According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air quality (IAQ) is nearly five times more polluted than outdoor air. With increased concerns about exposure to mold, allergens, and other air pollutants, indoor air quality is becoming more important for homeowners to monitor. If you’re a homeowner, you may be wondering about the best way to ensure that your home has clean, breathable air. An air scrubber might be the answer to all of your problems!
What is an Air Scrubber?
Air scrubbers are an air-cleaning device that utilizes a ‘search and retrieve’ method to eliminate contaminants in indoor air. The air scrubber attaches directly to the ductwork of your HVAC system and works to remove allergens, VOCs, surface contaminants, pet dander, odors, and dust from the air that you breathe. This low-maintenance device efficiently provides cleaner and healthier air for your home by reducing up to 99.9% of pollutants.
How Does it Work?
As air flows through your ductwork, the air scrubber uses small metal tubes arranged in a honeycomb shape to continuously produces negative ions. Air travels through the tubes and then passes through a section that contains ultraviolet (or UV) light that kills airborne germs. As a result, negative ions are created and sent out to search and retrieve pollutants floating in your air that are too small to be captured by your normal air filter.
Once the negative ions are active in your home’s air, they seek to match up with positively charged particles such as bacteria, pollen, dust, and other airborne allergens. The negative and positive particles bond, they create larger particles that can no longer float in the air, and instead, they fall out onto the ground or other surfaces. When your air handler’s fan is turned on, it will capture the newly formed particles and pull them through your ductwork system, ultimately landing and sticking to your HVAC system filter.
In summary, the air scrubber creates negative ions that bond with small particles in your air allowing them to increase to a size large enough to be captured by your air handler’s filter.
Benefits of Using an Air Scrubber in Your Home
With the concentration of air pollutants being so high in our homes, it is important to install a device like an air scrubber to help combat these air quality issues. The benefits of using an air scrubber include reducing contaminants, banishing lingering odors, and extending the life of your HVAC system:
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Reducing Contaminants
According to air scrubber manufacturers, scrubber systems are nearly 50 times more powerful than traditional HVAC filtration systems at eliminating airborne pathogens. Air scrubbers have been proven to destroy up to 99.9% of all surface contaminants and up to 90% of airborne contaminants. Air scrubber technology is effective against norovirus, Swine Flu, MRSA, e. Coli, and even COVID-19. -
Banishing Lingering Home Odors
Have you ever walked into someone’s house and could immediately smell that they owned pets? The scent of dust and pet dander can be used to significantly reduce unwanted home odors.
Extending the Life of Your HVAC System
Dust, dirt, and other unwanted debris can get trapped in the ductwork and damage components of your system. By installing an air scrubber in conjunction with your HVAC system, you will be extending the life of your system and keeping it running at peak efficiency.
Contact Certified Heating and Air Conditioning for all of your HVAC needs. If you have any questions about air scrubbers or your existing system, please give us a call. One of our certified technicians is always happy to help!
Works Cited:
- https://www.rhoadsenergy.com/blog/what-is-an-air-scrubber-and-why-do-i-need-one/
- https://americanhomewater.com/how-do-air-scrubbers-work-everything-you-need-to-know/
- https://heatingandairaugusta.com/2020/04/29/are-air-scrubbers-worth-it-understanding-the-workings-and-effectiveness-of-air-scrubbers/
- https://adventair.com/blog/difference-air-scrubber-air-purifier/
