Electronic Air Cleaners: Understanding the Technology at Work Behind the Scenes

Electronic air cleaners utilize the power of electrostatic attraction to clean your air of microscopic contaminants your standard air filter doesn’t capture. The air filter in your heating and cooling system is actually designed to protect mechanical components from large, inorganic dust particles that accelerate wear and tear and diminish performance. Tiny, invisible particulates, however—including microorganisms like mold spores and pollen—often evade standard filtration.

In a well-sealed, energy-efficient home, contaminants can accumulate to levels that degrade indoor air quality, causing allergic responses and other symptoms. An electronic air cleaner mounted directly inside your ductwork continuously filters the air in your home, removing particulates down to 0.03 microns. Because the total air volume in the house is circulated through the ducts multiple times per day, in-duct electronic filtration ensures that all the air you breathe is treated with advanced air purification technology.

How electronic air cleaners work

• Air flowing through your ductwork enters the electronic air cleaner through a mechanical pre-filter that removes large particles like dust and lint.

• As the airflow continues through a grid of charged ionization wires, particulates suspended in the air receive either a positive or negative electrical charge.

• In the collector stage, the charged particulates are exposed to an electrostatic field generated by positive- and negatively-charged collector plates. Because oppositely-charged surfaces exert a strong attraction force, airborne particulates are drawn to collector plates with the opposite charge and captured.

• A charged post-filter adds a final level of filtration before air exits the electronic air cleaner cell.

• As your heating and cooling fan operates, air in your house continually circulates through the filter, removing new particulates that infiltrate the home from outside or are stirred up into the air by household activity.

Sobieski Services has your interior comfort and your healthy air quality covered with advanced technology like electronic air cleaners. Our goal is to help educate our customers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC & plumbing systems).

Image Credit: seanmcgrath