Air filters for smoke

How are Air Filters Rated?

Air filters are an often overlooked aspect of respiratory safety. There can be a wide number of particles floating around the air that can get into your lungs and cause potential problems, but have air filters is a great way to stop this problem. Regardless of if you are in a hospital setting, woodworker, or some other profession where particles in the air can be disastrous, an air filter may be an investment that is worthy of your time.

Keeping this in mind, choosing the best air filter needs to be at the top of your priority list. There would be nothing worse than spending a large sum of money on investment into an air filter only to find out that the quality isn’t anything like you thought. Don’t settle for a bad investment. Instead, learn how air filters are rated and how you can choose the best possible option. Before diving into the rating system, though, it’s important to look at how exactly an air filter works.

How Does an Air Filter Work?

Air filters are a great invention for cleaning the air in spaces that need it. For a variety of reasons, particulates can enter the air stream and cause damage to your lungs if they are harmful. The simple purpose of an air filter is to stop those particulates from being in the air.

The way an air filter works is actually quite simple. Air is passed through a filter of some kind that catches anything too big to fit through tiny holes covered with fiber. Essentially, this filter acts as a sieve that can capture anything caught in its path. If it is just air coming into contact with the filter, it would have no problem moving through the fibers and continuing on its journey.

Over time, however, air filters can need to be changed. This is due to the fact that so much dust and dirt has been caught by the filter, it even begins to restrict airflow through the fibers. If it gets bad enough, the air filter will simply stop working and the air around you may retain harmful particles that you don’t want entering your system. Therefore, it’s very important to learn how air filters are rated so that you can make the right choice when looking to purchase one.

What is the Rating System for Air Filters?

When considering purchasing an air filter, you are going to want to identify the best of the best. To do this, however, you need to acknowledge how air filters are rated. The most common standard of air filter rating is the MERV system. This stands for the minimum efficiency reporting value and each rating dictates the effectiveness of a certain filter.

MERV ratings of 1 through 4 simply mean the air filter can trap pollen or dust mites, ratings of 5 through 8 are capable of stopping dust mites and hair spray, ratings 9 through 12 can stop lead dust or auto emissions, and ratings 13 through 16 can stop outdoor pollution or household dust. Any other object that you may be wondering about of comparable size will be stopped by one of these ratings.

Allied Rental Company has a wide variety of air filters available for your use that are rated very highly. Our air filters are widely accepted in the air filter industry and can help keep the air around you as clean as possible.