Ashes To Ashes, Dust To Dust

In 1662 the “Book of Common Prayer” was written an one of the prayers in the book was dedicated to burial services.  The prayer is four lines long but part of it reads “….we therefore commit his body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It’s interesting that this part of the burial service prayer is the most often used in TV, movies and books when showing a burial scene or describing one in print. It’s also interesting to note that all things that die and have died and that have decomposed above ground and turned into dust are still with us.

All this dust keeps getting pushed around by the winds. It continues to get smaller as it comes in contact with a solid object or another particle when it is picked up by the wind. These particles are so small that they can’t be seen with the naked eye ( usually less than 20 microns in size, your hair is 100 microns in diameter ) but they are there none the less. Many of these particles are in the sub-micron range, meaning they are less than 1 micron in diameter. These small particles are easily inhaled and a large percentage of them can be trapped in the mucus membranes and lungs. And, these particles can create havoc with your respiratory system.

People that suffer from allergies due to exposure to ragweed, pollen, grasses and other airborne allergens are much more susceptible to reacting to other airborne particulate that may not necessarily be one of their known allergens. This may be why allergy sufferers who get shots or take anti-histamines may still have their allergic symptoms. For these individuals being outside, especially during the warmer weather, can be a problem. Even being indoors doesn’t always help as these fine particles are brought in on their clothing and through any communications between the outdoors and inside.

To remove these fine particles from the air in your home you will need to use air filtration systems or filters that can trap and contain these finer, smaller particles. While there are a number filtration and air purifying systems available on the market today, only HEPA based filtration systems can really remove the smaller, sub-micron particulate.

Pure Air Systems has been making commercial grade, certified, HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems since 1985. They have thousands of systems installed in commercial, residential, industrial, institutional and medical facilities around the world. Their wide range of HEPA filtration platforms allows you to select the filtration system that fits your specific needs. Whether you want to install the systems as part of your HVAC unit or use it as a stand-alone filtration device PAS units will meet your requirements.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems please to our website at: www.pureairsystems.com. Or call us at: 800-869-8025.

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Hey!…Let Me Share My Germs With You!

You’re standing in a crowded train or bus or airport and you are shoulder to shoulder with the other people and you notice that someone close to you is sneezing or blowing their nose or coughing. Your first thought is….I wonder if that individual just expelled some unwanted germs in my direction. You cover your mouth and nose hoping your hand will ward off any unwanted airborne allergens or pathogens and realize that anything less than a full face mask with a HEPA filter is useless.

Okay, so let’s take this same example and look at it in the place where the little people and all their germs reside….School. Specifically pre-school. This is the place where children come with their runny noses, colds, allergies and a litany of communicable diseases. The children are always in close proximity to each other. They wrestle with each other, sit next to each other and share their food or snacks, which could be considered a petri dish of  germs. If you have a young child that is placed in this environment you now know why they often have colds or cold like symptoms.

Pure Air Systems has bee making HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems for the residential, commercial, institutional and industrial markets since 1985. Their fan powered HEPA based units are used throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. These systems can either be used attached to an existing HVAC system or as stand-alone units.

There are a number of pre-Schools and elementary schools that now employ these units in their facilities to minimize the spread of airborne pathogens and allergens. Some of these facilities use the larger HEPA systems that attach to the existing heating/cooling ductwork systems and filter all the air being pulled into the return  air side of the HVAC unit and push out HEPA filtered air. In this manner the air in the school rooms is being filtered up to 48 times a day.

In some applications the PAS HEPA systems are used as stand alone units where they are placed in or in close proximity to the rooms and filter the air at much higher rates. In either case, the results of using these PAS HEPA units in the schools has shown a marked decrease in the amount of colds, runny noses and missed school days due to illness. Also, many of these schools promote the use of these systems to assist them in bringing in more business by extolling the “health” benefits of placing their children in there particular facility.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems please go to our website at: www.pureairsystems.com

 

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I’ve Got You Under My Skin

As part of the natural repair functions our bodies go through each day, one of those  necessary functions is both good and bad. Each day the body sheds over 1,000,000 skin flakes from your body. This is a natural process that allows the old, used skin cells to flake off (so to speak) and be replaced with new skin cells.

Again, this process takes place every day for everyone of us. So, for example, if you have a family of four they will generate 4 million skin flakes a day. These skin flakes range in size from less than 1 micron to 30 or 40 microns in size. Over 30% of the dust you see in the air ( dust particles in the sunlight through the window) are skin flakes…… Oh yes they are!

Okay! So what happens to these skin flakes? Well, some of them are picked up by the vacuum and those that stay airborne may be removed through the filter in located in the return air side of your heating/cooling system. The rest are eaten. Yep, eaten by dust mites.

For all the bad press the dust mites get ( and there is a reason for that)  they are natures own trash disposal system. You see, dust mites feed off of skin flakes.  We call them dust mites since the term “skin flake mites” is too long and rather disgusting. Yet, that is exactly what they do. Munch on your dead skin!

When your body is at rest whether sleeping, or sitting on the couch, your skin cells are being shed. These flakes tend to stay in place longer and thus become the better feeding grounds for dust mites. When the dust mites eat your dead skin they produce small pellets or fecal matter. They produce up to 20 of these digested skin pellets each day. It is these pellets or “dust mite feces” that affects millions of allergy sufferers.

Dust mites themselves are relatively large so they seldom become airborne. The dust mite feces or pellets are very tiny easily become airborne.  They are aspirated into the body through the lungs and for many people these pellets can cause some severe allergic reactions for a number of individuals.

No matter how often you dust, vacuum and clean your home you will have some of these dust mites in your enclosed living environment.  Since the main allergen is the dust mite feces, the removal of these tiny pellets is essential.

Since the dust mite feces is light and can be airborne it is essential that the filter or filtering device you have in your heating/cooling system be effective on removing small, less than 10 micron sized particles. In addition, you need to keep the fan in your heating/cooling system to run all the time so setting the fan switch to “fan on” on your thermostat will keep the air moving and continuously draw the airborne particulate back to the filter.

Pure Air Systems has been making HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems since 1985. These commercial grade HEPA units are designed to attach to any forced air, ducted heating/cooling system and can remove 99.99% of all airborne particles 0.3 microns or larger. These systems are extremely effective at removing dust mite feces and other airborne allergens.

For more information on the complete product line please go to our website at: www.pureairsystems.com

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The Truth About Air Filter Efficiency

It is always interesting to see how companies that manufacture air filters, especially those for the residential market, use images of dust mites, dirt, dander and other graphic photos to illustrate the significance of using their filter if they really want to rid their home of these nasty airborne creatures.

Usually these companies compare the efficiency of their filter against the standard air filter that you use in your heating/cooling system and show how theirs is much more effective in removing these harmful airborne allergens.

For the most part, all of the air filters available from the retail stores are made from similar filter media and have similar efficiencies. Some are pleated, some aren’t, some are washable and reusable and many are not. Almost all of them have a cardboard frame and come is a wide variety of sizes.  And, their prices vary from less than $1.00 each up to $10.oo or more per filter.

When shopping for these filters you will notice that many or most of them now come with a MERV rating label to indicate their overall efficiency.  These MERV ratings (which are an extension of the old ASHRAE ratings) indicate their filtration efficiency in relationship to how well they remove various sizes of airborne particulate.

In truth, what you really want is a filter that removes as much of the less than 5 micron in size particulate but doesn’t have a high resistance so it won’t affect the performance of your HVAC unit. Typically a MERV 7 or 8 rated filter offers the best combination of particulate removal (small particles) with minimal adverse affect on your heating/cooling air flow.

While it may seem that using a filter with a higher MERV rating than 8 would be better, the truth is that as a filter starts to get dirty and gets a layer of dust on the filter surface, the efficiency of the filter actually gets better as the filter loads up.  And, as the filter gets dirtier the pressure drop or resistance across the filter goes up as well.

Therefore, if you start out with a MERV 9 or higher rated filter you will have  a slightly higher efficiency at first but also a higher initial pressure drop as well. And as the filter loads up the pressure drop will increase rapidly and the air flow across the air handler or HVAC system will drop quickly.  This is why using a MERV 9, 10, 11 or higher rated filter usually requires you to change the filter often, usually once a month verses once every three months for a MERV 8 or lower rated filter. And, these higher rated filters are more expensive.

Pure Air Systems offers a line of MERV 8 rated BioPanel dual-layer polyester ring panel filters that are less expensive than the higher rated media filters, fit more tightly in the filter frame, have zero leakage around the filter and have a much higher dust holding capacity with a lower pressure drop or resistance over the the life of the filter.  These commercial grade filters are not available in the retail market but can be purchased directly from the Pure Air Systems website.

For more information on filter efficiency and the BioPanel filters available from PAS go to our website at: www.pureairsystems.com.

 

 

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