I would like to retract my harsh reply to Stretch in this NG the other day. He is a lot more qualified about filtration than I, and after talking to him off NG, we both discussed the subject, neither was wrong, but in this instance his judgement was much more fact based and related to the subject. p.s. I still love pleats..........HAHA
I've seen many replies that were harsh. I've even had many of mine take out of context.
Thank you for the clarification.
Good Job.
Tom @
I bought a house that had one in it. I had never heard of it before. I researched and came to the conclusion that if they worked, you would see them everywhere.
They do work, but many people don't replace the lamps as needed and more important most people don't need what they do. Sort of like selling refrigerators to the Eskimos.
I think until recently, UV sanitizers were only available professionaly installed. They had to install a relay that kicks them on when the fan started to presearve the life of the bulb. The diy one can be operated 24/7 without relays, so now we can install it.
Give it time, might see it more and more in the homes.
later,
tom @
Hi Joseph, hope you are having a nice day
On 20-Mar-05 At About 05:39:06, Joseph Meehan wrote to All Subject: Re: Air Health UV Home Air Sanitizer
JM> From: "Joseph Meehan"
JM> stretch wrote: >> The pleats are very restrictive to air flow. Ues they do a better >> job of filtering but the pressure drop is 2 1/2 times the pressure >> drop of a standard fiberglass filter. The reduced air flow can >> damage your furnace or AC compressor. Use them with caution
JM> Some are some are not. A pleated filter provides more filter area JM> (and to a minor extent a better design to prevent loading). The JM> restrictiveness depends on the media used. Some are others are not.
You are wrong again sir, pleated filters are always more restrictive than fiberglass and should be used with caution.
-=> HvacTech2
I am the one that asked the original question and I see that this topic has generated quite a bit of discussion. I thank you for all of your input. We did buy this online and I sent one to my sister in Michigan. She bought our house there. She has a son who is very allergic to animal dander and when we left I had two cats and two dogs. My brother-in-law had the ductwork vacuumed out. I didn't think for $149 it would hurt to try. I saw it on a DIY program and it was recommended by the host of the show. He neglected to say that it is only in certain Home Depots in certain states.
Thank you all for your comments.
I know having a UV santizer, and testing it's effectiveness verses not having one, can be differecult, but after you install it, please wait a while and then repost your 'feelings' about it.
Also, I've seen the show too that you mentioned, can you reply with how 'easy' it was to install?
thx,
tom @
My husband installed it in about an hour. Most of that was rounding up tools, etc. He didn't swear or ask me to help, so it must have been pretty easy.
We just moved from the Saginaw Valley in Michigan to southwest Missouri. I have asthma which has decided to kick up very badly in the past two years. The Saginaw Valley was rated 4th out of 200 in bad places to live for asthmatics. We bought a 12 year old house in Missouri and moved out of a 53 year old house in Michigan. I hope this year will yield much better asthma results.
I'll let you know how this thing works. So far, so good.
I don't see how the UV would help with animal dander. The duct cleaning may have offered some marginal assistance.
Do you have mold, mildew, and pollen inside your house?
later,
tom @
I don't have mold, but I noticed my basement was moist. I live about
100 feet from a creek, so I'm guessing the surounding soil stays wet. I purchased a dehumifier, now that gives me comfort and peace of mind.I recommend you do that.
Oh, I made my house humidity worse by adding an additional r30 in my attic. Now the AC runs less freqently in the summer time. So I had to get one. :(
later,
tom
We did use a dehumidifier and that helped. We also worked on the eave troughs, put in a new concrete driveway to slope away from the house (to the tune of $4500), and put extenders to take the water away from the house. The house is brick and was built in 1952, so it isn't as air tight as houses built later. We took up all carpet in the basement and put down that two part expoxy paint. I hope my nephew benefits from all of these efforts. My father-in-law (who built the house) had a new furnace installed with a Space Guard furnace filter. It is in still the Saginaw Valley, and in my opinion, the pollen haven.
Amy
Andy
I have tested 20 different brands/types of pleated filters and 6 or 7 brands/types of fiberglass/polyester filters. For 1" thick filters, the pleated filters have ALWAYS been more restrictive! I tested 20" x
20" x 1" filters at 800 CFM, to keep it aples to apples. The fiberglass/polyester filters varied from .075 inches water gauge to .1 inches water gauge (IWG or IWC) pressure drop. The 1" thick pleateds were from .20 IWG to .21 IWG. Typically installing 1" thick pleated filters in the average installation will drop overall air flow 10% to 20%. I measure air flow with a flow hood, hot wire annemometer and rotating vane annemometer. These are accurate, sensitive, expensive instruments. I am certified air balance technician by the National Balancing Institute. If you install a 4" to 6" thick pleated filter in the duct system, you can reduce the pressure drop significantly to about .08 IWG to .1 IWG, but that is not a do-it-yourself project. It is also not apples to apples. But, yes, the pleated filters catch a LOT more dirt. And they get dirty faster and should be replaced at least as often as fiberglass filters.Stretch
Pleated are ALWAYS more restrictive and those electrostatic filters are even more so. Read what he wrote again, and this time, READ it.
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