With the cool weather and even some frost, most people who suffer from seasonal outdoor allergies are out of the proverbial woods. If you upgraded your home’s air filter during the warm months to help alleviate the symptoms of allergy sufferers, you shouldn’t replace your upgraded air filter with a lower quality one. Why not? Let’s first take a look at what makes an air filter more effective.
The Quality
Your standard air filter isn’t made to improve the quality of the air inside your home. Its job is to screen out the large particles of dust and dirt from the system and block any pieces of debris that may make it inside either one of the cabinets. In fact, the capability of a standard air filter to screen out particles is not very good – they are only capable of capturing particles that are 10 microns and larger. A particle 10 microns in size is equal to a single grain of silt. While this may seem quite small to you and I, a particle this size is actually quite large.
An upgraded filter has filter media (material) that is not only woven much more tightly, but is typically folded in a v-pattern several times over in order to capture many more particles that are much smaller. Upgraded air filters with a MERV rating between 9-12 are able to capture particles that are 0.3 microns and larger, making them far more effective.
Helping You and Your HVAC
Keeping an upgraded filter in your HVAC system helps both you and your system by continuing to clean the air at a much better and effective rate than a standard filter can. Odds are, if you have outdoor allergies you also have indoor allergies, and these won’t be tamed with a standard air filter. Plus, an upgraded air filter keeps far more particles out of your HVAC system, which helps keep it cleaner and operating better.
Need help with an upgraded air filter for your HVAC system in Eugene, OR? Call the indoor air quality experts at Comfort Flow Heating today!
