Electronic Air Cleaner ozone

Do people have varying sensitivity to the ozone produced by an electronic air cleaner? Early this morning I thought it might be a good idea to switch the thermostat to "FAN" in the hopes of the filter catching most of the dust that's going to be kicked up during the house cleaning for Christmas. Anyways the EAC is on whenever the blower is running and I'm getting whiff of a smell a bit like bleach that I assume is ozone. I'm also aware of a slight headache coming on, and I rarely get headaches.

Anybody with any knowledge in this area?

 

Yes.....that sounds like ozone. I never use the FAN ON for just that reason.

I've never gotten a headache from it but it would seem very likely that you could.

 

I've had a few portable air cleaners and they put out a ton of ozone. I never understood this because ozone is one of the pollutants always reported on bad air days yet I don't see any warnings on these appliances. I can smell the ozone but it doesn't seem to affect me in any way.

 

The smell seems to be diminishing...or I'm getting used to it. Still not sure if it's anything to worry about.

 

The best thing anyone can do to the an eac is disconnect the power and replace the cells with media filter cartridges.

They don't work properly as soon as the cells get a little dirty. This can be confirmed by looking at the blower wheel of any furnace which has an electronic air cleaner.

 

So you're saying an EAC is junk?

 

I actually thought of doing that. I see a lot of dust in the house and always wondered why more wasn't removed by the EAC.

 

So you're saying an EAC is junk?

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I wouldn't go as far as to say that they're junk, but they aren't effective dust filters. As soon as a fine layer of dust accumulates on the cells, large particles (which can accumulate on blower wheels and cooling coils) pass right through.

I'm sure that eacs are good for tiny particles when a proper dust filter is installed upstream of the cells.

 

Yes eac produce ozone just like every electrical device. They do a great job if clean. But you will have to clean at least every two weeks.

 

I agree with both Muggle and Airman that EACs can be effective in reducing fine dust IF they are serviced regularly AND if the installation was done properly. EACs MUST be properly cleaned at least every two weeks and most assuredly should be preceded by a pleated box filter to catch most of the dirt and dust.

Since very few people want to clean their filters this often the option is a four-inch thick pleated box filter. With this filter you should be able to get a minimum of six months service and possibly as much as a year of service.

The reason is that a non-electronic filter simply gets better at filtering the dirtier it gets whereas the electronic filter is just the opposite. The EAC has a very low resistance to airflow and does a great job of removing the smallest particles, even smoke, from the air but it cannot HOLD the dirt. Once the EAC plates get the smallest amount of dirt/dust they simply cannot hold any more and the dust simply goes right through. With a pleated filter it starts out with a low resistance to air flow but it holds the dirt and over time the resistance to the air flow increases substantially. While this DOES increase the filtering process the increased resistance also is potentially damaging to the furnace or air conditioning heat exchangers.

A clean and properly operating EAC produces very little ozone. A dirty EAC can produce a lot of ozone.

 

Great. I originally had a 2" pleated but my furnace hits the high limit due to inadequate airflow. The company that installed & maintains my furnace (Air Conditioning Engineers in Utica, MI) suggested the EAC would do a much better filtering job, be better for my wifes allergies, and fix the airflow issue. So I paid hundreds for the install and it's done none of these things.

 

4-5" pleated filters are much less restrictive than 2" filters.

Having a 2" filter cause a limit to trip indicates that the furnace is barely moving enough air to begin with. (causes: undersized ducts, dirty cooling coil, blower speed set wrong, furnace overfired - ie, gas pressure set wrong)

 

Isn't the media the same, 2" vs 4"? The thicker one just holds more dirt before restricting flow...?

The above mentioned "experts" have been out several times to remedy the problem. Before recommending the EAC they increased the fan speed (no change), and cut a hole in the return in the basement (impressive, eh?). Until recently I didn't have AC so there was no restriction due to A-coil.

 

Pleated media filters have a lower pressure drop than pleated 1" filters even when clean.

Adding an a/c coil does reduce airflow to extent.

The best thing you can do is get the static pressure on the supply and return checked. Any contractor who doesn't know what static pressure is or how to measure it won't be of any help - there's no point of making changes to the ductwork without diagnosing the problem first.