Electronic air cleaners pick up where your standard furnace air filter leaves off. Mechanical filtration does a good job of removing larger inorganic components of household dust. Unfortunately, most of what you’re breathing in your home is smaller than dust. In addition, a lot of these smallest, invisible particulates are organic microorganisms such as mold spores, pollen and bacteria. These are the elements of indoor air pollution most likely to cause health consequences. However, installing a high-efficiency mechanical filter to remove particles down to the size of most microorganisms into your heating and cooling ducts likely will restrict system air flow excessively. Fortunately, electronic air cleaners use the power of electrical charges to attract and capture the smallest particulates, without strangling your heating and cooling system of air. 

Two types of electronic cleaners are available to get the job done:

Electrostatic precipitators

Installed into your heating/cooling ducts, these units draw air through an electrically charged metal grill that ionizes the tiniest particulates in the air. Electrically charged particles then pass through a series of collector plates also charged with electricity. By the natural power of opposite attraction, positively charged particles are attracted to and captured by negative collector plates while negative particles are captured by positive plates. The airflow continues through the array to a mechanical post-filter that removes any additional uncharged particulates. Since the entire quantity of your household air is circulated through your ducts many times per day, the air you breathe receives continuous treatment.

Ion generators
Ion generators are portable room air cleaners. Instead of directly filtering an active airflow, these units continuously discharge clouds of ions into an individual room. Once these ions attach to airborne particulates, they cause the particles to lose their buoyancy and settle out of the air on floors and surfaces. At that point, they can be vacuumed or dusted for removal.

Comfort Systems
 has Wichita roots reaching back more than 50 years. Contact us for more information about improving your indoor air quality with electronic air cleaner technology.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Wichita, Kansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).