Replace Electronic Air Cleaner with Pleated Filter?

[himilecyclist]

My 30-year-old Honeywell electronic air cleaner stopped working. The repair man highly suggested that I remove the cells and replace them with pleated air filters (4"). I did this, but am wondering if it was a good move or not. The repairman insisted that the pleated media filter would do a much better job than the electronic unit did, especially good for keeping dust out of the central A/C.

Should I feel good about the change? Will the new filter catch the ultra-fine particulate matter that an electronic cleaner claims to?

Thanks!

[Joseph Meehan]

Define better. Assuming the pleated filter does not produce too much air resistance and reduce the air flow too much, it should do a very good job of normal air cleaning, maybe better than your old one in some ways.

Depends. However I have to ask. Does it matter to you? Really. There are many products on the market that arguably better than others but often cost more or are less reliable or have some other disadvantage. You need to weigh the advantages against the disadvantages. Do you really have a problem caused by those ultra fine particles? It brings to mind the commercials about the "lurking" germs in the bathroom air. According to all the independent information I have found, yes there are germs in the air in the bath, but no more than in the kitchen. They are not a problem, except in the extreme case.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, One thing air, flow rate will be less with filter. Tony

[toller]

I replace mine with pleated filters 6 years ago because I got sick of cleaning the electronic ones.

They do a good job. Can't tell if if they are as good because the stuff they pass is too small to see.

[SQLit]

Try WW Grainger for pleated filter information. They put a good amount of information about the filters they sell. I use their extended service for the lower static pressure. Best check with your manufactures of the filter and the a/c see what levels of static your system can handle. My a/c pretty much craps out when 0.70 of static pressure is reached. Some filter companies tell you to change the filter at 1.0.

Depending on the media pleated filters are far superior to electronics. Have you ever seen a clean room with a electronic filter? They use Hepa pleated filters.

[Greg O]

I do HVAC service for a living. I have yet to see someone service an electronic air filter often as they needed to. Once the electronic elements get dirty the filter does nothing. When in use, cooling or heating season, electronic filters need cleaning at least once a month to do the job. A pleated filter in place of the electronic elements is a very good idea. When I notice that a customer has an electronic filter I ask them how often they clean it. Most are surprised that once or twice a year is not enough! Greg

[Terry]

I agree; coincidentally, the other day, I picked, up for scrap, a used electronic filter unit. It appeared to have 'never' been cleaned! The slide out electronic filtering units were literally jammed with felt-like lint, comprised of human hair, even a few feathers and some scraps of tissue paper! Maybe the building it came out of had included a hair dressing salon? Anyway the air flow through it must have been virtually nil. With the electronic filtering action completely negated by the mass of debris. Curious about how these things work, I removed the mess from one part of the unit to view the electrostatics and had to use a knife to cut through the mats of lint, section by section. By the way it has as a 120 volt 60 hertz AC input 'transformer'. The output of that, is connected to the electrostatic section, at presumably, a high voltage. But is that electrostatic section operating at AC or DC? In other words does the unit 'labelled transformer' also incorporate a rectifier to convert AC to DC? Info welcomed.

[m Ransley]

Electronic loose efficiency as they get dirty and at my electric rates

125kwh can cost 12$ a month to run 24x7. They need to be kept clean. Media gain efficency as they get dirty but are more air restrictive clean and more so dirty. A pooly designed system may freeze the coil with the media reducing airflow if you dont have a pro check present coil temp and calculate air flow reduction. My system is oversized so I welcome reduced summer airflow as it removes more humidity. I like Media, April Air 2200 Medias case does not seal positively, look into Air Bear. Or for a fancier super cleaner April Air or Lennox has a new unit out that is electronic and media. Just my non professional opinion, experiance.

[jim evans]

I had an electronic air cleaner in a house several years ago. It had an alarm and a meter that told you when it needed to be cleaned. Do most units not have these or are they not effective?

jim

[Nav]

replying to toller, Nav wrote: So do you just insert the pleated filter of same size into the housing of the electronic air cleaner ? Would it just work sitting there like the standard filters?

[trader_4]

That would seem to depend on the design of the electronic air cleaner and we have no specifics. In general, I'd suspect they are not designed to accept standard filter media, but it's possible it might work in some. There are measurements for the filters, you can measure the filter unit. I'd think even if they are close in size, it may not seal properly around the filter as compared to the electrostatic slide out part and air would get by, etc.

[Tekkie®]

trader_4 posted for all of us...

It may also dramatically decrease the air flow rate.

[Dana F Bonnett]

That's what I did after the power supply failed for the second time. No problems with filtering or airflow. The pleated filter needs to have the same dimensions as the electronic parts being replaced.

[trader_4]

It will have some more airflow resistance than an electronic, but I've neve r seen a furnace blower that wasn't capable of handling one of the media type air filters. The reason they are so thick is that they have deep pleats that greatly increase the surface area.

[rmwmd]

replying to Joseph Meehan, rmwmd wrote: Although levels of bacteria and viruses vary over time, the levels are higher in the bathroom. This is because the bathroom is smaller (keeps bugs "concentrated") and more sources are exposed in the bathroom (think "exhaust" fumes). Kitchen poses a risk of skin infections; bathroom increases risk of gastrointestinal infections. Careful hand washing reduces risk of skin infection, but it is much more difficult to reduce the GI bugs as many are airborne, as well as on surfaces.