Types Of Filters Used In Air Conditioners & Air Purifiers

Have you ever cleaned the filters of your Air conditioner or Air purifier on your own? Do you have any idea that these filters could be of different types? Actually, most of us have never taken these filters seriously like other parts of an AC. But the filters have a major power to enhance or decrease the cooling capacity and electric bill of your AC.

Here, in this article, we will know about all the factors and qualities related to these filters of Air conditioners in brief.

Why There Are Filters In ACs

The filters in an AC is one of the vital parts plays the leading role in the cleansing of air and air flow. They are used to remove solid contaminants like dust, pollen, smoke, and grease to enhance the quality of the indoor air.

These filters affect the energy efficiency and lifespan of your AC as well as your health. They are commonly installed at the return air of the most air conditioners whether it may be a window AC, a split AC, An inverter AC, or a non-inverter AC.

You must know that since 1990, our indoor environment has got so polluted that lots of diseases arise due to pollution. Generally, we spend more than 80% of the time in indoors where there is a higher chance of inhaling impure air and pollution. The filters in Air conditioners play an essential role to save us from these possible diseases caused by air pollution.

Types Of Filters Used In ACs

When it comes to the types of filters, you might wonder what is the best filter for your AC to choose from. No worries. Here’s the help to find out the perfect air filter for your system. Stick to the article to get a brief idea about different types of air filters.

1. Fiberglass

The fiberglass filters are the least expensive and are the basic flat filters for an AC. These are least effective to trap the dust particles, danders, etc.

2. Pleated Air Filters

Pleated air filters in an AC are durable and cost-effective than the fiberglass filters. They filter more dust particles and removes the odor from the room. They offer a larger surface area and more fiber for sq can augment the efficiency of the system.

3. Electrostatic Filters

The electrostatic air filters in an AC use electricity to attract dust particles. The magnetic effect of the charge attracts the debris and particles effectively through static charge until you wash or clean the filters.

The major advantages of the electrostatic filters are that they are cost-effective and have a lifelong warranty. The cleaning of these filters are less troublesome but they need consistent cleaning to give many years of uninterrupted service.In India, only the Daikin Air conditioner uses the electrostatic filters.

4. Nano Silver Filter

Since the period of Ancient Greece, silver is well known for its antibacterial quality. This brilliant quality of the silver used in the filters known as Nano silver filter. As per Samsung, this nano silver technology can disinfect 650 types of bacteria in the air.

How Does This Filter Function?

• The nanosilver filters have a brilliant formula to attack and destroy the cells of the bacteria and their chemical composition effectively.
• The titanium dioxide created electrons in the excited state when exposed to ultraviolet rays. This produces superoxide ions after reacting with oxygen.
• Then it produces hydroxyl radicals reacting with water vapors.
• The lethal combination of Hydroxyl and Superoxide in the nanosilver filters destroys the bacteria effectively.

Health Benefits Of  The AC Filters

To choose the best AC not only benefits your good health but it benefits the cleanliness of your room environment along with your system also. Let’s have a look at these benefits.

• They are easier to clean and have better energy efficiency.
• These filters give your AC a longer lifespan. As a result, it saves you from thousands of rupees in system replacement costs.
• The indoor air remains clean and pollution free due to the less dust floating in the air.
• Due to the less dust, debris, and dirt in the motor of the system, your AC operates with a greater level of energy efficiency. This results in lower cooling costs.
• The filters in your AC result fewer system malfunctions and a cleaner AC performs better and is less likely to breakdown.

How To Select an AC filter To Meet Your Needs?

To select an AC filter:

• You have to weigh your needs against the requirement of your AC.
• Select the particularly-sized filters as per the size of your AC.
• Choose a specific brand or pore size of filter for your AC lest you void the warranty.
• Do not compromise with your health by choosing a mid-grade filter to save money. Rather choose a higher efficiency filter available for your system

Types Of Filters Used In Air Purifiers

In India, the air purifiers are more in demand to be safe from harmful and distressing air pollutions. It is not enough to install an air purifier but to keep the filters clean and the regular changing is very important.

Why You Need An Air Purifier?

The homes that have limited ventilation and pets must have air purifiers in their house for a pollution-free indoor environment. You must know that the biggest health hazard of indoor is air pollution. The dust, smoke, allergens, pet-hair, ticks stay inside the room and cause serious health issues to the people living there.

Types Of Air Purifiers

There are two types of air purifiers such as Active air purifiers and Passive air purifiers.

• The Active air purifiers purify the air through ionization. In this process, the negatively charged ions attract the pollutants from the surface and releases as a by-product to the ozone. The Active Air purifiers are not dependant on the filters.
• But the Passive air purifiers are completely dependant upon the filters to remove the pollutants and the dust particles from the air. They are quite efficient to remove the dust particles permanently.

Types Of Air Filters In Air Purifier

1. HEPA Filters

HEPA filters are one of the best filters can capture 99.97% of the smallest particles and remove all allergens from your indoor air by keeping your house smelling fresh. This technology was so popular during World War II which was able to trap the radioactive particles from the air which is able to reduce the impending danger of respiratory disorders in soldiers.

These filters can weed out Mold, Minute Pollen, Debris, tiny dust particles, allergens and the bacteria from the indoor air effectively. Due to their efficiency and success rate of air filtering, these filters are the first choice of the Doctors. They recommend these filters to the patients suffering from recurring allergies.

This HEPA filter is the most eligible filter for the present pollution-growth in the developing countries. These filters never throw the collected contamination back into the air which is the best thing about these filters.

2. Washable Filters

Washable filters are the simple porous filters allow air to flow through them easily. They are not as common and rely on the build-up of dust along the cloth to improve their efficiency.

3. Catechin Filters

Catechin filters belong to the chemical group of flavonoids and work as anti-oxidant. They have the ability to eradicate microscopic viruses and bacteria and fight against them to destroy them completely.

These filters are best for the indoors have pets because it eliminates the bad odor emanating from them along with the bad odor of smoke and pollution.

The best thing about these filters is their durability can last for more than one decade. They are the best filters for the overall health and wellbeing of yours.

4. Antibacterial Filters

Antibacterial filters are come in a single piece or with the HEPA filters. They have the ability to destroy all the bacteria, anti-allergen, and dust mite from the indoor air. These filters appear like the crumble carton but nemesis for the microorganisms spread across the indoor. They destroy the germs and bacteria by using ultraviolet rays.

5. Vitamin C Filters

Vitamin C filters work as a therapy besides filtering. You must know that Vitamin C is an antioxidant which nullifies the free radicals in your skin and revitalizes the aging skin. These filters purify the indoor air by destroying the bacteria effectively.

6. Carbon Adhesive Filters

Adhesive carbon filters cannot function by their own but work best along with other filters. These activated carbons work best when comes to chemicals but not effective in eliminating dust particles or other organisms and tiny particles.

7. Ultraviolet Light Filters

Ultraviolet light filters are not only the filters but the destroyers to destroy the bacteria using ultraviolet light. These filters kill the bacteria, molds, viruses, and yeasts from the indoor air. These filters are ideal to use for patients suffering from longterm sickness and useful in hospitals to prevent diseases due to infections.

The ultraviolet light filters are unable to remove the solid particles, allergens, and dust from the air. But they remove the cigarette smoke, chemical fumes, and bad odor from the indoor air effectively.

8. Prefilter

Prefilters are also known as layers filters or double filters in an air purifier. This filter works as a barrier to stop the larger particles to enter the main filter. As a result, the purifier filter maintains the longevity of the main filter also. Basically, it decreases the load on the internal filter of the air purifier.

The best thing about this filter is it reduces the cost of the replacement or any kind of repair. It stops the large debris, hair furs, dust and pollen and increases the lifespan and capacity of the main filter.  You can wash and reuse these filters again and again.

9. Anti-VOC Filters

The anti-VOC filters work best for the people sensitive volatile organic compounds. These compounds contain typical carbons emitted from pesticides, paints, poisonous gasses, and new indoor furnishings. These gasses circulate in the indoor for a long time which may cause nausea, runny nose, watery eye, and headache when reacted.

In such conditions, Anti-VOC filters remove the impurities and eliminate the harmful gasses effectively. Other than air purifiers, only the Carrier Media Model AC in India uses these Anti-VOC Filters to get rid of toxic VOCs.

10. PM 2.5 Filters

PM or the particulate matter is a complicated amalgamation of smallest particles and liquid droplets caused by fossil fuels and the smoke in the air along with the dust particles. These particles are too small that they can enter your lungs easily and penetrate bronchitis and lungs disorders. The long term exposure towards these tiny dangerous particles can lead to chronic soreness in the throat.

To keep you safe from these health disorders, the PM 2.5 Filters are specially designed to trap the microparticles from the air. These filters are consist of polytetrafluoroethylene(PTFE) membrane which decreases friction. This membrane filter is applicable in gauging air quality through EPA test method and can trap the microparticles effectively.

11. Photocatalytic Filter

Photocatalytic filters use the PCO(Photocatalytic oxidation) method which destroys the air pollutants safely and removes abundant air irritants which can cause sore throat and lungs infection.

Actually, this filter uses photocatalytic to purify the air and works when the ultraviolet ray falls on titanium dioxide which releases the electrons. When these electrons react with water molecules in the air creating hydroxyl radicals(OH.)

Health Benefits Of The Air Filters

Like the AC filters, the air filters in an air purifier also plays a major role in the benefits of your health. Let’s have a look at them in brief.

• The higher MERV rated filters are efficient to capture the mold spores, bacteria, and small particles. As a result, they are beneficial to people have asthma and allergic to mold.
• These filters are able to trap viruses and bacteria that cause respiratory infections in people.
• Dusta and molds are the major cause of Asthma in people and these filters are largely beneficial for them.

Before finding the different types of air filters it is imperative to understand the MERV Rating System of the Air filters.

What Is MERV Rating?

MERV rating system of the filters is the method used to measure the efficiency of the filters in removing the dust particles from the air passing through them. This rating can gauge the efficacy of the air filters. According to the American Society of Heating, the minimum MERV rating is 6. But the ideal rating is 16.

The parameters according to the MERV rating are following.

• 17-20 rated filters are able to trap the tiniest particles.
• 11-16 is able to destroy more than 90% of large particles and 70-90% of small particles.
• 8-10 rated filters are able to eliminate 85% large particles and approx 50% of small particles.
• 5-7 rated filters can catch 20-69% of large particles.
• 1-4 rated filters can catch 20% of big particles.

Final Talk

If you have gone through the whole article you must have got a brief idea about how the air filters in your AC and Air Purifier can be harmful to your health and detrimental to the performance of your system. Hence, to choose the perfect filters for your AC or Air purifier is completely depends upon the needs of your indoor use. Before selecting one, go through all the pros and cons of the types of filters as per your needs.