Recommendation for whole house air filtration system

I'm looking for recommendation on a whole house air filtration system that comes with it's own motor/blower so that it does not rely heavily on furnace blower.

 

Abatment tech has great products. If you have that bad of allergies I'm hoping you have done things around the home first to help with those issues.

CAP600-UV Residential Air Purifier - All Products - Abatement Tech .

 

I have read that it is possible to modify the furnace blower to run at slower speed so that the filter can work more than just when heat/cool are needed or when blower "on" is selected.

It would save from having a second system and probalaby the most efficient at getting the entire house air flowing!

 

A typical house is designed to exchange all inside and with outside air every 3 hours, on average. When built tighter than that, few are, problems arise and require some application of mechanical ventilation, aka a fan. My point is, if the allergies are from outside then you need to provide a source of outside air that passes through a good air filter, basically a positive pressure to prevent normal air infiltration.

Bud

 

In my house I run the furnace fan 24/7, have an electronic air cleaner, and added a filter slot where I have a very good pleated air filter that is the pre-filter. People in my family have allergies. The furnace is a 2 stage gas + A/C + humidity control for the winter. The fans runs on a low speed for continuous air flow and low heat, runs on medium for high gas flow and on high for A/C. This has served me well for the past 40 years in 2 houses. By the way, I clean the electronic air cleaner in the dishwasher every 3 months using a quick wash. The furnace , ducts, and home stay clean. I do not need a second system. I just replaced my first blower motor in 40 years. (20 years in each house) My 2 cents

 

Thank you for all the responses. I do have asthma and it's worse in the spring; however, that is the main problem I'm trying to solve. I just seems to have way too much dust everywhere. I changed the filter every 3 months. The filter is only one inch thick. I'm not sure if this is because the house is too tight, not tight, or something. In my previous house, which is a lot older than this current one and we do not have that much dust. So, I thought it could be the filtration system that my new house has. It's seems to be the cheap one inch change every three months system. My old one, I can go as long as six months to 12.

 

1) Grab a few REALLY good reusable air filters

2) Do an aggressive dust cleaning using an electric leaf blower. (Borrow one from a neighbor if you don't have one)
Wait for a windy October day, hopefully gusty and warm, but you can do this in cool weather as well, just turn off the heater if you're airing out the house in cool weather.

Open all the windows, place a few box fans (if you have them) in the downwind windows.

Take an electric leaf blower and work through the house, upwind to downwind, actively blowing the dust out of the house. A basic leaf blower will move/remove MUCH more dust than a vacuum cleaner, and reach more places.

Then go back and do the dust blow out a second time- you'll be surprised how much dust you get on the second run.

3) Close the windows, turn the furnace back on, and see how much dust the newer reusable filters collect. Check after a day or two.

4) Look into a programmable thermostat with fan speed control, you may have to look into an update or upgrade to your furnace air-handler board (not as difficult as you may think).

 

I agree with Hal that you need a good dusting. I've used compressed air and several exhaust fans. The repeat is important, even a few times.

I don't think you mentioned how old the house is or your approximate location. Those Arizona dust storms come to mind.

Since typical homes allow a lot of outside air to pass through and bring in whatever is outside, installing a HRV heat recovery ventilator could be useful and adjust it for more incoming than outgoing to get some positive pressure. The HRVs also have good filters.

Bud

 

Thank you for the tips. I'm not sure if my furnace/blower can be programmed to run at slow speed but I do have a Nest thermostat that I scheduled it to run every 30 or so minutes.

 

Ah, I should have mentioned using an air compressor (big electric compressor, not the wimpy cans for computer keyboards).

I'm downwind from a forest and a quarry, so I get the double dose of pollen AND fine dust.

While an electric leaf blower does a good job of dislodging dust, I'll second the point that
an air compressor (100+ psi] does a GREAT job of dislodging dust. But be careful, it will blow over pictures and small plants.