Blog Tag: allergens

While this subject has been addressed once before, it is important that people understand the stark differences between the two types of air purification/filtration systems. 

First, UV ( A,B or C ) is purely a type of wave length of light that has certain affects on a variety of materials, both organic and inorganic. The UV rays from the sun, for example, have a significant affect on carbon, plastics, and the human body. While the UV rays can destroy some airborne contaminants, the amount of time ( in minutes ) the contaminants are exposed to the UV rays determines the efficacy of the process. In essence, UV only works if the UV rays are in contact with the air stream for an extended period of time. 

HEPA filters are a mechanical device that captures airborne particulate ( down to under 0.3 microns and smaller) at an efficiency of 99.99% and greater. This is important as even organic particulates that are destroyed can create issues once inhaled into the lungs. 

One reason UV is often used in-lieu of HEPA filters is the overall cost of UV versus HEPA filters. Also, the use of HEPA filters requires an auxiliary fan source as HEPA filters have a very high resistance to air flow and in order to pull enough air through the filter media requires a motor/blower assembly in addition to the blower assembly that comes with all HVAC systems.

Pure Air Systems offers a complete line of fan powered air filtration systems to meet the needs and demands of any residential or commercial application requiring the reduction and/or removal of airborne contaminants and also odors and gaseous pollutants.

For more information please go to our website at:  http://www.pureairsystems.com  or call us on our toll-free number at 800-869-8025.

One of the strongest allergens is pet dander, especially cat dander and their reactions can be from mild irritation to full-blown respiratory distress. Dander is basically skin flakes that are shed by any animal, including humans. 

These skin flakes can be airborne for short periods of time but usually too heavy to be carried by the air currents in any home or building environment for any period of time. If a cat or dog is running through the house and runs by someone who is allergic to dander, there may be enough dander in the air to cause a reaction. If that person comes in contact with the animal then the dander can attach itself to their clothing or is discarded on the furniture from where they may lay. Once the person inhales the skin flakes their specific allergic reaction will begin and may last for a number of hours or all day. 

Because the dander is not always airborne, the air filters in your return air intake will not see much of that airborne particulate. It is often better to use a portable air filter such as a HEPA filter that uses a fan to pull the air through the room. These can be placed in a bedroom or family room, preferably where the animals do not often track. This will keep that area cleaner and a more significantly reduced level of animal dander.

Pure Air Systems offers a small, powerful, adjustable speed HEPA filter unit that is only 21 inches long and 13 inches square. It can move up to 500 CFM and has a variable speed motor for infinite air flow adjustment. It is easy to carry and can be placed on a table or even the floor if necessary. Putting a filtration device in a area that is considered a safe zone for humans offers the best option for keeping animal dander to a minimum.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems please go to our website at:  http://www.pureairsystems.com   or call us on our toll-free number at:800-869-8025.

It is often said that people don’t want to hear you complain about issues and things that bother you on a regular basis. With the ability to express your every thought using social media, your issues are now broadcast around the world. Yes, everyone wants to vent about something and everyone hopes someone else will jump on their complaint band wagon.

However, when we do have a legitimate issue, especially one pertaining to our health, we do want someone to take our complaint seriously and not reject it as another “boy who cried wolf” emotion.

For 31 years Pure Air Systems has been selling their HEPA based air filtration systems to a wide range of customers including medical, institutional, industrial and residential. A large number of residential customers suffer from allergies or respiratory dysfunctions brought on by ingesting sub-micron airborne allergens and various types of particulate matter. Because the airborne particles are too small to see with the naked eye, when someone in the house or office complained about their severe reactions to the environment most people disregarded their complaints and paid little attention.

But for allergy sufferers and those individuals who really have issues with airborne molds and other building generated airborne contaminants these issues are real and can cause significant long-term health issues. It is ironic the the particles that tend to be trapped in the lung linings and mucus membranes are too small to see yet cause much more damage than the larger, visible airborne particulate that are aspirated in then out again.

The ability for the commercial grade, scanned HEPA filters, rated at 99.99% efficiency, to remove over 97% of these small, sub-micron particles is the reason people continue to purchase the PAS units over other types of filtration devices or systems. With over 31 years of experience in this arena, Pure Air Systems has become a major supplier of high-end, high performance, fan powered HEPA filtration systems.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based systems please go to our website at:   https://www.pureairsystems.com or call us on our toll-free number at: 800-869-8025.

HEPA filters are designed to remove a very high percentage; more than 99.97%, of all particles 0.3 microns in size or larger. In truth they are actually more efficient than that as they become dirty they actually increase in efficiency. This is true of most mechanical filters but HEPA media starts out at an efficiency that is higher than the general duty filters that you use in your HVAC systems after they are fully loaded.

HEPA filters are the ONLY filters used in Hospital Surgery Suites, Clean Rooms, the CDC and any application where the the removal of sub-micron particulate is an absolute necessity. You would be in serious trouble if you have your body was opened up in an environment such as you bedroom. Even if you think it is clean, it is not. Airborne pathogens are a constant cause for infection and having surgery in anything but a 100% HEPA filtered room is asking for trouble.

While HEPA filters are extremely effective in trapping sub-micron sized particles, they are also extremely dense and have a fair amount of air-flow restriction. As a result, larger, more powerful motors and specially designed fans are required to pull the air through the HEPA filter. And, as the HEPA loads up the fan motors must be able to increase in speed to make up for the air flow volume loss that takes place as the HEPA becomes dirty.

Because HEPA filter media ( wet laid HEPA paper ) is so dense it will load up very quickly, a pre-filter media is required in front of the HEPA filter to capture as much of the larger particles as possible and only allow the very small, sub-micron particles to enter the HEPA filter. Without the use of a pre-filter a HEPA filter could load up in a few days and make the HEPA useless.

HEPA filters are available for use in the residential markets through companies such as Pure Air Systems out of Indianapolis, IN. In business since 1985, PAS is the leader in fan-powered HEPA based air filtration systems and they range in capacity from 50 CFM to 2000 CFM. These metal housed units also use variable speed drive motors  ( ECM ) that are rated 120/240 50/60 Hz so they can be used anywhere in the world.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA systems please go to our website at: https://www.pureairsystems.com  or call us on our toll-free number at: 800-869-8025.

Watching the news all the time can be somewhat disheartening as we see a lot of issues with people expressing themselves in very negative and destructive ways. We tend to center in on these problems and forget that 99% of the time things are actually fine. It is important not to dwell on the negative but wrap your arms around the positive and know that that history has shown us these times too shall pass.

Perhaps one of the major reasons for so much tension is the fear of change. Technology, in many forms, has created an environment where the “adapt or die” process is taking hold of almost every aspect of our lives.The advent of social media, Uber, AirBnB, Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn and all the new technologies that are shaping the way we fly, drive, shop, learn, teach, meet people and get medical treatment are forcing large numbers of older adults, world wide, to adjust to a process that they reject. And, they are finding out there is little if anything they can do about these rapid lifestyle changes.

Pure Air Systems started their business in 1985 with an idea to take an existing new commercial technology and introduce it to the residential market place. HEPA filters in 1985 were used primarily in the electronics industry and nuclear power industry. Developed in 1941 as a way to protect the engineers and technicians from radioactive particles during the process of making the first atomic bombs.

HEPA filters are extremely dense in that the HEPA paper used to make these filters can capture particles at .03 microns up to 99.97% of the time. Compared to your standard furnace filter which will capture maybe 10% of those particles if at all. These filters are capable of capturing airborne bacteria and some viruses which is why these filters are now standard in every Hospital Surgery Suite, Clean Room and any place where a clean room type of environment is required.

In 1985 Pure Air Systems began to incorporate these commercial grade HEPA filters into fan powered enclosures that were designed to adapt to existing  HVAC systems and also used  as stand-alone units. Over that past 31 years PAS has added seven new HEPA based fan-powered systems to their product line and with the advent of the new ECM variable speed, digitally controlled motors, Pure Air Systems now sells their systems around the globe.

These products are still manufactured in Indianapolis, IN, USA and that is something that is not going to change any time soon. While it is difficult in today’s global business environment to be competitive with off-shore production, the PAS line of all metal enclosures have a unique niche in the market and creating these systems is fairly expensive and not something that even the Chinese are willing to tackle.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based filtration systems please go to our website at: https://www.pureairsystems.com  or call us on our toll-free number at: 800-869-8025.

The filters we are describing here, like our military, will help to ensure your  freedom from unwanted and hard to see enemies. Except in this case we are talking about sub-micron airborne particles. These enemies  are well known by people  who suffer from allergies caused by airborne particles inside or out doors.

With something as aggressive as airborne allergens it would seem that we should be able to actually see them in the air so we could  evade their presence in some fashion. But that is not so. While some of these airborne particles are large enough to see when then collect on the surface of your table or clothing, they are too small ( less than 20 microns in size ) to see when they are floating around your head.

Standard general duty media filters, like the ones you use  in your furnace, are good for removing large particles, those that usually fall to the ground or are easily trapped by your mucus membranes then expelled out again, are not the ones that are harmful. It is those particles that are 10 microns or less that are more easily trapped in our lungs and  create the irritations  that become the allergic reaction that you makes you miserable for weeks and months at a time.

Pure Air Systems began to market their HEPA based air filtration systems in 1985 and today is one of the major suppliers of true, commercial grade, HEPA based, fan powered, high performance, air filtration systems on the market today. Their systems are designed to be used as either stand-alone or in partial by-pass with existing ducted  HVAC systems. These units are powerful built to perform for years with minimal maintenance and only simple filter replacements are needed on scheduled frequencies.

HEPA filters will remove 99.99% of all particles 0.3 microns or larger and approach almost that same efficiency for particles as small as .012 microns. These systems, when properly installed in a home or commercial building, will significantly reduce the amount of respirable sized harmful airborne particles where a real reduction in allergies and respiratory problems is demonstrated.

For more information on our complete line of HEPA and Carbon based filtration systems please go to our website  at; https://www.pureairsystems.com  or call us on our toll-free number at 800-869-8025.

We have news 24/7 from every network on the planet, social media platforms that allow you to be in contact with someone, somewhere every second of everyday. Information overload has never been more true than it is in 2014. Many people feed off of this  interactive communication noise to the extent that they believe their lives would be a void if they didn’t have a cell phone, tablet or computer. With all of this distraction ( some good and some very bad ) it is often difficult to keep focused on a goal or project when you begin to examine all the outside information and let it affect your decisions or goals.

In 1985, Pure Air Systems, Inc. was established and its goal was to build the best air filtration systems on the market. Using true, commercial grade, certified HEPA filters as the main mechanical capture device, PAS began to develop a marketing plan to sell the systems to the residential as well as commercial markets. The first systems were large units, over 36″ tall and 15″ square weighing over 70 lbs each. All metal units with heavy duty blower/motor assemblies and a very large HEPA filter. They also included a dual-layer polyester ring panel filter and carbon media filter.

Friends and business associates were quick to tell me that nobody was going to buy these units that had to be attached to an existing HVAC heating/cooling system and the price installed was over $1,200.00. Most people could just buy an electronic air cleaner or simple media filter for a lot less money. Those comments were basically true, except the current air filter technology at that time was very ineffective at removing the smaller, less than 10 micron sized particles that constituted the majority ( by volume ) of the airborne particles in any occupied area. For individuals with allergies, asthma or any other respiratory dysfunction, the use of HEPA filters in their living environment proved to be a much more effective method of actually removing/reducing the levels of harmful airborne contaminants that were the primary cause of their health problems. The other, older filter concepts were really designed to remove only larger particles and had very little efficiency on removing the more harmful, less than 10 micron sized particles.

It was only through continued belief in the systems capabilities that allowed me to continue to pursue the goals of getting these systems to the people that needed them the most and that over time the extraordinary performance of the units would out weigh the cost of the HEPA systems.

Over time, the units gained some traction and the HVAC industry started to take notice of large interest by the public regarding the ability of the PAS units to do something none of the other air filtration or air purification devices could do. Five years later we had designed two more systems that were larger and better suited to the commercial, institutional, medical and industrial markets. Over time PAS became a leader in the production of high-end, HEPA based, fan powered air filtration devices that could be used in a very wide variety of applications and designed to be used anywhere in the world.

For more information on PAS systems go to our website at: https://www.pureairsystems.com or follow us on Twitter @pureairsystems or call us at anytime on our toll-free number at: 800-869-8025.

Since March of 2013, I have been working on a re-design of a unit I built for PAS in 2006. The  portable HPS series HEPA filter  units I designed in 2006 were  used in small laboratory applications, homes and institutional operations. Like many new products I built, this one used the same commercial grade components and was not aesthetically pleasing from a consumer point of view…but it out performed everything else on the market in its size and capacity range. These units are still head and  shoulders above whatever new small commercial HEPA units are currently in the market.

The new APPAIS unit, as it will be called, is a variation on the HPS series theme and is designed as a Class II Medical Device. It will also be patented. The APPAIS unit and HPS unit used the same identical components, with one exception, and operate in the same basic manner. The major differences are in the housing design and final exit filter. The APPAIS unit is fabricated from aluminum and powder coated painted white. It also has two slots in the top housing where the prefilter ( inlet filter ahead of blower/motor) and exit filter ( after HEPA ) are located. Unlike the HPS unit, access to the prefitler and the new exit filter require no tools. They just slide out from the top where they are held in place with new slot covers.

Locating the prefilter and exit filter through slots was an idea that came to me as I was looking at the overall use of this system in the Pharmacy, Walmart, etc. market place along with typical medical facilities. Since the unit was a reverse blower/motor/HEPA filter design from the HPS, meaning the blower/motor was now on the negative side of the HEPA, replacement of the prefilter, the only filter protecting the blower/motor and electricals, would have to be changed much more frequently than in the HPS unit. This idea had some merit and actually made sense from a practical/performance point of view. There was one problem.

The fabricator of the new prototype housings was challenged to find a suitable slot cover so I worked with a local High School engineering class to design the slot covers using their Solid Works software and then produce the units on their 3-D Printer. This was the best and fastest solution to the problem and has allowed for rapid development of a part that is necessary to complete the project. Designing on the fly will create some unique challenges but also some creative solutions. Moving forward is always better than staying still or worse yet, moving backwards.

The first five pre-production units are now in the works and should be completed by the end of January 2014. Then they go out for trial testing to the FDA and other operations. Once they pass the final “usage” test the next step is introducing the new systems to the selected market.

For more information on Pure Air Systems please go to our website at: www.pureairsystems.com or follow us on Twitter @pureairsystems or call us at anytime on our toll-free number at: 800-869-8025.

Just like some songs become more iconic as they get older, some products are better appreciated over time. This increase in appreciation  is usually a result of both past and future comparisons of other songs or other products that promised performance and value. Once we begin to realize that what we heard before from some musical group (in this case Metallica) or the performance of lesser expensive, similar products that failed to live up to their hype, the appreciation of what we have is increased 100 fold.

Pure Air Systems has been making HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems since 1985. Their use of HEPA filters early on in the “air filtration” and “indoor air quality” era was somewhat of a “odd man out” process. Up until, the mid-70’s and early 80’s, HEPA filters were used exclusively in the commercial electronics industry. Some were used in the asbestos removal market and some in the medical industry but none were used in the residential market.

During the early years of air filtration products for the home market, electronic, electrostatic and ozone generators dominated the scene. The makers of these relatively inexpensive devices made all sorts of claims include the ability for these systems to be as effective as HEPA filters in removing harmful airborne allergens from the air. As people began to use these ‘air purifiers” they realized there was more hype than substance to the products. Some people even went as far as to purchase four or five different air filtration devices, each a little more expensive than the last, hoping to find a product that was as good as a HEPA system before eventually purchasing a HEPA unit from PAS.

Today, with over 20,000 units in the field and 28 years in business, Pure Air Systems has developed a strong following of customers from all phases of industry, the medical profession and residential and commercial markets. The acceptance of HEPA based filtration over other methods is fairly common especially in the light that all hospital surgery suites, the CDC, micro-chip fabricators, optics companies, Homeland Security and others now only use true, commercial grade, certified HEPA filters for all their critical operations.  The continued use and purchase of the PAS products confirms the systems perform at or above expectations for the applications to which they are applied.

Looking back on the early days of air filtration devices, filters and processes one has to remember that knowledge of indoor air quality and the ability to deal with those issues was an on-going learning lessen for everyone involved. But because there were significant performance requirements needed for airborne particulate removal the market quickly determined that moving up the ladder in quality, performance and durability was the best solution to their air quality needs.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems please go to our website at: www.pureairsystems.com or follow us on Twitter @pureairsytems. Of course you can always contact us on our toll-free line at: 800-869-8025.

It is always interesting to see how many people believe the historians view of history. The fact is, the legends and stories are usually more hyperbole than truth. The more “glory in the story” the better we like it and the more often the story is told. We often refer to game-changing  historical events when we want to make point in the present. But can we carry the same tune forward 100 years? Is that point really relevant in today’s society? As the world grows up and the connections of current global events now touch our neighborhoods, do we recognize what is happening?  Do we use old catch phrases because we don’t really have a “quick witted comment” to address this new and ever changing society? Are we stepping off a cliff…or just climbing up a hill?

As the world goes through this economic transition one thing stays the same, the product, process and dedication of Pure Air Systems. Started in 1985, PAS is one of the leaders in the commercial HEPA and Carbon based air filtration product markets. With over 27 years of experience and thousands of systems in use around the world, Pure Air Systems has a unique history in this style of product.

In 1985 the term HEPA was only used in a few distinct markets. The newly evolving electronics industry, some medical markets and the asbestos remediation market. Other than that, few people even knew HEPA filtration technology existed. Bringing commercial grade, certified HEPA based air filtration systems to the residential market was a large jump for PAS in 1985. However, the unique filtration capabilities of he HEPA filters were perfectly suited to dealing with small, sub-micron sized airborne allergens and pathogens and their related health challenges.

After 3 years of installing the HEPA systems, specifically the model 600H unit in homes across the US, the name Pure Air Systems became synonymous with high performance and great reliability. From the beginning, PAS decided to build only commercial grade units and not develop a less durable residential grade model. While this meant the cost of the systems would be higher than other air filtration devices aimed at the residential market, their mission was to provide the best available air filtration product that would actually perform above and beyond the expectations of their customers. That philosophy still exists today.

Today, the PAS line consists of 7 different units, all designed with the same commercial grade construction and built to perform. These units are now used in the military, governmental, commercial, institutional, medical, industrial and residential markets. The systems can either be used attached to an existing HVAC or air handling unit or as stand-alone systems. They incorporate the latest in variable speed drive motors and can be HEPA and Carbon or Carbon only systems for applications where odors and gases are the main problem.

Historically speaking, most new companies starting up today have only a 30% chance of still being around after 5 years. Less than 20% of companies make it past 10 years. Being in business for over 27 years means PAS is doing something right.  For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems please go to our website at: www.pureairsystems.com. Or follow us on Twitter @pureairsystems. You can also like us on our Facebook page or call us at anytime on our toll free number: 800-869-8025.