If you live in a newly built house in Columbia, it was in all likelihood made with energy efficiency at the top of the list. This means increased insulation and windows and doors with improved seals. While these improvements are fantastic for keeping your heating and cooling bills under control, they’re not so great for your indoor air quality.

Your heating and cooling system needs to operate with a filter. But if you have a flat filter, you won’t be getting enough filtration. This kind only gives the smallest amount of protection by stopping dust from getting into your home comfort system.

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

That’s where a whole-house air purifier can be a good option. These systems are attached within ductwork to provide mighty filtration around your home. Depending on the model you go with, you’ll be able to filter allergens, odors and even some viruses under certain airflow conditions.

Here are our best systems 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 premium filtration. These filters were first developed to defend scientists as they created the atomic bomb. Today, they’re a staple in hospitals and other medical applications.

The Healthy Climate HEPA Filtration System includes a three-step filtration procedure. A prefilter attracts significant pollutants before the HEPA filter catches remaining tiny particles. Then, a charcoal filter takes care of odors and chemical vapors.

The PureAir™ S Air Purification System connects to all HVAC brands and easily links to your smart home. It fights the three major varieties of indoor air contaminants:

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

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

The PureAir S is equipped with sensing features that make it uncomplicated to keep up. When linked with an iComfort® S30 smart thermostat, you’ll receive an alert to replace the filter and UVA light.² This home air purifier must be installed with communicating Lennox systems and the iComfort S30.

2. Media Air Cleaners

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

The Healthy Climate Carbon Clean 16® Media Air Cleaner is recommended for households with allergy suffers and pets. This is a HEPA filter air purifier, since it has a MERV 16 rating for hospital-strength filtration. And it removes more than 95%³ of unhealthy particles from your house’s air.

The Healthy Climate 13 Media Air Cleaner is suggested for households who desire enhanced protection from viruses and bacteria. This filter captures 99% of larger particles like 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 fantastic air purifier for allergies and in homes with pets. It traps more than 87% of bigger particles down to 3 microns and more than 28% of miniscule ones down to 0.3 microns.⁴ It’s able to offer this strong filtration without driving up the price of using your heating and cooling system.

These three media air cleaners work with any brand of HVAC system. Regardless, it’s important to know that some of the thicker ones, like MERV 16 and 13, may restrict your system’s airflow. This can inflate your heating and cooling costs.

3. UV Air Purifiers

The sun’s UV rays are the reason why you get a stinging sunburn. But this wavelength of light has a useful application when concealed inside your ductwork. It’s also strong enough to eliminate germs, mold and fungi under certain airflow conditions.

In actuality, the Healthy Climate UV Germicidal Light can lower the number of airborne microorganisms by 50% in as short as 45 minutes.⁵ This light damages cell structure, which prohibits these microorganisms from growing and infiltrating across your house.

And this UV air purifier can also help keep your home comfort system clean and operating efficiently. It wipes out of germs, mold and fungi hiding within ductwork and your system itself. This UV light air purifier accomplishes all these things without creating lung-aggravating ozone.⁶

Breathe Easier with the Help of Our Air Purification Pros

Your household’s comfort and health matters to us at Watts Electric & AC. We are aware there are many solutions out there. That’s why we make it simple to collaborate with our indoor air quality professionals. 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 issues. Call us at 601-736-7362 right away to start the process.

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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.