Breathe Better with Whole-Home Air Filtration in Birmingham
An air filter is a crucial HVAC part for effectiveness and comfort—but it’s regularly overlooked.
Indoor air quality can influence your family’s health, especially if there’s someone in your Birmingham home with allergies, asthma or other respiratory problems. Dust, pollen, pet dander and mold can worsen symptoms, as well as volatile organic compounds. VOCs are chemicals that are part of regular household items like cleaning products, furniture and flooring.
Today’s houses are more energy efficient. But they don’t allow for much airflow. This means the air inside your home can be more polluted than outside—often two to five times more, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
There are methods you can use to take charge of your home’s air quality:
- Lower pollution sources
- Ventilate with fresh air
- Use higher-quality air filters
Filtration is one of the most efficient techniques to clean the air that streams through your home. It catches particles as air moves through HVAC ductwork.
There are several kinds of air purification systems you can use to clean the air in your home. Norrell Service Experts can recommend what’s best for you. And you can relax knowing all our Expert work is upheld by a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee for a year.*
7 Signs You Need a Better Air Filtration System
There are several indications that your home could benefit from a filtration system.
- Someone in your family has asthma or allergies.
- Headaches, congestion or sneezing are regular when you’re home.
- Your home smells stale.
- You have pets that shed.
- Odors linger in your house.
- Someone in your home smokes.
- Your house is continuously dusty, despite routine cleaning.
Which Air Filtration System is Right for My Home?
A whole-home air purification system can handle pollution in your home’s air. And possibly offer relief to the asthma and allergy sufferers in your home.
Studies have found limiting exposure to indoor allergens and tobacco smoke could prevent 65 percent of asthma cases among elementary school-age children. And restricting biological contaminants like dust mites can also lower childhood asthma cases by 55-60 percent.
HEPA Filters
The High Efficiency Particulate Air, or HEPA, filter, was created to shield scientists from radiation as they developed an atomic bomb during World War II. Today these filters are often used in hospitals, science labs and even homes.
HEPA filters are rated to remove 99.97 to 99.99% of particles measuring 0.3 microns and bigger. This includes pollen, dirt and dust. A HEPA air cleaner with activated carbon filters can trap chemicals, odors and smoke.
These filters have a MERV rating of 1721, depending on the brand. This rating indicates how well a filter can pull out pollutants from the air.
Because of their high-efficiency filtration capabilities, HEPA filters are deep and can reduce airflow. It’s important to ask Norrell Service Experts to verify your heating and cooling system can work with one.
Media Filters
Media air cleaners are denser than basic air filters. They’re often four to five times wider—or more. This barrier mounts tightly against your HVAC system.
Because its operational surface is usually around 10 inches, media filters are able to trap about 95 percent of particulates.
These filters stay fresher longer too, usually between three to six months.
Electrostatic Filters
There are a few electronic filtering systems you can add in your home.
An electrostatic filter uses magnetically charged material to catch particles. These washable filters are 97 percent effective at removing tiny particles from your home’s air. Plus, they're also 30 times more effective than regular filters.
An electronic air cleaner applies a high-voltage magnetic charge to catch particles.
Some can eliminate the majority of indoor air pollutants—particles, germs, bacteria, chemical odors and vapors—by up to 99.9 percent. And minimize ozone, a known lung irritant, made elsewhere in your home.