How an Air Scrubber Could Improve Your Indoor Air Quality
Here in north-central Utah, we are privileged to live in one of the most beautiful and naturally stunning parts of the country. But even with all the Wasatch Front has to offer, we still need to take steps to ensure healthy living. One of those steps is improving indoor air quality. Enter the air scrubber.
As an HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contractor in the greater Salt Lake City area, this is the time of the year we start getting calls for AC maintenance. Furnace calls will start coming in early fall. In both cases, adding an air scrubber to an HVAC system can drastically improve indoor air quality.
The Basics of an Air Scrubber
You might already be familiar with the principle of air scrubbing if you have had any experience in cleaning up after a natural disaster. Air scrubbing on a day-to-day basis works on the same principle. The idea is to purify the air inside a home.
A residential air scrubber is basically an advanced air purification device that integrates directly with the home’s HVAC system. Whether your home has a furnace, air conditioner or both, an air scrubber can work in concert with it to make the air you breathe cleaner than it has ever been before.
It’s Not Just a Filter
Note that an air scrubber is not just another filter. Standard air filters are designed to passively trap particles as air flows through them. They work well enough based on their design. But if you want superior air cleaning, a filter’s design will not cut it.
Air scrubbers go a step beyond. They combine a number of technologies to both filter and clean air simultaneously. An air scrubber in good working condition actively eliminates contaminants and pollutants. It even reduces contaminants normally found on household surfaces.
How a Scrubber Actually Works
An air scrubber is installed within an existing HVAC system, usually inside the ductwork. Once activated, it goes to work purifying and cleaning the air. Its methods for doing so are based on three key principles:
1. Active Purification
Active purification is the process of addressing contaminants in the air as it circulates through the system. Air scrubbers use a combination of UV light and catalytic reactions to generate molecules that neutralize odors, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), bacteria, viruses, and even mold. All the things you don’t really want to breathe in are dealt with.
2. Air Cleaning
The same molecules that neutralize bacteria and viruses are also released into the air while your HVAC system is running. They break down and neutralize contaminants on surfaces. Think of doorknobs, light switches, and countertops. Household surfaces are no longer a haven for contaminants when air scrubbing is deployed.
3. Filtration
Certain types of particles that aren’t addressable through purification are captured by the system using filtration. A typical system relies on the existing air filter. But additional filtration can be added if necessary.
Improve Air Quality to Improve Your Environment
We recommend air scrubbing in Utah for the simple fact that indoor air can be more polluted than outdoor air. Outdoors, contaminants get carried away by the wind. Indoors, they tend to hang around longer. Getting rid of them is a priority.
Here’s how we see it: improving air quality indoors improves the environment you live in. You are already enjoying the fresh air the beautiful state of Utah provides naturally. Why not enjoy cleaner air indoors as well? An air scrubber integrated with your HVAC system can improve indoor air quality so much that you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.
