What causes indoor dust? The number
one culprit is probably dead skin. Every year we "shed" many
pounds of dead skin. Multiply that by several people and
a few pets coupled with an air-tight home and pretty soon
you have a dust problem. The problem is a host of little
critters like to feed off dead skin and those unwanted
guests will proceed to leave their unwanted waste behind.
Generally speaking, any home that is not well kept (vacuumed
and dusted often without any food left on the floors, etc)
will have a lot of insect feces floating around in the
air which will cause allergies and overall immune system
weakening. (illness).
Most people run out to their local WalMart and buy a HEPA
machine. The problem with table top HEPA machines is that
they feature costly filters and worse of all, the can only
treat the air in a small area. Even large, high quality
HEPA machines can not address dust problems outside of
the room where they reside. For that reason, we and most
Indoor Air Quality experts recommend a high quality furnace
filter and running your HVAC system 24/7 to address dust
issues. Sure, we want to sell you a HEPA machine, but we
feel a moral obligation to tell you the truth. If you don't
have forced air (HVAC system) then you'd need to utilize
HEPA machines however.
We sell four types of furnace filters. Washable electrostatic furnace filters, MERV 11, Odor
Ban, and Turbo Odor Ban. MERV 11 filters will capture
over 90% of dust particles over 1 micron in size. Air Care washable electrostatic filters capture 95% of dust particles over 1 micron in size. (best deal) When
you run your HVAC system 24/7, your systems strong fan
(most feature 2000 CFM or more fans) will filter the air
in your entire home 2 or more times per hours. Leave your
doors open and try it for a day and see if you don't notice
a difference. (If you have a MERV 11 filter already) Department
stores sell MERV 11 filters for around $15. (3M Filtrete
Ultra Allergen Filters for instance) However, running
your HVAC fan 24/7 will turn your furnace filter into a
3 pound heap of gray dust in around 1 month. The retail
cost, $360 a year. The solution. Buy our furnace filters
are a great deal for only $4.32 each (for the most popular sizes in MERV 11) up to $49.99 for all sizes of the washable electrostatic type. (Retail $80-$125)
ar. The
cost to run your HVAC fan 24/7, around $60 a year. If you
also want odor and VOC abatement capabilities, invest in
the Turbo
Odor Ban filters or carbon filter pads ($8). Those filters feature both electrostatic,
pleated filter media and pleated carbon media.
Dust removal HEPA machines, out top choices are the Airpura
I-600 and the Amaircare 3000 . Both machines will cost less
than $300 to operate over a 5 year period and feature
relatively quiet operation.