Air Purifier Vs Furnace Filter

Air purifiers are often conflated with air filters but they differ slightly said john mckeon md and ceo of allergy standards.

Air purifier vs furnace filter.

2 so called electret. An air purifier is capable of targeting smaller particles unlike hvac air filters up to 99 97 of allergens dust mold and other particles like smoke and odors can be removed by an air purifier. In essence replacement filter based whole house air purifiers are simply furnace filters for your hvac unit. Human hair has a diameter of 100 microns.

Air purifiers she cautioned are not a replacement for what she calls proximal source interventions for instance a hepa air cleaner can reduce particulate matter in the home of a smoker and. While our air quality experts recommend using an hvac air filter they agree that an hvac air filter alone provides inadequate filtration. After a fifth round of testing encompassing 32 different air purifiers and more than 400 hours of lab and real world trials the coway ap 1512hh mighty remains our pick as the best air purifier. There s nothing wrong with these if you don t suffer from any allergic symptoms.

The simplest 1 filters for your furnace prevent hair and larger dust particles from getting into your furnace and reducing its efficiency. A clean air filter can help to stabilize your energy bills but an air purifier might increase the costs because they run in addition to your ac system. While an air filter is built in to your hvac system an air purifier is a stand alone appliance designed to do one job. The difference between air purifiers air cleaners and air filters.

To test air purifiers we inject smoke and dust particles into a sealed chamber and measure how well each model removes particles between 0 1 and 1 micron. We feel the manufacturers concerns are a bit overcautious in part because a recent innovation in air filters permits high merv ratings 11 to 13 with low pressure drop. Replacement filter based whole house air purifiers. Learn about our carrier air purifiers air filters.

An air filter is a mesh of some sort that can be used to screen out particles.