The Whole Story

There are numerous filters available to capture particles in the air that we ultimately breathe and ingest in our lungs. Fortunately, during the cooling season central air conditioning reticulates the air we breathe in our homes as much as 100 times per 24 hour period. The amount of particulate in the air that is captured during this air exchange depends on your level of ARRESTANCE. Fiberglass filters you can see through, versus HEPA, represent the least to maximum level of “Particulate Arrestance”. HEPA is an acronym defined by the American Heritage Dictionary of English Language for “High-efficiency particulate arresting”. The residential vacuum cleaning manufacturers have done a fine job of Consumer Awareness and now you know what the term stands for.

What does it mean for you and I? Merriam Webster defines HEPA as: USING OR CONTAINING A FILTER USAULLY DESIGNED TO REMOVE 99.97% OF AIRBORNE PARTICLES MEASURING .3 SIZE MICROMETERS OR GREATER PASSING THROUGH IT”.

Well I have been told a pencil dot represents 600 microns. So you do the math. The human eye cannot see .3 size microns.

Our recommendation is to utilize a good pleated filter, capture the particulate and throw them away. Some of our friends have used washable electrostatic filters and my Technicians have found over time these filters cannot be thoroughly cleaned. Continued use of over restrictive filtration can be disastrous. If your air conditioning air handle becomes an ice machine instead of the intended use, think of the ramifications.

Tech Tip:

If you have filter grills in your home my tip is to take an extra minute and tape the entire perimeter of the filter to the inside of the frame. Blue painters tape or low adhesive value masking tape works well. This practice will eliminate air bypassing the filter and is a simple, inexpensive, very effective way to help reduce the accumulation of dust.

We value our family of customers. So please send us feedback on items discussed here or suggestions for any topics that you may wish for us to address in the future.