Whole House Air Purifiers are generally for direct installation into your home HVAC system, cleaning the air through its ducts. Whole House Air Purifiers can also be standalone units, placed at a centralized location, and clean your entire home.
Many whole-house filters list their MERV value, and the top performers rate MERV higher than 10. Whole-house air-purification is an expensive proposition if you do not have forced-air heating. You have to install it with professional help into the ducts of your forced-air heating system and most need to be wired into your home’s electrical system.
Whole-house (built-in) air-cleaners remove dust and smoke particles from the air efficiently, using a highly-efficient filter. An electronic precipitator produces some ozone which might dirty the walls with deposited pollutant particulates.
Whole-house air filters are economical alternatives to whole-house built-in air-cleaners. You just remove the old filter and attach the alternative whole-house air-filter to the forced-air heating or cooling system. However, these are less efficient than built-in air-cleaners.
Some of the popular and top-rated whole-house air-purifiers are from: Airpura, Blueair, IQAir, Austin Air, NQ, Trion and Air-O-Swiss; a few are given below.
*Note: The terms Air-filter and Air-cleaner are generally used interchangeably. However, air-filtration is generally used to refer to the forced air-heating/cooling system at home.
IQair’s Perfect 16
IQair’s perfect 16 is rated 16 MERV, the highest rating for an air-filtration system. It can be used with any existing forced air system, and is guaranteed to be around hundred times more efficient than a standard furnace filter, at removing allergens, smoke, dust, and microbes. IQAir gives a “10 X clean air-cleaning guarantee”, and go further by having an authorized installer test your home air before as well as after installation to prove their point. Further, you don’t need to change the filters of this model for up to 3 full years (unlike conventional filters that have to be changed several times a year). The Perfect 16 purifier is integrated into your existing HVAC system. IQAir’s micro fiber technology replaces your existing HVAC filter with 10 times more efficiency.
Aprilaire Premium Whole House Electronic Air Cleaner
This model has been Aprilaire’s top product for 3 years. This model features excellent filtration with at least 94% efficiency at removing 0.35 micron size disease-causing bacteria, traps viruses with 80% efficiency, and is over 99% efficient at trapping pollen. It filters up to 72 square feet. Air passes through an intensified electrical field generated by ionizing wires. The pollutant particles get charged in the electrical field and trapped by earthed micro-fiber media. Aprilaire claims its air-filtration to be MERV 15.
An HVAC professional has to install this unit in your central air and heating system. This model is economical for those who cannot invest in expensive whole house air-purifier systems.