Do you suffer from allergies or asthma? If so, you know how difficult it can be to manage your symptoms. But did you know that updating your air conditioning or heating filter can help relieve indoor allergies and asthma symptoms? Whole home air purifiers, portable ion filters, and high-efficiency particulate absorption (HEPA) filters are all effective ways to reduce triggers for allergy and asthmatics. In this article, we'll explain how these air filters work and how they can help improve your indoor air quality. Whole home air purifiers work to remove harmful particles from your home's air, such as mold, pet dander, airborne viruses, pollen, and odors.
These purifiers help create healthy air for the whole house, not just the space or room. In a whole-house system, dust and pollen particles are charged as they pass through the unit, and then captured on an oppositely charged collector plate. Portable ion filters, which operate without fans, send negative ion currents directly into the air. The best HVAC filters for allergies must capture the finest particles and remove them from the air before they enter the lungs.
The MERV rating system is used to measure the effectiveness of an air filter in capturing particles. Filters with higher MERV ratings do the best job of catching environmental triggers for asthma and allergies. HEPA filters are capable of trapping airborne contaminants and irritants up to 0.3 microns in size. With an activated carbon HEPA filter, room air is filtered through four levels of cleaning to collect microscopic particles that often trigger an allergic reaction, such as pollen, dust, and pet dander.
We like the ability to set the air purifier to a smart mode that adjusts the fan speed based on the air quality of the room and ultimately saves energy and time. As part of a heating and cooling system or as part of a real air purifier, the best asthma air filters in your home are the ones that can trap and keep problem allergens away from your loved ones. Even dust debris and dust mites are not a problem and will be absorbed by the air purifier and trapped in the filter, where they cannot trigger allergy symptoms. If your home doesn't have air conditioning or central heating, portable air cleaners are the most practical option.
It also has a filter tracker that can tell you how many hours of runtime your filter has before it needs to be replaced. HEPA air filters for allergies need to be changed more frequently than regular paper HVAC filters, especially during high pollen season. Some manufacturers are addressing the noise problem with so-called intelligent filters, which employ an optical sensor to assess if the air is relatively clean and then switch to a lower fan configuration. We looked for air purifiers with HEPA filters that used activated charcoal or similar purification ingredients to help filter out allergens such as pet hair, pet dander, pollen, and smoke. Some air filters are hybrids that combine both methods, and some include activated carbon elements to combat malodor. In conclusion, updating your HVAC filter or investing in a whole home air purifier can help reduce triggers for allergy and asthmatics.
HEPA filters are especially effective at trapping airborne contaminants up to 0.3 microns in size. Portable ion filters also send negative ion currents directly into the air to help improve indoor air quality. Finally, some manufacturers are addressing noise problems with intelligent filters that assess if the air is relatively clean before switching to a lower fan configuration.
