Blog Tag: dust removal

Did you ever have a conversation with a sales person trying to sell you something but using some stupid logic to qualify why you should buy it? Or watch a commercial advertising a product or service that you couldn’t see anyone buying or using? Or perhaps you watched a news broadcast telling you one of the government agencies just changed its mind 180 degrees on a health care issue that originally was considered significant? Somethings just don’t make any sense.

There is no doubt that with todays digital technology you can create a story that seems plausible and is supported by some facts but is, in truth, a well developed fabrication. This is a process that is being used to sell everything including selling you on what your local, state or federal politician is doing….or not doing…or going to do.

In the area of indoor air filtration systems or air purifiers as they are normally called, there is a lot mis-direction being used to sell you on the effectiveness and efficiency of these systems.  Often times the company will use visual displays and tools to show the effectiveness of a filter to remove large amounts of airborne dirt, dust and allergens. The fact is that even the most ineffective filtration device does well on large particles you can see with the naked eye.

Particles that range in size from20 microns and up are visual with the naked eye but only constitute about 5% of all the particles in the air. The particles that are in the non-visible range or sub micron range constitute the other 95% of the airborne particles. And these larger particles are more easily aspirated in and out of your lungs. It is the finer, less than 10 mcirons in size particles that  will stay logged in the lung linings and mucus membranes.

The difficulty in showing this capture capability of these smaller particles is that it can’t be easily done without using some sophisticated and expensive equipment. Yet, for people that have severe allergies or respiratory issues the purchase of a filtration device that is not at least HEPA quality or equivalent is a waste of money.

It is interesting to note, that the filter devices and air purifiers you see on the infomercials are normally the least effective systems while few HEPA systems are ever advertised. Again, the HEPA filters work on the large and sub micron particles which are not visible. The ones “as seen on TV’  that use the visual component as their main selling tool are most often sold through the infomercial approach.

Pure Air Systems has been making HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems since 1985. For more information on their complete product  line please go to their website at : www.pureairsystems.com

The problem of removing or capturing airborne allergens, dust, dust mite feces and other allergy producing particles has been an on-going challenge for homeowners and with good reason. The new housing construction designs are geared more and more toward the “green” building techniques which mean they are much tighter and more energy efficient. These new, tighter homes have little or no fresh air ventilation and, in essence, the home has become a terrarium.

The ability to capture general dust particles, or dust mite feces and other airborne allergens is normally accomplished by the air filter or furnace filter that is located in the HVAC system. Also, the use of portable, fan powered air filter or air purifying devices are often used and can also be helpful.

However, the use of these filtering devices is effective in removing dust and other particles only if they are airborne. Yes! The particles are not pulled off the floor or other surfaces to the filtering devices. They must be airborne.

The best way to ensure that you are removing these particles is to  always have your HVAC fan setting on your thermostat to the Fan On mode. This means the fan is running all the time even if the heating or cooling modes are not operating. Then, whenever you walk through the house or on the carpeting, or dust or vacuum the carpet, the small, sub-micron particles will become airborne and get picked up through the return air vents or drawn into the portable air filtration device.

The dust particles only become airborne for a short period of time; anywhere from 1 minute to 30 minutes depending upon the size of the particle. This is why constant air movement in the home is necessary to keep the environment as dust free as possible. Again, remember that even thought the dust particles are light and tiny, they will remain on any surface until moved or disturbed.

Once these tiny particles are airborne it is important to ensure that they are properly captured or removed. It is important that the furnace filters and portable filtering devices use a commercial grade filtering media or even HEPA filters for absolute capture.

Pure Air Systems offers a line of dual-layer, polyester ring panel filters that are a MERV 8 rated media. These commercial grade furnace filters fit very tightly into the filter frame and eliminate any bypass around the filter, unlike cardboard frame filters with little or no sealing capabilities.

The ability to seal tightly is important since the majority of the particles captured by the filter are less than 5 microns in size. In addition, the dual-layer media has the ability to hold a lot of dust without any appreciable increase in resistance or pressure drop. This means long life with fewer filter changes.

Pure Air Systems also offers a new, high capacity portable HEPA system that is small ( 13″ square by 21″ long) and powerful. This small HEPA unit can produce up to 500 CFM and offers four speeds, one to suit any room or application. This unit comes complete with a prefilter/carbon media filter and a true, certified 99.99% at 0.3 micron HEPA filter.

For more information on these and other air filtration products go to: www.pureairsystems.com.