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What Air Filtration Device Options Can Handle Smoke and Pollen?
Allergies are always at their worst in the spring and fall, but those of you who live in the western part of the United States have to deal with more than just pollen and stuffy noses. You may also have to contend with smoke from nearby wildfires. With these two problems combined, it’s a great idea to have a way to filter out all those contaminants and keep the air inside your house as clean as possible. Today we’ll be giving you some tips on how to find the best air filtration device to handle both smoke and pollen.
The Different Kinds of Filtration Devices
There are two main types of filtration systems. The first is an air filter that’s built into your house’s HVAC system. This is probably the easiest way to keep good quality air in your entire house because an HVAC system has the ability to cycle through a lot of air every day. Since they’re a part of the normal air conditioning system, they also tend to be relatively quiet.
The second is a stand-alone or portable air purifier, which typically only works to clean the air in one room of your house. If you want to improve the air quality in your whole house with only portable air purifiers, you’ll need to purchase one for nearly every room in your house, which is not feasible or practical for most people. Plus, because most of these purifiers use a fan to force air through the filters, they can be quite loud even if you put them on lower settings.
If you want to have long-lasting results and keep your whole house pollution-free, built-in air purifiers are the way to go. That way, your air conditioning can be doing double duty by cleaning the air and regulating its temperature at the same time.
The Best Kind of Filter
Now that you know which type of filtration system to go with, we need to talk about the type of filter you should use inside it. Smoke and pollen are both allergens. Their tiny particles float in the air and find their way into your body when you breathe in, eventually making you sick.
The best kind of filter to use to catch them is a HEPA filter. HEPA stands for “high-efficiency particulate air” and their unique design allows them to reliably trap the vast majority of particles of all different sizes. In fact, even the particle size that they struggle with the most, a miniscule 0.3 microns, still gets caught 99.97% of the time. That means that a HEPA filter will easily be able to filter out the smoke and pollen you need it to.
Keep in mind, though, that HEPA filters are not designed to remove scents. To eliminate the smoky smell, you’ll need to use an activated carbon filter, which specializes in the removal of harmful gases and odors. Before you use either a HEPA or a carbon filter, though, you need to make sure your HVAC system is compatible.