Best Whole House Air Cleaner (Lennox HC16 or IQAir Perfect 16)

[teddy bear]

A fresh, filtered air change every 4-5 hours is an important part of indoor air quality. This purges indoor pollutants and renews oxygen. Keep the in %RH below 50% to avoid growing any biological that produce toxins.
These are critical issues.
If the outdoor air is polluted, use charcoal filters to remove pollutants.
Keep us posted.
Regards Teddy Bear

[elefantrider]

A fresh, filtered air change every 4-5 hours is an important part of indoor air quality. This purges indoor pollutants and renews oxygen. Keep the in %RH below 50% to avoid growing any biological that produce toxins.
These are critical issues.
If the outdoor air is polluted, use charcoal filters to remove pollutants.
Keep us posted.
Regards Teddy Bear

Which charcoal filters would you recommend and where do you install them?

[teddy bear]

Check Amazon for name brand common sized filters.
Like:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E5ENFOK?psc=1
Local a/c contractors can install the correct filter box and duct connections.
If you in a green grass climate, get a small whole house dehumidifier like the Ultra-Aire 70H. Bring a 6" fresh air inlet to the carbon filter box. Connect a 8" return duct from the home to the filter inlet. Have the contractor connect the filter outlet to the dehumidifier return. Connect the dehu supply to the a/c supply for distribution through out the home.
Let the dehu fan operate when the home is occupied.
The dehu will maintain 50%RH when the a/c is not operating enough.
In a arid climate a good 6" duct fan can be used to move the air through the carbon filter.
You need a good contractor to put this together. We can help them through it.
Keep us posted.
Regards Teddy Bear

[elefantrider]

Check Amazon for name brand common sized filters.
Like:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E5ENFOK?psc=1
Local a/c contractors can install the correct filter box and duct connections.
If you in a green grass climate, get a small whole house dehumidifier like the Ultra-Aire 70H. Bring a 6" fresh air inlet to the carbon filter box. Connect a 8" return duct from the home to the filter inlet. Have the contractor connect the filter outlet to the dehumidifier return. Connect the dehu supply to the a/c supply for distribution through out the home.
Let the dehu fan operate when the home is occupied.
The dehu will maintain 50%RH when the a/c is not operating enough.
In a arid climate a good 6" duct fan can be used to move the air through the carbon filter.
You need a good contractor to put this together. We can help them through it.
Keep us posted.
Regards Teddy Bear

I always find discussions on IAQ very interesting. I have Trane 17.5" and 21" Perfect Fit filter cabinets on my systems. Too bad they don't make a filter with Charcoal in my cabinet size, would like to try it. Not sure about those Lennox Merv16s, they look really restrictive, compared with a IQAir Perfect16.

Yes, I am thinking of adding Honeywellwell fresh air kit. Although I am sure a box type heat exchanger would be better, it would be a pain to install and we don't really get that cold here to require one. My contractor told me he doesn't think the fresh air kit meets Code on furnaces with A/C in California. Here is the one I am thinking of putting in. What do you think?

[elefantrider]

How about installing another a 1" charcoal filter, in it's own cabinet, before or after my 5" filter. Kind of defeats the purpose of the good flow of a 5" pleated filter but at least would have some carbon.

[teddy bear]

Worth a try. The key is "how much charcoal?".
Regards Teddy Bear

[aachanannie]

My friend has Nasopharyngeal, he is worried about the air pollution. To ensure a safe living environment against infection, he bought an air sanitizer which effectively destroys Viruses, Bacteria and Volatile Organic Compounds. It is equipped with true plasma technology which utilize an intense plasma neutralization field to rapidly shatter biological microbes. It is filter-less.

[bobolaw]

My friend has Nasopharyngeal, he is worried about the air pollution. To ensure a safe living environment against infection, he bought an air sanitizer which effectively destroys Viruses, Bacteria and Volatile Organic Compounds. It is equipped with true plasma technology which utilize an intense plasma neutralization field to rapidly shatter biological microbes. It is filter-less.

Why don't you use filters instead of plasma technology to destroy germs? Filters should be much cheaper.

[aachanannie]

Filter collects dust and airborne microbes by trapping them in the filter only. It has NO disinfection power. The trapped microbes can stay alive and continue to reproduce and could re-circulate back into the air. Filter becomes the haven for pollutants if it is not replaced regularly – obviously the replacement needs to be performed under strict safety protection. While filters can have high efficiency in trapping the larger microbes and particulates, virus and tiny aerosols are small enough to sneak through typical filters.

Filter is the major consumable and needs to be replaced very often.
The high grade HEPA filters are expensive to replace.

Why don't you use filters instead of plasma technology to destroy germs? Filters should be much cheaper.

[heating_chicago]

In my opinion anything that is electric in your air filter is garbage. They don't work and if they do they don't work for very long. We have done air cleaning tests during winter and summer and have come to the conclusion that the meta filters do the best job with a nicely installed return system.. the best combo is with a UV light in the supply and a meta pad at the return. Air is the cleanest after all our home tests.

[aachanannie]

In my opinion anything that is electric in your air filter is garbage. They don't work and if they do they don't work for very long. We have done air cleaning tests during winter and summer and have come to the conclusion that the meta filters do the best job with a nicely installed return system.. the best combo is with a UV light in the supply and a meta pad at the return. Air is the cleanest after all our home tests.

May I know ""What is meta filters?""

[heating_chicago]

sure a media filter is a 4-5 inch thick special air filter. you can take the electric air cleaner metal crap they put in there and replace it with the paper media filter.. so much better and you only have to replace it twice a year.

[heating_chicago]

http://www.fieldcontrols.com/media-air-cleaner has a good one out there to check out.

[aachanannie]

My understanding is that Plasma technology is totally filter-less and different from the meta filters

[danielwong]

In my opinion anything that is electric in your air filter is garbage. They don't work and if they do they don't work for very long. We have done air cleaning tests during winter and summer and have come to the conclusion that the meta filters do the best job with a nicely installed return system.. the best combo is with a UV light in the supply and a meta pad at the return. Air is the cleanest after all our home tests.

UV disinfection typically needs long irradiation time and is not effective for treating air directly. CDC reported that no data support the use of UV lamps in isolation rooms (cdc.gov/hicpac/Disinfection_Sterilization) It’s ability to disinfection contaminated filter is also questionable. UV does not penetrate well, so any dirt or organic material will prevent killing of microorganisms (cfo.asu.edu/node/2667), i.e., accumulated germs on a filter will be shadowed/protected by the dust particles above and will continue to survive and thrive.

[Core_d]

I only made it about halfway though the posts.....but ill put in my two cents anyway. the trane clean effects would be the way to go. you never need to replace filter,it removes damn near everything in the air, and on the topic of ozone it is not even worth mentioning. all electric motors create a little ozone as well as anything that sparks or arches.

[randyf]

UV disinfection typically needs long irradiation time and is not effective for treating air directly. CDC reported that no data support the use of UV lamps in isolation rooms

Cold plasma devices do not use UV radiation and are effective not only in lessening bio-aerosol(germs/mold) but can degrade VOCs to significant extent. Marketing hype excepted there is hard data supporting Cold plasma and PCO (does use UV radiation). There is some concern about harmful intermediate products being produced but this concern is often over blown, IMO.

[ChaseAir]

I only made it about halfway though the posts.....but ill put in my two cents anyway. the trane clean effects would be the way to go. you never need to replace filter,it removes damn near everything in the air, and on the topic of ozone it is not even worth mentioning. all electric motors create a little ozone as well as anything that sparks or arches.

My $2000 particle meter says that the Trane Clean effects don't work too good. Never tested one yet that actually removed sub micronic particles.

We even replaced all the internals on one and quietly retested it....nothing. Those things are overhyped to say the least.

[randyf]

Seems like a great device but it's limited, if I'm not mistaken, to particle .1 micron and up.
Not effective for VOCs

[aachanannie]

I only made it about halfway though the posts.....but ill put in my two cents anyway. the trane clean effects would be the way to go. you never need to replace filter,it removes damn near everything in the air, and on the topic of ozone it is not even worth mentioning. all electric motors create a little ozone as well as anything that sparks or arches.

I have no idea about trane clean, what is it?