Types of Furnace Filters

Disposable fiberglass filters are the least expensive and also the least effective, designed to block only large dust and dirt particles to protect your furnace. Smaller particles, like pollen and mold, pass right through.

Washable electrostatic filters have a static charge that attracts dust, dirt and other matter. These filters are slightly more effective than disposable, but still block only 15 to 20 percent of airborne particles.

Pleated filters use a much denser mesh material to trap particles. The pleats increase the surface area, eliminating large allergens like pollen and mold most are 35 to 50 percent efficient. We recommend the use of Pleated Filters due to their affordable pricing and wide array of options.

Electronic air filters use electrodes to create an ionized electrical field that magnetizes pollutant particles and collects them on the filter material. An electronic unit can eliminate virtually all pollen and mold spores, up to 94 percent of smaller particles, and even up to 80 percent of airborne viruses.

Common clean air terms explained

ASHREA - American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is an international membership organization founded to advance the arts and sciences of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration and related issues.

MERV - MERV stands for the Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, and is a measure of a filter's worst-case efficiency performance. The higher the MERV rating, the more efficient the filter. MERV is an industry standard rating, so it can be used to compare filters made by different companies.

HVAC - The acronym HVAC commonly refers to Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning. Some parts of the country may only have air conditioning while other parts of the country may have furnaces with or without air conditioning. This term is can be applied to air comfort systems for all situations.

Micron - A micron is a measure of length: "1 micron equals 1 millionth of a meter". A particle that is 10 microns or less in size is not visible to the naked human eye.Examples of some common air contaminants and their size in microns:

Human Hair (70 - 100 microns)
Pet Dander (0.5 - 100 microns)
Pollen (5 - 100 microns)
Spores from Plants (6 - 100 microns)
Mold (2 - 20 microns)
Smoke (.01 - 1 micron)
Dust Mite Debris (0.5 - 50 microns)
Household Dust (.05 - 100 microns)
Skin Flakes (0.4 - 10 microns)
Bacteria (0.35 - 10 microns)

HEPA - The Letters in the word HEPA stand for High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance.