Air Filters

It’s no secret that the air inside your home can be significantly more polluted than the air outdoors– around 2-5 times more polluted, in fact. We also spend most of our time indoors, which puts us at a greater risk of getting sick when we’re just relaxing on our couch. If you live with children or elderly individuals, it’s especially important to keep your indoor air free of harmful particulates.

The EPA is most concerned with particulates 10 microns in size or smaller, as these are inhale-able. To put that into context, a single micron is 1/25,4000th of an inch… so while these airborne particulates are invisible to the naked eye, they are still pretty dangerous. If inhaled, these particulates can affect your lungs and heart, causing health issues down the road.

There are many ways to improve your indoor air quality, but filtration is the best solution for removing airborne particulates. Read on for more details about filtration, and why we always recommend electronic air cleaners to our customers!

PASSIVE VS. ELECTRONIC FILTERS

So what can you do to dramatically improve your indoor air quality? We recommend a more advanced air filter, far more capable than the conventional ones you see in Home Depot and Target. These electronic air cleaners are built to capture smaller particulates, AKA those .2-.3 microns in size. Installing an electronic air cleaner in your Tampa home can filter out up to 98% of the particulates in your indoor air! This is obviously a big step up from your conventional air filters, and it can make all the difference in keeping your air clean. They also require minimal maintenance, so you won’t ever have to worry about changing your filter or keeping it clean!

Other Tampa AC companies might recommend installing a thicker filter, like a heavy pleated filter, with your air conditioner. These filters are effective (about 97%), but they also come with a host of con’s. Most notably, they decrease the efficiency of your AC system. These pleated filters are more effective because they’re thicker, but their thickness also restricts airflow in and out of your system. This makes your air conditioner work harder to do its job– kind of like trying to run down the street breathing through a straw.

Further, because they work through passive filtration, they promote the growth of mold and bacteria within your air conditioner. Overall, these filters can cause more harm than good, which is why we NEVER recommend them. They also get dirtier faster and require more maintenance, so while they might be cheaper initially, they are not cost-effective in the long run.