3 Things To Know About Allergies And The Filter In Your Air Conditioner
Posted on: 13 February 2017
Those who want to effectively rid their HVAC system of dust and other potential allergens would do best to have their duct system professionally cleaned. Yet be aware that even this won't completely eliminate the possibility of allergens entering your home. To do that, you'll need to equip your air conditioner with the right type of filter. If you would like to learn more about the role your AC filter plays in allergies, read on. This article will provide three important pieces of information.
Basic filters are only designed to protect your equipment.
A common misconception about air conditioning filters is that their main purpose is to keep potential allergens out of the air in your home. Yet the principal goal of basic air filters is actually to protect sensitive internal components from dust that can lead to increased friction, burnouts, and other problems. In the process of doing that, it is true that even a standard filter will remove certain irritants from your home's air.
Yet those with basic air conditioner filters still often struggle from allergies inside of the home. This is because, while dust and relatively larger particles are effectively trapped, smaller particles can pass through such filters with ease. Such particles may encompass things like pollen, pet dander, and mold and mildew spores. Their tiny size allows them to successfully infiltrate the air of your home.
A HEPA filter is designed to trap such allergens.
Those who wish to alleviate allergic problems can best achieve their goals by replacing their standard filter with a high efficiency particulate arresting filter, more commonly known as a HEPA filter. HEPA filters are made of an especially tightly woven fiberglass mesh. This allows them to trap even the smallest of particles. As a result, virtually all impurities can be removed from your home's air.
Not all HEPA filters are the same.
Before you rush out to purchase a HEPA filter for your air conditioner, it will help to understand a little bit more about the variety of HEPA filters currently available. These filters are distinguished mainly by means of their individual MERV ratings. This rating system, which stands for minimum efficiency reporting value, indicates the range of particle sizes a particular filter is capable of filtering out. All you really need to know is that the higher the MERV rating, the better a job the filter will do at preventing allergies from striking inside your home.
Share