Using an Electronic Air Cleaner Gives Your Air A “Charge”

Keeping your indoor air clean and free of particulates and other contaminants can be a challenge beyond the capabilities of the physical filtration system inside your HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system. Using an electronic air cleaner, in addition to your existing HVAC-based air-filtering system, will help improve indoor air quality and your home’s overall comfort level.

Electronic air cleaners work by using electrostatic attraction. They transfer an electrical charge to particles of dust, pollen, cloth fiber and other contaminants in your home’s air. When these tiny particulates are charged, they are attracted to each other, to surfaces in your home, or to collecting plates inside the cleaner. They gather on these surfaces, thereby removing them from your indoor air.

If you’re considering installing and using an electronic air cleaner, here are the two most-common types that you’ll find available:

1. Electrostatic precipitators, which provide a charge to particles and collect them from the air. They pull air through an ionization area within the unit, where any particles in the air receive their charge. As the air travels through the precipitator, the charged particles accumulate on a set of flat metal plates with an opposite charge.
2. Ion generators, sometimes called ionizers, which produce charged ions that are sent into your indoor air, where they attach to particles and contaminants, and give them the electrical charge. The charged particles then will adhere to walls, curtains, furniture or other surfaces. They also can cling together and drop out of the air onto the floor, tabletops, counters and other areas.

Electronic air cleaners are available in smaller portable models or larger systems that work with your HVAC equipment to provide air cleaning throughout your entire home. The systems do not require significant maintenance, although you will need to clean the collecting plates in the electrostatic precipitator regularly, to ensure that they work properly.

For more than 36 years, Roth Heating & Cooling has been dedicated to the HVAC needs of our heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical services customers in Portland, Bend, Salem and the surrounding communities. Contact us today for more information on the benefits of using an electronic air cleaner and how one can keep your air cleaner and fresher than standard physical filtration systems.