Honeywell F300 Electronic Air Cleaner?
#1
05-08-14, 10:29 AM
Honeywell F300 Electronic Air Cleaner?
Hi All -
I'm looking for some unbiased opinions or advice on an electronic air cleaner. I am new into a home as of 4 months ago and had an HVAC guy out for a checkup for the first time.
One of the recommendations he gave was to essentially turn off our Honeywell F300 Electronic Air Cleaner and instead just use a regular air filter in lieu of the electronic filters.
His reasoning was that the electronic air filter doesn't acheive much (besides wasting electricity) and we'd be better off just periodically replacing with regular filter & changing 2 x per year.
Admittedly, I don't know much about HVAC, but intuitively it seemed strange to disable a "fancy & expensive" electronic filter for a traditional. I guess I also didn't get the must trusting feeling from the HVAC technician based upon several other recommendations I felt he was trying to sell me on the filter replacement subscription.
Any thoughts from the group on electronic versus traditional filters? Is it really a waste / inefficient to have electronic filters running?
Our existing F300 is the below model:
https://www.acwholesalers.com/Honeyw...FUMQ7AodngMAKQ
We'd instead be replacing with a traditional filter like:
https://www.acwholesalers.com/Honeyw...FY3m7AodfjsA9A
I'm looking for some unbiased opinions or advice on an electronic air cleaner. I am new into a home as of 4 months ago and had an HVAC guy out for a checkup for the first time.
One of the recommendations he gave was to essentially turn off our Honeywell F300 Electronic Air Cleaner and instead just use a regular air filter in lieu of the electronic filters.
His reasoning was that the electronic air filter doesn't acheive much (besides wasting electricity) and we'd be better off just periodically replacing with regular filter & changing 2 x per year.
Admittedly, I don't know much about HVAC, but intuitively it seemed strange to disable a "fancy & expensive" electronic filter for a traditional. I guess I also didn't get the must trusting feeling from the HVAC technician based upon several other recommendations I felt he was trying to sell me on the filter replacement subscription.
Any thoughts from the group on electronic versus traditional filters? Is it really a waste / inefficient to have electronic filters running?
Our existing F300 is the below model:
https://www.acwholesalers.com/Honeyw...FUMQ7AodngMAKQ
We'd instead be replacing with a traditional filter like:
https://www.acwholesalers.com/Honeyw...FY3m7AodfjsA9A
#2
05-08-14, 08:47 PM
Group Moderator
Welcome to the forums.
I have one of those electronic air cleaners. I've had it for years and have never been totally impressed with it. It requires constant cleaning to be effective and for the dust not to cause arcs in the high voltage grid.
I'm going to be switching over to the regular filter.
I have one of those electronic air cleaners. I've had it for years and have never been totally impressed with it. It requires constant cleaning to be effective and for the dust not to cause arcs in the high voltage grid.
I'm going to be switching over to the regular filter.
#3
05-09-14, 12:24 AM
PJ hit the major point, the collector cells need to be cleaned often, every other week is not too often. The electronic air cleaner WILL remove extremely small particles, even cigarette smoke, when clean but it soon loses its ability to remove anything as the collector gets dirty. This is in contrast to a media filter that actually will remove more particulates as it gets dirty, albeit with a rising pressure drop across the filter.
Most electronic filter cabinets can take a standard sized four-inch thick media filter although some slight modification may be necessary. You can get suitable filters for significantly less than the price of that Honeywell filter you linked to.
Most electronic filter cabinets can take a standard sized four-inch thick media filter although some slight modification may be necessary. You can get suitable filters for significantly less than the price of that Honeywell filter you linked to.
#5
05-09-14, 11:07 AM
I must be the only one who likes my Honeywell air cleaner. It works, period and I only clean it 2x a year (a/c only in NJ). Keeps my coil very clean, which to me indicates it operates correctly. On top of that, the unit is 40 years old this year. I have nothing to complain about. All it takes is a short cycle through the dish washer to clean the plates.
#6
05-11-14, 08:22 PM
Tom, I like electronic air filters very much, it is just that they require cleaning on a VERY frequent basis to keep them operating properly. The original poster of this thread has a forced air heating system and you have only cooling, I assume you have hot water or steam heat. I have no idea how much your cooling system runs but forced air, and especially forced air heating AND cooling systems really rack up the hours. How fast ANY filter clogs or becomes less effective is a function of the airflow through it and the amount of dirt in the air.
I had a close friend, he died about a year and a half ago, that had an electronic filter installed when he had a new furnace and A/C installed several years ago. Bert also cleaned his collector cells only twice a year but in addition he only lived in the house about six months of the year, spending the late fall and winter in Arizona. Because Seattle (where he lived) rarely requires cooling his cooling hours for a year probably didn't amount to but maybe one hundred hours a year and his heating maybe 300-400 hours a year. Still, the efficacy of that filtering system definitely did fall off significantly after a just a few hundred hours.
What I will be doing in the next month or so in conjunction with adding central cooling is to install the media filter upstream of the electronic unit. The media filter will catch the gross particles leaving the EAC to take out the minute particles. This dual-stage approach will allow for less frequent cleaning of the EAC.
I had a close friend, he died about a year and a half ago, that had an electronic filter installed when he had a new furnace and A/C installed several years ago. Bert also cleaned his collector cells only twice a year but in addition he only lived in the house about six months of the year, spending the late fall and winter in Arizona. Because Seattle (where he lived) rarely requires cooling his cooling hours for a year probably didn't amount to but maybe one hundred hours a year and his heating maybe 300-400 hours a year. Still, the efficacy of that filtering system definitely did fall off significantly after a just a few hundred hours.
What I will be doing in the next month or so in conjunction with adding central cooling is to install the media filter upstream of the electronic unit. The media filter will catch the gross particles leaving the EAC to take out the minute particles. This dual-stage approach will allow for less frequent cleaning of the EAC.
#7
08-27-14, 07:47 AM
Bryant Electronic Air Purifier
My electronic air filter is making a weird high pitched sound, like fingernails on a blackboard, very faintly but sustained, whenever I turn it on. I just washed the filters a week ago. What could be causing this noise? I had an energy person come out, he didn't speak English, just grunted that it was the transformer, it was broken, and I needed to buy a new one since no parts available now. He didn't do anything but look at it. He didn't test anything. He could barely hear the noise I'm talking about. He said if I didn't fix it and buy a new furnace w/ AC and electronic air filter for $8000 I could end up with a carbon monoxide overload. My furnace is 14 years old, and he said they should be replaced every 15 years. Is this guy serious? Or can I just keep the electric filter off.
#8
08-27-14, 08:00 AM
Member
Are you positive the high pitched sound is coming from the electronic air filter? The only moving part in an air handler is the blower. Depending on the type of blower motor you have, if it is belt driven the belt tends to "screech" at times or if the bearings in the motor are going out it can make a high pitched sound. If you have an on/off switch on the air filter turn it to off and see if the noise disappears. If no switch, I suggest you turn off power to the air handler, trace the power leads and remove power to the electronic filter. Then restore power and if the noise is gone you have at least isolated the sound as coming from the air filter.
Last edited by firedawgsatx; 08-27-14 at 08:53 AM.
#9
08-27-14, 08:28 AM
Group Moderator
Electronic air filters work by generating high voltage and charging a grid system of wires. That high voltage circuit is most likely what you are hearing.
I'm assuming you recognize the sound of the unit arcing and that this sound is different.
I'm assuming you recognize the sound of the unit arcing and that this sound is different.
#10
11-03-14, 01:53 PM
We have had the same model Honeywell EAC for 8 years. We're pretty good about keeping the filters clean. Recently, it's stopped snapping, but when I hit the test button, it works fine. Any ideas what might cause that?
#11
11-03-14, 05:42 PM
Group Moderator
Welcome to the forums.
Is the red light on next to the power switch ? If not there is a high voltage problem.
Is the red light on next to the power switch ? If not there is a high voltage problem.
#12
11-03-14, 10:02 PM
The filter unit should not snap under normal operation. The snap is an arc shorting between the high voltage electrodes, often cause by a hair or other fairly large piece of dirt.
#14
11-04-14, 06:21 AM
Hmm...I thought the snap meant it was working and that this was normal. So, you're saying that it's probably working just fine, but there haven't been large enough pieces make it to the electrodes? I have noticed a slight ozone smell occasionally, so that's a sign it is working, right?
#16
11-04-14, 07:52 AM
Group Moderator
Electronic air cleaners are supposed to be connected to only operate when the furnace blower is running.
