How to Increase Ventilation in Buildings with MERV Filters
You can’t perfect your environment with imperfect air quality, and when it comes to air filters, not all are created equally. Read on to learn how you can increase ventilation in buildings using MERV air filters (plus a few extra tips!)
What are MERV Filter Ratings?
MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value; it’s a system that evaluates the efficiency of air filters based on how well they catch particles of various sizes, such as dust and other contaminants, and prevent them from passing through the filter into a building’s air stream.
Essentially, the higher the MERV rating, the higher the air filtration capabilities of that air filter. An air filter MERV rating ranges from 1 to 20, with 20 being the highest level of filtration. For commercial HVAC needs, we recommend at a minimum, a MERV 13 filter for a superior commercial option to combat bacteria, smoke, sneezes, and other contaminants.
If you want to ensure your indoor air quality is pristine, a MERV 20 filter will be the most premium solution, which is why it’s often used in settings including surgical operating rooms. More than likely, a MERV 13 filter will suffice; in fact, when selecting a MERV filter, it’s much better to go with the appropriately rated MERV filter so as not to impair its performance.
Environmental Benefits of High-Quality MERV Filters
As we’ve learned all too well over the past year, particle filtration often presents better health benefits, including:
- Lowered concentrations of infectious airborne particles
- Greater effectiveness against allergy and asthma symptoms
- Reductions in morbidity and mortality
9 Additional Tips to Improve Air Quality
- Increase outdoor air ventilation, using caution in highly polluted areas.
- When weather conditions allow, increase fresh outdoor air by opening windows and doors. Don’t open windows and doors if doing so poses a safety or health risk, such as inviting a risk of falling or triggering asthma symptoms to occupants in the building.
- Use fans to increase the effectiveness of open windows. To safely achieve this, fan placement is important and will vary based on room configuration. Avoid placing fans in such a way that could potentially cause contaminated air to flow directly from one person over another. One helpful strategy is to use a window fan, placed safely and securely in a window, to exhaust room air to the outdoors. This will help draw fresh air into the room via other open windows and doors without generating strong room air currents.
- Decrease occupancy in areas where outdoor ventilation cannot be increased.
- Ensure building ventilation systems operate properly and provide acceptable indoor air quality for the current occupancy level for each space.
- Increase airflow to occupied spaces when possible.
- Turn off any Demand-Controlled Ventilation (DCV) controls that reduce air supply based on occupancy or temperature during occupied hours. In homes and buildings where the HVAC fan can be controlled at the thermostat, set the fan to the “on” position instead of the “auto,” which will operate the fan continuously, even when heating or air conditioning is not required.
- Open outdoor air dampers beyond minimum settings to reduce or eliminate HVAC air recirculation. In mild weather, this won’t affect thermal comfort or humidity. However, this may be difficult to do in cold, hot, or humid weather.
- To improve central air filtration:
- Increase air filtration to as high as possible without significantly reducing design airflow.
- Inspect filter housing and racks to ensure appropriate filter fit and check for ways to minimize filter bypass.
Perfect Your Environment with MERV Filters
Choosing the right MERV filter is essential to perfecting your building’s environment, and you don’t have to do it alone! To ensure you’re using the right commercial air filter, contact Air Stream today at (516) 747-4700.
Why Do I Need an AC Coil Cleaning?
With warmer temperatures upon us, there’s no better time to gain some knowledge of your air conditioning system, starting from the inside out! Knowing just a few details about how your commercial HVAC system works can help you decide what to do when it’s not working like it should.
So, first we need to understand what air conditioner coils are and what they do!
What Are Air Conditioner Coils?
There are two types of air conditioning coils which make your system work: evaporator coils and condenser coils.
What’s an Evaporator Coil?
An air conditioning system’s evaporator coils are the indoor air-cooling coils which removes heat from the space, creating a comfortable environment we know and love!
What are Condenser Coils?
The condenser coils are another vital part of your air conditioning system. These coils pull heat from the inside of your building, then exhaust it outside.
What Happens if Air Conditioner Coils Aren’t Cleaned?
Dirty evaporator and condenser coils make up the bulk of the service calls we receive. When neglected, these maintenance needs can become costly and cause damage to your air conditioning system.
Evaporator Coil Maintenance
When evaporator coils become dirty or clogged, the system, the coil will freeze up. This will not allow air flow across the coil. A service technician will need to turn off to allow coil to defrost, chemically cleaned and perform a full operations check on the system.
Stored maintenance practices can help alleviate issues with your system’s evaporator coil, and regular filter and belt replacements are essential to your system.
Evaporator coils, with proper filter changes and coil brush downs during maintenance should only require chemical cleanings every 5-7 years, depending on run time and other variables, such as construction or particles or solvents in the air.
Air-Cooled Condenser Coil Maintenance
When your condenser coil becomes dirty or clogged, it will take your air conditioning system longer to bring the temperature down, costing you more money to get comfortable. If left unattended, the condenser coil will not allow air flow across coil, which will cause system to shut down on high pressure safety control. This will require a service technician to perform a chemical power washing to remove the dirt that accumulates in the coils to allow airflow through the coil, and perform a full operations check on the system.
Standard air-cooled condenser coils should be chemically power washed at least once a year in the Spring.
More frequent cleanings may be necessary if excessive dirt in the air gets trapped in the coils from construction or traffic.
Contact Air Stream Today for Your Air Conditioner Cleaning
Maintaining your commercial air conditioning system is critical to perfecting your environment. Performing routine maintenance on your evaporator and condenser coils can keep your entire system running efficiently, minimizing costs and muggy buildings.
To ensure your air conditioning system is in tip-top shape this spring, contact Air Stream today at (516) 747-4700.
