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Dan Buglio is a Certified Indoor Air Quality Professional by the:
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1. Does the Dynamic Air Cleaner produce Ozone?
No. The Dynamic Air Cleaner is a non-ionizing air cleaner that does not create or produce any ozone.
2. How do Dynamic Air Cleaners work?
Rather than ionizing or passively collecting particles, Dynamics work by assigning polarity to both the particles in the air and the fibers of the media pad. This gives each a negative pole and a positive pole, essentially turning them into magnets. The particles are then attracted to other particles (making them easier to catch) and to the media fibers. Just as paper clips on a magnet attract other paper clips, the dirt captured becomes a part of the collecting surface, giving the air cleaner increasing efficiency as the filter loads with pollutants.
For more in depth technical details: Click Here.
3. Is the Dynamic Air Cleaner Panel hard to install?
No. In most homes, the Dynamic will install in an existing 1" filter slot. In rare instances, a filter track may need to be installed. Dynamics require a 24 volt power input. This can be taken either off the 24 volt system on your furnace, thermostat, or from a plug-in transformer included with your system. For commercial type air handlers, the 1" or 2" panels and tandem panels will retrofit to existing equipment or they can be custom designed as needed.
4. What is involved in the maintenance of the Dynamic and how often must it be done?
This will vary a little from house to house or business to business. Generally, we recommend that the media be changed 3 times a year. Conditions such as excessive dust, humidity and tobacco smoke can shorten this time. The media pad is disposable and changing it takes only a couple of minutes. When changing the media, you should also check for face-loaded dust on the Panel's outer screens. If this has built up, it can be brushed or vacuumed off to keep in clean.
5. Can I use any media?
No. A Dynamic will not work with standard filter medias. While our pad may look like a plain piece of media, if you look closely you will see that there is an activated carbon center screen bonded into it. This patented configuration not only adsorbs odors, but also conducts the electrical charge that creates the polarizing field. Standard media cannot do this and will not work with the Dynamic Air Cleaner's technology.
6. Is the replacement media expensive?
Not really, it costs less than $5 per month (per air cleaner or air cleaner panel) to insure clean, fresh, safe, healthy air in your home or business. And when compared to the time and expense of other high efficiency alternatives, it is very economical.
Electronic air cleaners must be cleaned monthly, and with the presence of tobacco smoke much more frequently. While the manufacturer may tell you to wash it in the dishwasher, the manufacturer of the dishwasher will tell you not to. This means you must take the cells to a car wash or have a service clean them. The cells should also be chemically stripped each year, which generally costs about $50. If the unit is equipped with a carbon panel for odor control, these can cost $100 to $160 per year to replace. High efficiency passive filters, such as HEPAs, cost hundreds of dollars to replace and may also have carbon inserts that further add to the cost.
7. If I don't have allergies, why do I need an air cleaner?
The EPA says that indoor air is on average 7 - 10 times worse than outdoor air, even if you live in a city. Air has a direct pathway into our bodies and a direct effect on our health and well-being. Besides allergies, poor air quality is linked to a number of problems: fatigue, asthma, respiratory ailments, the spread of flu and other diseases, even cancer.
8. What's wrong with the furnace filters that I buy at the store?
A furnace filter is just that: a filter to help your furnace equipment stay clean. In fact, most filters are in heating and cooling systems to protect the equipment not the people. They do almost nothing to improve the air quality from a health standpoint. Even the "30%" filters you see at the stores are extremely inefficient in that they are unable to capture the smallest particles most dangerous to human health.
9. What is the difference between a portable room air cleaner and the Dynamic Air Cleaner panel?
Most supplemental room air cleaners can help clean the air in a room or two. However, by installing the Dynamic Air Cleaner in your home's central forced air system, you will clean the air in the entire house. Further, many room air cleaners use high-efficiency passive filters, which require powerful - and therefore loud - fans to move the air. The portable Dynamic Air Cleaners however, are very quiet because they utilize the same 3 methods of air cleaning that the panels use. These allow the filter media to become very effective without requiring much power to push the air through the filter. This keeps noise level to a minimum and saves on energy costs.
10. Why not buy one of those electrostatic filters advertised on the radio by Paul Harvey or Rush Limbaugh, or that I can buy at a discount store?
These are passive electrostatic filters. Their fibers have a slight static charge. As airborne particles move through them, they can be attracted to the fibers; the way rubbing a balloon on a sweater will make it stick. They are a lot better than the $2 throwaway 1" filters, but they can cause some problems in residential systems. As a passive electrostatic filter loads up with contaminants, its fibers become coated with particles and the "balloon effect" stops. This can happen quickly and then the filter is only effective against the larger particles in the air, over 5 microns. Further, in order for a passive electrostatic filter to work, it must be dense and therefore restrictive to airflow. In many homes this air can cause poor heating and cooling in the upper level of the home or in the rooms farthest from the air handling equipment. As the filter loads up, it becomes even more restrictive. This not only makes the air conditioning equipment work inefficiently, but can actually damage it. In fact, some electric utilities recommend their customers not to use passive electrostatic filters. Because Dynamic Air cleaners use a high voltage to create an active electrostatic field inside the Panel, they are able to use a very sparse media that is not restrictive to airflow. Dynamic Air Cleaners also improve in efficiency as they operate, by capturing the very smallest particles in the air such as bacteria, smoke, mold spores, pollen and many more. In a recirculation air system, like the one in your house, a Dynamic Air Cleaner collects over 97% of the particles that are 0.3 microns and larger.
11. What is a Micron and why should I care about small particles?
A micron is 1/25,000th of an inch. A human hair is about 150 microns; the smallest thing that can be seen with the naked eye is about 10 microns. It is the largest particles, above 5 microns, that cause equipment problems and are what most filters are able to catch. However, 98% of the particles in the air are smaller than 1 micron. These "sub-micron" particles are not caught by most filters and can get through our bodies' natural defenses when inhaled. Further, they can stay suspended in the air for days until they are breathed in. An increasing number of studies have found these sub-micron particles to be a significant health hazard. To effectively clean the air from a health point, the sub-micron particles must be removed. Dynamic Air Cleaners will remove up to 98% of these particles on a multiple pass basis. For example, when tested by the Canadian Department of Health in a test house, after 10 hours of operation, a Dynamic Air Cleaner was able to remove 97% of the particles in the 0.3 - 0.5 micron range and 98.6% of the particles in the 1 - 3 micron range. And our efficiency actually increases as the filter loads with pollutants.
12. Does the Dynamic Air Cleaner create a snapping sound?
It is possible that the Dynamic Air Cleaners may produce a few faint snapping sounds when a new filter is put in place. This is normal and will subside shortly as the filter begins to load with contaminants. They do not create the constant snapping or crackling sound that electrostatic precipitators and other electronic air cleaners produce.
13. I have had an electrostatic air cleaner before and noticed a thin coat of dust on a lot of surfaces, especially on TV screens. Will this air cleaner do the same thing?
No. Dynamics do not create charged particles that will cling to grounded surfaces in the home or elsewhere. Electronic air cleaners to date have worked by ionizing (positively charging) the particles in the air. They then try to capture them on negatively charged or grounded collection plates. This works fairly well at first, but as the plates load up with positive particles, they lose their attraction and the air cleaner loses its efficiency. The positively charged particles then will stick to any grounded (walls and ductwork) or charged (a TV screen) surface.
14. I currently have an electronic air cleaner; does it need to be removed?
No. A Dynamic Air Cleaner can fit right into where the two main cells are. A spacer will need to be installed to provide a 1" track and the power to the old air cleaner should be turned off or disconnected. This type of retrofit generally takes a 20" x 25" Dynamic. To check this, measure the size of the two cells side by side.
15. How do I know my air cleaner size?
Pull your current air filter out of your air handler; the size should be written on the side. If your filter is media only and does not indicate size, measure the media. If you have a filter that is wrapped around the bottom of the air handler, please call for instructions.
16. How long has the Dynamic Air Cleaner been around?
Dynamics have been manufactured for over 16 years and used extensively in Canada, Japan, and commercial applications around the world. They are used in "clean" manufacturing, casinos, hospitals, and food processing and are now available to clean the air that is most important to you - the air you and your family breathe. Dynamic Air Cleaner panels come in 19 standard sizes; generally 1" thick are used in homes and either 1" or 2" for commercial type applications. Dynamic Air Cleaners can be custom designed and configured for almost any application.
17. Does the Dynamic Air Cleaner consume much electricity and how should it be operated?
The Dynamic Air Cleaner draws only 2 watts of energy to create the 6,000 volts inside the panel. They are very efficient and cost effective to operate. For operation, any air cleaner can only be effective if air is moving through it. Therefore in most areas, for maximum effectiveness, we recommend that your thermostat be turned to the fan "on" position rather than the "auto" position at times when you are using neither heating nor cooling such as the spring and fall. This will give continuous air cleaning. This takes only a small amount of electricity, but makes a significant difference in the air quality in your home or business. It will also greatly reduce the amount of dusting required, in addition to the health benefits. The only exception to the "fan on" recommendation is in very high humidity areas. If you live in such an area, please consult PuriTec for operating recommendations. In a commercial establishment, your HVAC is controlled by its current settings and subsequently, so is your Dynamic Air Cleaner.
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