Getting The Most From a Whole House Air Filter

by: Ed Bishop

Many people have pondered the thought of whether or not an air purifier for the entire house is really effective.

An appliance that is attached to the duct work in your central air and heating system is called a whole house air purifier.

There are many different styles of filters and air purifiers that are intended to take certain pollutants out of the air in your home.

Some of the filters that you may encounter may be electronic air cleaners, furnace filters, electronic precipitators and ultra violet type air purifiers.

In most of the homes that I have been in, typically use the whole house purifiers that range in price anywhere from $500 to $1000.

Most of them are not very effective in taking the pollutants and allergens out of the air.

Why you ask?

They are only able to work at removing pollutants from the home when the air conditioning and heating system is running.

That is such a waste!

In places such as upstate New York, where I live, the fan in a typical heating and air conditioner system runs around 2,800 hour in any given year.

When you think of the total 8,700 hours in a year, then you will see that your home is only getting the air cleaned 32% of the time.

If you are going to invest your money in a purifier system for the entire home, then you will want to enjoy it to the fullest extent. Unfortunately, it seems that the only way to do this would be to run your air conditioner and heating system round the clock.

This can put a heavy pull on your wallet where your electric bill is concerned. I have come up with a perfect solution for both issues and have been using it with great results

I install a simple device to the fan motor which allows the fan to run continuous at a much lower speed when the system is not cooling or heating. This is great to reduce the electric costs and allows you to constantly keep the air in your home clean.


Another plus of being able to run the fan all the time is that it keeps the air more comfortable in the house.

When you run the fan all the time it helps to keep the temperature in the home consistent and helps to keep the humidity down as well.

If you are one of the many who use a high performance air filter or a whole home air purifier then you may want to think about trying to use the fan round the clock to keep your purifier running at its best.