As we spend more time indoors, it’s important to have clean air in your home. Not only will cleaner air help you remain healthy, it will also eliminate the germs that may have tried to get their way in your home. Clean air doesn’t come on its own. In fact, closed homes could contain all of the nasty germs that pollute the air. If you aren’t looking into a house air filter then you may be sitting in air that is more polluted than the worst smog you can imagine.
Keeping your air clean is more than just tidying up. While you should make sure to not let dust accumulate in your home, this may not be enough to keep the air clean. If you suffer from allergies or have problems with asthma, you really should be looking into a house air filter.
How Does an Air Filter Work?
The two kinds of air filters for your home. In this section we’ll be naming off the ones that you need to know to help you determine which type of air filter will be best for your home.
Media filter. Media filters are typically filters that create a physical barrier to trap minute particles.
Electrostatic filters. The other kinds of filters are electrostatic filters. These use a high-voltage charge to attract contaminants, as well as attract them.
The Four Types of Whole House Air Purifiers
For this section, we’ll be visiting the four types of house air filters that you could choose from. This will help you understand which one is best for your needs, as each filter is specific to different kinds of pollution in the air.
Flat Filters
A flat filter is probably something you have – pertaining to a matted-fiberglass filter. If this is something you have then you should be changing it at least once a month. If a filter is not cleaned well enough, it can clog with dust and this prevents it from working well. Also keep in mind that filters like these are meant to prevent large particles of dust from collecting, they won’t block the microscopic particles that can affect your breathing.
Extended Media Filters
These filters are about eight inches thick and the boxy units look a bit like an accordion. They require professionals to install them and could cost around four hundred to six hundred dollars. You can replace these filters every year and that will cost you around forty to sixty dollars.
Electrostatic Filters
The good thing about these filters is that you do not need to replace them and they work very well on smoke particles. Even though they don’t need to be replaced, you should scrub them every few months to ensure that you’re getting the full effect of these filters. How do these work? A high-voltage current puts an electrical charge on the particles as air passes through. The collector on the other side collects the particles – like a magnet.
Ultraviolet Filters
If you are worried about germs, which I believe plenty of people are after the pandemic of 2020 (and 2021 so far), then an ultraviolet filter is something to consider. UV filters are typically built-in components and sold as add-ons to a whole-house electronic precipitator. What a UV filter does is zap any airborne bacteria out of the air. UV filters are usually used in hospitals in the tuberculosis wards. The one downside here is that the germ has to be near the filter in order to be zapped – so, if you sneeze or someone sneezes on you, ultraviolet filters will not help.
What Are the Positives and Negatives of a House Air Filter?
Now that we have gone through the different types of air filters, let’s go through the positive and negatives. Because, like with anything, there are always pros and cons that you need to know. And if you’re going to buy a filter for your home, you should know everything before you move forward with your purchase and installation.
The Positives
When it comes to the positives of owning a house air filter, it is pretty obvious. Clean air! Who doesn’t love that? You are getting a house air filter in order to purify the air around you so you aren’t breathing in germs. That’s something that isn’t good on a normal day, but with COVID-19 still highly contagious, you don’t want your immune system compromised by unclean air.
As stated before, if you are someone who suffers from allergies or asthma then keeping your air clean is important. And since the filters that are on the market today have proven to be effective, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not investing in air filters.
The Negatives
Now we need to go through the cons of a house air filter. Air filters are not perfect and the biggest drawback here is that they’re not cheap. If you are looking to install a large filtration system then you’re looking at a larger bill and having something like this installed will be affecting the utilities bill. It should also be taken into account that each filtration does its own thing, so depending on what you’re looking to eliminate, you’re not going to get one that does everything.
Is a House Air Filter a Worth-While Purchase?
At the beginning of this article we asked if a house air filter was worth your money. In the end, yes, it is. While air filters, some of them and the really good ones; can be pricey, it’s worth the cost for your health. If you have pets in the house, you’re going to want to install a filter. If you have some health issues then you’re going to want to install a filter. Pretty much, having an air filter is great for your breathing. We’re spending a lot of time inside, which for some states is mandatory. Instead of breathing that muggy air in, purify your air and do not worry about breathing in the wrong particles. Your lungs will thank you!
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