtration systems would simply re-circulate back into the air of your home. HEPA filters remove 99.97% of all airborne particles that can cause problems for allergy and asthma sufferers, reducing or eliminating them to make the air cleaner for those residing in your home.

In the 1950’s during WWII, HEPA filters were invented by the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), who needed something that would remove small radioactive dust particulates from the air. In the last decade HEPA-technology air purifiers have been used to clean indoor spaces from homes to beauty salons to hospitals and operating rooms across the country. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have endorsed the HEPA filter as being the absolute best filter in cleansing the air.

Electrostatic filters use an electrostatic charge to attract pollutants and trap them on collector plates. Electrostatic precipitators use electronic cells to charge particles within the purifier and immediately trap the impurities on collector plates. The main advantage with this type of air purifier is that the collector plates never have to be replaced; they can be easily washed in the dishwasher. But if the collection plates are not cleaned frequently, they quickly lose efficiency. Be aware that some electrostatic precipitators also generate ozone, which is a known lung irritant.

Activated carbon and charcoal filters excel at adsorbing odors and gases and neutralizing smoke, chemicals, and fumes. “Adsorb” is not a typo; “adsorption” occurs when materials attach through chemical attraction. Activated carbon has been treated with oxygen, opening up millions of pores in the carbon.

There are so many of these tiny pores that one pound of activated carbon has a surface area of 60 to 150 acres! This huge surface area makes it ideal for adsorbing gases and odors. These chemicals and gases are too small to be trapped by a HEPA filter, but they bond to the enormous surface area in the activated carbon. The bigger the carbon filter, the more chemicals it will be able to adsorb and the longer it will keep on working. When it’s full it can’t absorb any more, and should be replaced.