Summertime Dilemmas: Air Conditioners, Air Purifiers and Open Windows

Summertime poses a variety of problems for people who want to breathe clean air. Many people want to clean out their houses by opening them up to the great outdoors. Others want to run their air conditioning but are concerned about its effect on their room air purifiers and vice-versa. Each family will have to determine what will work best in their household but ClearFlite does offer some general guidelines:

If you open the window more than a couple of inches, it might be best to turn your air purifier off while it is open, especially if you have HEPA purifiers. You'll fill those filters up more quickly by trying to purify Mother Nature (best to contact our friends in Washington D.C. for that request). It doesn't matter so much, economically, if you have a Friedrich model with washable filters. Thy effectiveness of the air purifier will be reduced with open windows. That's not to say you shouldn't do it. By all means, clean out your house and enjoy it, but when you're done, turn your air cleaners on high and let them clean up the pollens that you have invited in.

It is recommended that you run your air purifiers while your central air conditioning or even window A.C. units are running. The air conditioning will stir up all kinds of pollutants which your air purifiers can remove. Plus you're circulating cleaned air through your system. Some central air conditioning systems do or can include electrostatic filters to help with dust. You might contact your system's manufacturer to get them placed on your system. They'll help keep the dust down so your room air purifiers can concentrate on the smaller particulate, pollens, and mold spores.  Electrostatic air purifiers can also be built into the HVAC system.