If you have a newly built home in Odessa, it was likely constructed with energy efficiency as a priority. This means more insulation and windows and doors with improved seals. While these advances are fantastic for keeping your energy costs reasonable, they’re not so great for your indoor air quality.

Your heating and cooling system needs to run with a filter. But if you have a flat filter, you won’t be getting ample filtration. This model only gives the bare minimum of protection by blocking dust from infiltrating your HVAC system.

While you can upgrade to a pleated filter or one with a better MERV rating, it still might not be ample filtration, especially if someone in your home has allergies or other respiratory problems.

That’s where a whole-house air purifier comes in. These systems are placed within ductwork to provide powerful filtration throughout your house. Depending on the type you select, you’ll be able to remove allergens, odors and even some viruses under certain airflow conditions.

Here are our favorite solutions from Lennox, an industry leader in air purification.

Best Air Purifiers from Lennox

1. HEPA Air Purifiers

A HEPA air purifier, like the Healthy Climate® High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filtration System, delivers the best filtration. These filters were first developed to guard scientists as they created the atomic bomb. Today, they’re a staple in hospitals and other medical settings.

The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System features a three-step filtration process. A prefilter draws significant particles before the HEPA filter traps remaining miniscule particles. Then, a charcoal filter wipes out odors and chemical vapors.

The PureAir™ S Air Purification System works with all HVAC brands and seamlessly connects with your smart home. It combats the three leading types of indoor air pollutants:

• Airborne particles
• Chemical odors and vapors
• Germs and bacteria, under certain airflow conditions

This air purifier can remove 99.9%* of pollutants, such as mold spores, pollen, dust and pet dander. It’s also effective at reducing or eliminating 90%¹ of flu and cold viruses under certain airflow conditions. And, based on laboratory and field studies, it removes and eliminates approximately 50% of household odors and chemical vapors within 24 hours.

The PureAir S includes sensing features that make it simple to maintain. When used with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll be notified when to change the filter and UVA light.² This home air purifier must be linked with communicating Lennox systems and the iComfort S30.

2. Media Air Cleaners

Lennox Healthy Climate® Media Air Cleaners are available in a variety of MERV ratings to fit your needs. This rating measures how capable filters are at capturing contaminants. The higher the number, the better the filtration.

The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is ideal for families with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, because it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-level filtration. And it eliminates more than 95%³ of irritating particles from your house’s air.

The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is great for families who desire better protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter captures 99% of larger particles such as dust, pollen and lint. And up to 54% of finer particles down to 0.3 microns.⁴

The Healthy Climate 11 Media Air Cleaner is a a great air purifier for allergies and in residences with pets. It eliminates more than 87% of bigger particles down to 3 microns and more than 28% of smaller ones down to 0.3 microns.⁴ It’s able to provide this powerful filtration without running up the cost of turning on your home comfort system.

These three media air cleaners can be used with any brand of HVAC system. Regardless, it’s important to know that some of the more substantial ones, including MERV 16 and 13, may decrease your system’s airflow. This can inflate your energy expenses.

3. UV Air Purifiers

The sun’s UV rays are to blame when you get a painful sunburn. But this type of light has a helpful application when placed inside your ductwork. It’s also tough enough to decrease germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.

In actuality, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can reduce the concentration of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as little as 45 minutes.⁵ This light damages cell structure, which prohibits these microorganisms from growing and moving across your residence.

And this UV air purifier can also help keep your home comfort system clean and running properly. It eliminates of germs, mold and fungi that are hidden inside ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier does all these tasks without developing lung-irritating ozone.⁶

Breathe Better with the Support of Our Air Purification Specialists

Your family’s comfort and health is our top priority at Redhawk Heating & Air Conditioning. We are aware there are a lot of options out there. That’s why we make it uncomplicated to work with our indoor air quality pros. We specialize in recommending solutions that match your needs and budget, and we’d love to find out more about your house and your air quality challenges. Give us a call at 432-237-0168 right away to begin.

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¹Based on laboratory and field studies.

²PureAir™ S requires the iComfort^® S30 and a communicating indoor unit.

³Leading consumer magazine, January 2012. Based on the published CADR, which is the standardized measurement system to determine the cubic feet of clean air produced per minute. Particles captured range in size down to 0.3 micron. One micron = 1/25,000 of an inch in diameter.

⁴Based on lab tests conducted on filters with conditions included in ASHRAE standard 52.2 for E1 and E3 size ranges.

⁵Based on constant circulation of air in the home, 3,000-square-foot home with a 5-ton air handler.

⁶U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Ozone Generators that are Sold as Air Cleaners: An Assessment of Effective and Health Consequences,” August 2006.